Personally, I often find that we, and other book reviewers, critics, and the like read far too deeply into many books and writings. While we can glean a fraction of character's personalities from your average, relatively short book like The Great Gatsby. I know that we are usually not supposed to bring the author into our interpretations, but reading this chapter kept bringing the following question to mind: Who's interpretation really is important, or is the "correct" one. Oftentimes, when reading a book, or listening to a song, I usually find something that I think the author/artist is trying to say, whether it's obvious, or in between the lines so to speak, and I'm sure most people do the same. However, sometimes I find out later what the author actually intended, and when it's a totally different interpretation than mine, it greatly changes my perception of the song/writing, and a lot of times not in a good way. But non sequitur aside, this brings me back to my original question: who's interpretation is actually correct? Is it that of the author's, which may never be known (As mentioned in class, some authors will not explain the meaning behind their works), or can any interpretation be correct, in a more subjective manner?
For example, Tyson spoke of the relationships in the book, and how they came back to a fear of intimacy, what if Fitzgerald had intended none of that? Certain aspects can be highlighted that could seem to prove nearly any theory, but it's hard for me to take this sort of interpretation very seriously. While it is possible that this was intended by the author, anyone with a psychology book and enough spare time could probably find a dozen theories and psychological issues for each character, each that may have pages of examples as proof, and each could make perfect sense, but in the end, is an interpretation true if the author did not intend it?
That's what keeps coming to my mind whenever we look at the book through different "lenses."
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