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What Is An Interpretation ?


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It is to find the meaning of what the author is trying to display to you the reader.

You have to 'interpret' all of the text that he says and find what the message is behing it.

Take "To Kill a Mockingbird": what is the point of the story or meaning?

It could be racism between Bob and the community, or friendship between Scout and Jem, or family matters with Atticus and Scout.

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wich kind of figures he uses to describe the themes

Do you mean the motives? Yeah that's pretty important, without it you can't really find the theme unless you're lucky (I'm talking about literature now, not pulp ;)).

An interpretation depends on what your teacher wants. At university we have to describe these things:

Motives: things that are repeated throughout the book which will lead you to the theme.

Theme: don't confuse this what a short summary of the story. It's the meaning of the book, or for example about which problem it is. Eg. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide is about the English Victorian society.

Time: Who is time handled in the book? Does the author use flash backs/ flash forwards, is it written in the present tense, etc.

Perspective: Who is talking? This may sound easy, but it isn't always so obvious. An author's perspective may not be an author's perspective.

Characters: Describe the main character(s) and other important ones. Don't just describe their looks, but also analyse their psyche/personality, actions and reactions.

Context: Although this comes close to the theme imo it is important to describe this too. Alusions and such fall under this category.

Some other stuff that might come in handy:

Personal interpretation/opinion: Your own opinion about the theme, do you agree to the author, where did he go wrong or why is the book so good, etc.

Style: What literal style is used (eg. Symbolism, naturalism, romantism, you know...all those ism's ;)), how are motives used, something about the personal style of the author.

Anyway, you better ask your teacher what he/she requires you to do :D

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