Reading

ReadingBR

#essay, #prejudice, #reading, #analysis

In the first section of Barbara Johnson’s Melville’s Fist she analyses the different binary interpretations of Melville’s Billy Bud story, giving examples of different possible readings. These positions are represented in the main characters of the story, whose fates all proceed in opposite directions to those the reader would expect; an illogical arc which Johnson argues provides the base for the widespread critical disagreement of the piece.

The two main characters, Billy Bud and Cloggart, relate to two different conceptions of language, or ways of reading. Billy represents a case where the intentional meaning corresponds with the actual meaning; the signified and the signifier are identical. On the other hand, Cloggart’s character stands for double meaning, the ironic way of reading with a difference between signifier and signified. These interpretative reading strategies swap sides through the act of transferential rage; the chiasmus of the plot, when Billy kills Cloggart. In this act language itself materialises, as Billy’s speech impediment, his inability to verbalise himself, takes form in this act of violence, resulting in Cloggart’s death and consequently his own too. This symbolic gesture of language itself, as being the indicator of the crisis of the plot, shows that Melville’s original intention was to question the limits of reading in general.

To complete the equation, the story ends with Billy’s court case, conducted by Captain Vere, the leader of Billy’s ship. Through the presentation of this legal case Melville further highlights the limitations of reading, and integrates this very question

into the plot. Captain Vere is put in a very difficult position as he’s fond of Billy yet, on the verge of war, he must set an example to avoid mutiny, becoming the ‘balancing wheel’ between the two characters. reading reality. Both with children’s and drug affected brains, the individual’s state of mind is different from the ordinary adult, showing how our society is designed to rule out extraordinary behaviour.

Johnson argues that the fundamental factor which determines Vere’s verdict is history. Choosing the context (the bible, Vere’s own moral, and martial law) in which the text and subtext can be interpreted is interpretation itself. Throughout the legal procedure and in his own bias, Vere has to navigate the numerous interpretations of the case, becoming a reader himself. However, Johnson asks; what are the conditions of choosing these conditions themselves? She goes further stating that authority, as defining the context of interpretations, is a vanishing point of textuality, and that the judge or the reader is in the impossible position of having to include the effects of their own judging or reading within the cognitive text of their cognition. Thus, the essence of reading lies between the different interpretative positions that serve as parameters across which language constantly oscillates.

Reading and Waywardness

Waywardness can be interpreted as a very specific way of reading. This position allows the actor to read signs in a completely unconventional way, and, by questioning the perspective, creates its own point of view. I think upbringing and childcare is a prime example to show how the fluctuating nature of reading can nurture kids to diverge from their environment and come to find their own perspectives. Embracing the different way in which kids tend to view the things around them is essential in challenging the given parameters. For instance, with secular education less people become religious as they have the chance to grow into their decision. Another good example is psychoactive drugs, which therapists argue may help patients to rediscover previously abandoned emotions, or observations, or discover new ones, opening the path of repositioning and new ways of Reading and me

Johnson’s interpretation of reading, through Billy Bud’s story, really resonated with me as my own current project focuses on crime and punishment, and its different understandings. This relativity, in the context of my work, is extremely complicated, as my film also includes all sorts of hints and details that can define the final reading of the story. Sanyi, the protagonist of the film, is a product of our society. His close environment visibly affects him, making the underlying cause and effect relations less readable. The challenge is how to orientate the viewer to recognise the more profound links, allowing space for interpretations without making the storytelling too straightforward. I felt that in Melville’s case this was achieved through making the very dilemma of interpretation the turning point of the plot itself. Sanyi, 16, who committed a serious felony, is now facing prosecution. Essentially, the story questions what service (individual and collective prevention) law has done, in this very specific case, and how its limitations can be grasped by pinpointing the system’s (state) deficiencies. Thus, it focuses on how bias affects a viewer, and how different readings are byproducts of the current socio-historical context.