Literal Interpretation In Literature :: essays research papers

Literal Interpretation in belles-lettresLiterature is designatet to provide a perspective on life. Phrases or bring upsfound in works of literature may be drilld to help get ones own thoughts, todescribe a particular situation, or even to use the circumstances in anotherpiece of literature. Readers often utilize literary quotes for this purpose,yet not every reader will interpret a given quote the same way. One example ofa style which can have umteen different meanings is the biblical quote "The sinsof the render visit upon the children."A literal interpretation of the above quote would mean the wrongdoings ofthe paternity somehow affects the children. If the "bad habits" of one generationarent corrected, they will be passed on to the generations that follow. Thatcan result in generations of drug abusers, spouse abusers, or just rude people.One example of this interpretation might be if a father is a drug abuser, thechildren will learn from him, and use dr ugs also. Another example is if thefather is abusive, the children will think that is how problems are solved.They, in turn, will be abusive to their families, and will start a savage cyclefor generations to come. These examples definitely show how this biblical quotemay be interpreted literally."The sins of the father visit upon the children" has a deeper meaning thanthat described above. For example, "father" could be changed to "parent," andthese "parents" could mean "generations" that precede the children. A situationthat would represent that would be war or pollution. A second example whichillustrates how this quote may be interpreted on a more global take aim ispreceding generations could affect the children by means of racial inequality that has been passed use up from long ago. This may have startedwith slavery and segregation. Then, as generations follow, racialdiscrimination is passed. All of these situations prove that one quote may havemany different meanings.A third way to interpret this biblical quote is to change the word "sins"to a more general or haughty term such as "behaviors", "expectations","experiences", or even "good full treatment". By making such a substitution, the quotetakes on a new meaning. This makes the biblical quote good or bad depending onthe "behaviors". For example, the father may behave in a polite way, whichwould inform the children behaviors that make many friends, get job offers, andbasically get the about out of life. On the other hand, the fathers behaviorscould be rude, and the children would learn to be mean, which would piss themto lose their jobs and friends.