For example, in the opening paragraphs of the The Great Gatsby, there are a few symbolic and metaphorical expressions, like: reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope, or, conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes. Do you pause and try to interpret its meaning, or do you just let it flow right past like a music? Or maybe you look up the meaning online?
by Ok_Meeting_2184
3 Comments
Mainly just let it flow I will sometimes think about it and would probably never look it up. Especially for older classics where word meaning don’t necessarily follow current usage.
Of course this sometimes becomes an issue for example I missed the meaning of the main character being involved in something greek in the Monkey by Karen Blixen which matters a lot for the meaning of the text. Which in this case is homosexual sex
I assume that I will “get it” as I continue reading. Some books just write really cryptically at the start and you only sorta get the context later on, or understand how certain words are used in the story.
Depends on how I’m feeling at the time. Sometimes I’ll highlight it (if I’m on am ereader) or jot down a note of it, if I want to return to that section.
I think, at this point in my life, I just go into a lot of these old books and know that I’m not going to understand huge chunks. So I often just skip trying to understand some bits, and try not to let it bother me.