Exhausting role

I have one of the most exhausting jobs imaginable. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to portray suggested meanings of a word? Without my efforts many of the writers that have left their mark in the world of literature wouldn’t have received as much praise for their works if I hadn’t played a role. These insinuations that I make about a character or event are what ultimately engages the reader and has the reader look beyond the foundation of strict cookie-cutter meanings of words and delve deeper within the text in order to fiercely grasp a concept and understand the significance of a writer’s words. Why do you suppose that you associate words with other ideas such as a rose? The implications readers make would be relating the rose to love and also romanticism. I play a role in almost every type of communication, as I add nuance and more subtle meaning. I allow the readers to infer more meaning than there is explicitly written on the page, making the readers more active in the interpretive process.

Sworn Enemies

Denotation. I can’t stand him, he is so boring and I don’t know why he’s even considered to be on the same level as me even though we’re nothing alike. He’s just the plain old literal meaning of a word whereas I’m the set of ideas that are implied with a word, how could you possibly get us mixed up? I’m the emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word and Denotation is the strict dictionary meaning of a word. If you were to ask any good writer which one of us is more useful I guarantee they would say that I am because let’s face it, when writing the emotional weight a word carries is way more beneficial to a writer’s message then the literal meaning of the word. Let’s look at it this way- the word “Home” could have different interpretations you could take the most basic and specific meaning of the word, in this case the denotative or literal meaning would be a place one lives; a residence. Which is the boring route to go, in contrast to my abstract view which would be that home suggests a place of security, comfort and family. I just really can’t fathom how much denotation aggravates me, he’s pretty useless to insightful readers if you ask me.

Long time friend

As I have mentioned time and time again, I have been featured in several famous works of writing but today I decided to closely examine my role in literature, not to come off as conceited or anything but merely for educational purposes. Charles Dickens, a good friend of mine, has featured me in nearly all of his brilliantly crafted novels. “The Tales of Two Cities”, one of his best-known novels, has me in it believe it or not.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”- Dickens

At a glance, I am hidden and undecipherable but if you examine the text close enough you’ll see that I am omnipresent in this excerpt. These famous lines, which open A Tale of Two Cities, have the implications and suggestions of possible central tension between love and family, on one end, and oppression and hatred, on the other. “The season of Darkness” suggests suffering and “the spring of hope” implied a sense of security and stability. The ambivalence of this excerpt had only been possible due to my underlying ideas that I have contributed. I provided the reader with a more insightful view that leads one to infer that good and evil, wisdom and folly, and light and darkness stand equally matched in their struggle. I am more then what meets the eye so you most likely wouldn’t have guessed that I played such a vital role.

Positive Vs. Negative

I spent the day thinking about the possible reasons why I’m not as “understood” in the literary world as the others such as metaphor or simile when it suddenly dawned on me that I am just too complicated for people to really understand who I am and to really grasp what I’m all about. I have two sides, my positive side and then there’s my negative side, you’re probably wondering what I mean by that so I’ll elaborate. My negative counterpart implies a pessimistic or informal meaning of a word. For instance, the word “cheap” is not only informal but also infers that someone is not generous and is stingy with their money. On the other end of the spectrum, there are words that I provide with a more positive outlook such as the word “economical” which suggests money, time, and effort well spent. To further establish my claim, let’s look at some other examples of my craft: foolhardy/courageous, bossy/assertive, and obsession/avocation. Although all of those words are synonyms they are perceived differently and enable the reader to make implications. I essentially have the power to make you feel differently based on how sentences are worded which is most likely the reason why most readers aren’t very fond of me.

Underrated

Mention a famous writer- whether it’s Edgar Allan Poe, the undisputed “Father” of the modern detective story, or even Victor Hugo, the most influential poet of French romanticism, and I guarantee that you will find me making an appearance in an overwhelming amount of their brilliant works. I consider myself a vital aspect in literature- I mean, what writer wouldn’t want to manipulate words in a way that invokes an idea or feeling in addition to its literal meaning? I essentially take words to a deeper level, for instance, the word “Home” suggests family, comfort, and security. In another example, “Red” has an implied meaning that ranges from love, passion, or even danger. These implied ideas are what make me unique. It gets hard sometimes though, I feel like I’m not as appreciated as I should be, I mean I’ve been featured in William Shakespeare’s works several times for crying out loud which is pretty impressive if you ask me, yet if you ask somebody who I am you’ll be met with a blank face which is upsetting. I take a lot of pride in one particular Shakespearian quote; “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” in which a summer’s day suggests or connotes beauty. It would makes sense that I would receive a bit more credit, making these implications in order to deliver a more powerful message across to the reader is a hard and demanding job.