Interpretation

Abstract

There is no need to be frightened of the word ‘interpretation’. What you should remember is that all readers are interpreters. Whenever you think about the meaning of a work, of what’s important about it or what it adds up to, you are interpreting it. If, for instance, you say that Alice Walker’s The Color Purple shows how the central character has to struggle, you are offering an interpretation. When you do this you are not exactly telling the story; rather you are drawing out what you think matters. That is interpretation.