Critical reading of a genre of your choosing, as well as a critique of that genre
There are many genres used by artists in presentation of their works. Fiction is one known genre used by literary artists in the presentation of their ideas. In fiction, interpretations of texts are personal with analysis taking personal means and capabilities of analysis, which may not conform to other opinions. However, with the dependency on perceptions, feelings and imaginations it leaves audiences to develop personal points depending on their personal use of evidences from the texts. It leads to a personal understanding of interests, desires and values of what the audiences find, thinks and the effects the texts affect their lives. Depending on the form of fiction used by an author, the degree of expression of the elements of images, symbols and drama vary. These depend on the authors desire to tell his story and the extent to, which he is capable of engaging the emotions and feelings of audiences (Bruce 23).
Fiction is evocative and subjective and its made-up communication evokes and thrills the imaginations of unavailable and impossible experiences. It has intrigues that play about scenarios leaving audiences with a couple of questions, perceptions and feelings of other historical periods or an observation of the human conditions of other times. Therefore, fiction does not thrive to present new information but evokes inspirational ideas and feelings. My choice of this genre is because it gives me the freedom for creating my own story and telling of issues I have interest to narrate to my audiences. I can reflect real events in my story told through the genre of fiction and still be capable of making it look real without making things factual. Fiction allows me to capture the feelings and emotions of audiences just as it would be in the real world event.
Since fiction can be true with events and characters, behaviors ringing true notions such as in the real world, I can work from a personal angle using my imagination in creating events and characters to fit my need for dramatically distorting history and presenting the story to achieve the dramatic effect I intend to evoke in my audiences. When choosing the fiction genre, the compelling factor was its association with emotional appeal in audiences. Fiction stories grab the interest of the audience without necessarily having to convince them of any facts. When reading a science fiction or romance novel, there is suspension of belief and no need for evidence or reason. It is easy to read a fiction story because on most occasions, it focuses on entertainment and audiences merely use it for passing time and enjoyment creating a satisfaction in the audiences (Geraghty 66).
The analysis of fiction focuses on the recurrence of themes reflecting human experiences. Like when telling of children stories, there are repetitious references to names such as Cinderella as an invocation of a realization of deeper meanings within the stories. Because of the indirect nature of fiction, there is need for considerable degree of interpretation and analysis for one to understand meaning beyond the surface of the story. When using fiction, there is an evocation of symbols and images for the presentation of meaning indirectly. For example, in the story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins, the fiction sets in an era of the struggles of the liberation of women in the society that was majorly patriarchal.
The theme within is the liberation of women in marriages with oppression as the main these, liberation as the goal and elimination of treatment of women as the ‘rest’ within the society. Given the historical context of its writing, the woman’s place was in the home taking care of her children and husband. There was consideration of women as weak and the woman in the story struggles to fight the societal hindrances to her freedom and happiness. The story outlines the oppression the woman goes through and its effects on her happiness. It then outlines her efforts towards the achievement of liberation in an evocative manner of the way John confines the narrator in a room with a window barred in yellow wallpaper.
There is no consistency in genre choice as changes occur inconsistently. In the fiction genre for novels, novella and short stories, there are sub-types such as science fictions, romance, fantasy, realistic fiction, mystery and historical fiction. There is a tendency for speaking through images in fiction to create mental pictures and emotional responses in audiences. There is symbolic use of color such as the use of red in the ‘Scarlet Letter’ and in the “Death Comes to the Archbishop”, a short story by Willa Cather’s sunlight is a conveyance of reason and truth. He metaphorically develops the Bishop’s garden as a Catholicism representation in the New World. In the current western movies, fiction uses white and black colors as representation of good and black respectively.
The limitation of fiction as a genre is that it contains changes that develop a platform for argument amongst critics and authors. Literature creation from imagination and not presented as facts are possible based on true situations or stories. In such instances, the question of express fiction becomes inevitable because of the relation to real occurrences. There is also the impossibility of application of fiction to all fictions literature given the limitation to fictions other than fables. There is also the telling of semi-fiction stories where the stories are typically real stories having characters with their names changed. Such retelling of true stories limits the capacities of classification of fiction because on the same breath, there are occasions where the telling of fictional events may contain the use of real or semi-fictional characters. The problem with use of fiction is that it depends in indirect presentation of meaning without any strife of being specific.
There is an essential plot that fiction stories follow and the reality or course of direction becomes insignificant as when police always catches criminals regardless of the crime they commit leaving their role to curbing of crime in the society. In fiction, some of the reflections used by authors leave the audiences at the obligation of accepting the reflections and associations of aspects used within texts. This may deter the creativity and reflection of the author especially if the audience does not appropriately identify with the used symbols of representation as intended by an author. The audience is left to analyze the figurative languages used and that may not give the less analytical audiences ease of understanding texts leading to minimal appreciation of the text or achievement of the desired effect from the opinion of the author.
Works Cited
Bruce, Ian. Academic Writing and Genre: A Systematic Analysis. London: Continuum. (2008): 23. Print.
Geraghty, Lincoln. American Science Fiction Film and Television. London: Berg. (2009): 66. Print.
