In Response to My Q&A #1 (Part 1)

“1. Is the claim that novels allow us to distinguish our own identity a veracious claim?”

Subsequent to our class discussion on Friday, and also due to the simple fact that I spent more time thinking about this question, I really started to detest it. Before I continue, I should mention that this question came from a quote that I posted in my previous blogpost.

“[Reading Novel’s] is the best way to figure out what it feels like to be in someone else's head—and that's what helps us to distinguish our own identity."

After reading this quote the first time, I immediately questioned the veracity of the claim that reading novels helps the reader distinguish their own identity. However, after analyzing this claim, it did not take much time for me to decide that I agree with it. In addition, as I brought up in my previous blogpost, I think that it should be noted that this claim is important in regards to the impact that novels have on the individual reader.

I found the quote in the pop-psychology magazine Psychology Today; the specific article was labeled “8 Acts of Authenticity-How to know what you really want.” There were 8 bullet points, each displaying a different “act of authenticity”. The very first bullet point said read novels, and was followed by the quote I listed above.
As I mentioned earlier, this quote makes a lot of sense at this point. While the reader is in the process of reading a novel, they will tend to take a stance on which characters they support. At least, I would say this is true from my own personal experiences. Accordingly, this process can help the reader understand themselves better because they become more aware of the different views in which they support. If a reader supports a character that represents a specific philosophical view, they are likely to represent the identical view in their own life. Consequently, it assists the reader in deciphering their personality.

Before blindly accepting this, I think the above reasoning should be questioned further. Specifically, I am wondering whether the reader decides for themselves which views they support according to their previously held views, or whether the author influences the reader based on the way in which they frame the story.

I suspect the answer would be some combination of the two views. I think that the process of reading novels does teach the reader more about themselves. The characters that I often remember from stories, or the ones that have had the most influence on me, are the ones in which I wish to be like. However, I also believe that the stories we read also teach us something that the author intended for us to learn. Accordingly, I do not think that the way in which we percieve novels is completely up to the individual, but rather all individuals tend to follow the story in a similar way. It is only that certain characters or situations may have more of an impact on certain individuals and less on others.

Keeping my earlier conclusions in mind, I would certainly say that the claim I questions is truthful, however I think that we must always keep in mind that the overall reading experience is more consistent between each readers than the claim implies. Although, each “individual filter” plays a role in the reading experience, as a whole, every reader follows the same path designed by the author.