PROMPT 6 RESPONSE

Every person brings something different to the table—different experiences, memories, perspectives. This is the wonderful part about humanity. The saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” holds a heavy weight over a reader. I once read a quote from two optometrists on an Instagram account titled “Humans of New York”, and what the men had to say gave me pause: “The eye doesn’t see. The brain sees. The eye just transmits. So what we see isn’t only determined by what comes through the eyes. What we see is affected by our memories, feelings, and by what we’ve seen before.” Ambiguity in literature, and all other forms of art for that matter, is what makes art such a personal experience. The words on the page can say different things to different people. When authors leave room for ambiguity in their work, in their symbols and parables, metaphors and allegories, they are inviting the individual reader in for a personal discussion, a moment of personal pause. However, I do believe that a reader must go into reading a piece of literature with an open mind; otherwhise ambiguity can be a hindrance. If a reader is unwilling to see into the views of the author, the reader may not fully appreciate the author’s words, and may just miss their own moment of personal pause. But, I personally prefer ambiguity over concrete fact. Ambiguity can be debated, reflected upon, questioned, but there will still never be an exact answer. A reader’s ambiguity can take a piece and make it personal, and no force can take that away.