Writer's Fallout Shelter

Forgive my crude bluntness, but have you ever even taken a literature class? Anyone can, and do, say anything they want about a piece of literature, and it's likely that they can back it up.

Fair question. I have a Bachelors in English and am well on my way to earning my Master's in English Literature. I've been required, at one time or another, to read and dissect everything from Beowulf to Mickey Spillane.

While many students do say anything they want about a piece of literature and think they back it up, they usually fail to do so. What they believe is support for their perspective is actually their own beliefs projected onto the work; the things they cite as supporting evidence don't actually exist anywhere in the text in any way, shape, or form. They, the students, write things between the lines that aren't really there.

Again, actions show one's beliefs, thoughts, or emotions, but they are not symbols. A stamp of the foot shows anger or frustration. It doesn't symbolize it. Raising one's right hand shows devotion or respect, but it doesn't symbolize it.


(I would like to know, by the way, an example of a shrug directly relating to the main theme of a novel.)

You've got me there. (But if it exists in the story, then it had better advance it in some way.)