It
is happening in everything: school work, literature and even writing. Meaning
is being systematically removed and instead, we’re told that “it’s all
relative”. There’s no real meaning in anything. This is called
deconstructionism.
I
heard an analogy that meaning—what deconstructionism does to meaning—is like a
red balloon. One person can come up and say it’s a blue balloon. Another can
say it’s a green and pink balloon. Yet another person could say that it isn’t a
balloon at all; in reality, it’s a pen. I could go on with examples forever,
but you get the picture.
Now,
according to what the American education system teaches, (because it’s really
them who are furthering this kind of thinking), everyone would be right.
Meaning is considered to be relative. Because of this, the balloon can be
anything or any color people want it to be, based on their thoughts and their
desires. This probably sounds crazy, but it is what people think these days.
So,
how does this apply to writing? I’m glad you asked.
As
any writer knows, there’s something specific you’re trying to get across when
telling a story. If you’re like me, the character may actually be an
exaggerated reflection of one aspect of yourself, a person you admire or
someone you’re close to. The scenes and situations you put in mean something,
and it’s something very specific.
I’ll
use an example from my own writing. Currently, I’m working on a story about a
girl who escapes from a Nazi death camp like situation. She runs away and ends
up, unknowingly, in the governor’s house. The butler agrees to let her spend
the night (he isn’t aware she’s a prisoner) in exchange for her working an
international dinner that his boss is putting on. Now, because of the fact that
the governor has kept Kiah (my main character) and her family imprisoned for so
many years, she has developed a deep and intense hatred for the man.
Her
first errand at the party is to serve drinks, and she meets the governor. At
first, she doesn’t know it’s him. He strikes up a conversation with her and,
having no preconceived notions herself, starts to think that he’s a nice guy
and all that. This is when it’s discovered he’s the governor. She gets super
embarrassed and ends up dropping her tray, shattering and spilling everything
she was carrying.
There
is a certain thing I’m trying to get across in this scene. Kiah’s heart
eventually changes in a good direction toward the governor (no, this is not a
romance novel), but it doesn’t start out that way. Near the middle of the book,
she realizes that she is sinning by hating this man so much and she asks the
Lord to change her heart—and He does.
Hopefully
after reading my summary, you know what I’m trying to get across: Don’t judge a
book by its cover. The big theme in this book is the fact that we so often as
humans stereotype people and that we really should try our best not to do that.
If
you didn’t get the same thing I meant when writing that summary, I obviously
need to work on my summarizing skills.
When
you’re writing, make sure that there is no confusion as to your meaning. What
you say should be clear. You don’t want someone reading your book to fall into
the trap of relativism and draw something you never meant from the text.
The
things in the reader’s minds should always match what’s in the author’s mind. I
do realize it’s really hard, but it’s not impossible. I’ve gotten a lot better
at getting those to match up, but I still have a long way to go. A good way to
test if you’re getting across the right thing is to read your scene (or
whatever you’ve written) to someone. Make sure you know what you want to get
across before you do that. Read the writing and then ask for their thoughts.
Ask them what they think you were trying to get them to feel. Hopefully,
they’ll say exactly what you’re thinking. If not, tell them what you were
thinking and ask them how you could have gotten that across better. It’s
daunting to read your work to someone, but it does help.
There
is absolutely no such thing as relative meaning, or relative truth. God makes
this really clear in His word. He tells us what we should do and what we
shouldn’t do, how we should act and how we shouldn’t act. The way in which He
tells us leaves no room for confusion as to His meaning. Take a look at the Ten
Commandments, or Old Testament rules or commands to believers in Ephesians to
see what I mean.
God’s
meaning is clear. That gives us no excuse to do anything less.
Previously published on Kingdom Pen.
