And novelists on whether symbolism was intentional by Mental Floss. (The answer is no).
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One of the biggest problems teachers and professors in the
humanities face is that the intent of the author or artist doesn't account for
the reach of what they have insinuated or what has been interpreted by their
works. We can all agree that many 19th-century writers were racist or
misogynistic according to our standards, but that was part of the cultural
milieu, not their intention.
In any case, it's not easy in the humanities to take
something at face value--face value undercuts what a single work might have
meant to many readers and viewers.
Everything a novelist or artist does is likely for a reason,
whether it be a sign of something or a whim, but even whims have an
undercurrent. If I took the time to create something really big, I would want
every part of it to play into the whole. This is not always the case, but in
creating such a work, the author/artist’s psyche has a role in the matter,
whether he/she is aware or not.
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