'School' By Peter Cowan

There are many ways in which a piece of literature can be read and interpreted. A text is construed in many ways, depending on the readers time period, culture and previous knowledge. When we read literature, there are many culturally determined practices and conventions that we follow. These practices and conventions are constructed by social structures such as the church, law and media which in turn will support them. Interpreting the 'gaps and silences' in …

…gaps of information that rely on the reader to fill in with their own knowledge. Thus we can see that there can be many readings from this one text, those that are subordinate - school bearing the same hardships as on the farm, to the more dominant idea - the alienation of people who are different in our society. Ultimately, in the end, it is what the reader wants to assume and comprehends that counts.