Many Meanings :)

"Something's meaning is subjective."
                                             
...If so, then wouldn't that statement also be subjective?  ...And if the statement is absolutely true, then wouldn't it defeat itself?  These were some of the things that were running through my head during class last week, aching to be voiced but with no opportunity.  Sometimes I feel that truth is being bullied and shoved into a dark closet, with no one willing to question or stand up for her.  I am no philosopher, but I am a thinking human being, a title with which I believe holds responsibility to critically examine the world around us.

Accompanying the literacy "digs" we have been performing, it is necessary to discuss the nature of the meanings that we pull from our subjects.  In class, the professor put forth the opinion that any meaning drawn is solely subject to the perciever's perception of it.  She founded this in an activity dealing with Gertrude Steiner's poetry, telling us to find the meaning and compare with a neighbor.  While explaining the activity, we were told to not worry what we wrote, because it was her personal goal as a writer to make it impossible to discern any underlying meaning. These are a couple of Steiner's direct quotes I found:

"Why should a sequence of words be anything but a pleasure?”

“A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears.”

From my basic reading up on her, Steiner appears to be very interested in writing in a "stream of conciousness" and from a more artistic perspective.  Given her struggles and background, it looks like she was trying to say something through the lack of conformity in her writing, more than any of the actual writing itself.

So we sat, creatively attempting to discover the meaning to a poem to which no meaning had been given.  We compared our different stories, all different of course.  But even if this text did have an ascribed meaning, would our different interpretations of that text prove that meaning is subjective?  I would say no.  Let's step back for a second.  Imagine that your mom told you to go the grocery store tomorrow.  You wake up the next morning and find a slip of paper on the counter with the carefully scribed words, "chocolate ice cream" on it.  Now you remember that your mom is on a diet and always buys a certain type in a certain size.  So you go to the store, buy the one she wants, bring it back and all is well.  In this example, we see that the "creator" (your mom) of the "literate" object in question (the grocery list) means something absolute, and any other interpretation would hold negative consequences.  There is a right and a wrong, according to the creator's ascribed meaning.  Imagine if you came home with any other kind of ice cream.  If it was my mom, I know she'd be upset and say, "Come on, you know what I meant!"

This same principle can, and should, be applied to our literacy digs as well.  When we look at a piece of art, we must remember that the author is the one who creates the meaning, and based on that, our perception must be compared.  When we pass a speed limit sign, its meaning cannot be defined individually by the driver, but by the government.  When we see a ring on someone's finger, its meaning cannot be defined by us, but by its wearer.  The meaning is created by the observed, not the observer.

These meanings, however amorphous or mutable, are absolute. 
Our interpretations of these meanings are what is subjective.