Following Dr. Rivers's postmodern note, this reminds me of our discussion in class related to Nietzsche, how we're so often trained to assume that the text means something other than the text itself, and we search for the "true" meaning buried underneath the text, perhaps in the author's subconscious. I'm reminded to of a comment made in Dr. Johnston's poetry class, that we as critics don't spend enough time on simply characterizing texts; in place of depth arrived at through analysis, we should strive for complexity in our attempt to take the words on the page at their word.