Marni Goldstein
What is a Text?
20 October 2011
The Power Within a Text to Make Meaning
Both the author and the reader play important roles in making meaning of a text,
working together, combining influences from both parties’ experiences to bring about
significance. The Death of the Author by Roland Barthes and “Look!! Look!!! at This!!!!”
The Radical Typography of David Walker’s Appeal by Marcy J. Dinius both demonstrate
the different roles of the author and reader, which were shaped by the societal
constructs of when the texts were written. Barthes attributes the power of making
meaning out of a text to the reader, while Dinius ascribes this power to the author, as
exemplified by the typography of David Walker’s Appeal.
Barthes’ The Death of the Author gave the power within a text to the reader, thus
taking it away from the author, a controversial notion of the post-structuralist movement
in which he wrote. He proclaimed in his essay “the birth of the reader must be at the
cost of the death of the Author,” (Barthes). This demonstrates how Barthes saw the
reader as being all-powerful because of how they bring their own personal meaning to a
text, therefore undermining the need for the author. The reader combines the words
placed in the text by the author with their own outside-influenced perceptions to
construct meaning, replacing the author’s insight with their own. To explain this concept,
Barthes notes the story Sarrasine, and how the author, Balzac, described a scene with
a castrato. He questions the meaning of Balzac’s words, before simply stating that “we
shall never know, for the good reason that writing is the destruction of every voice, of
every point of origin. Writing is...the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the
very identity of the body writing” (Barthes). By saying this, Barthes asserts that readers
are unable to truly know Balzac’s intended meaning of the text, thus the author’s identity
is lost as soon as they begin writing. As readers, we often look to the author for an
explanation of their text. Barthes, however, rejects this notion and removes the power
from the author, and affirming it in the reader.
In contrast to Barthes, Dinius attributes the power of making meaning to the
author. In her essay, she analyzes Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the
World, a radical African American pamphlet that condemns slavery and racial
discrimination in the United States. This pamphlet, according to Dinius, “is not only
ideologically ambitious and historically significant but also typographically radical. [It] is
a graphic riot of italics, small and full capitals, exclamation points, and pointing index
fingers” (Dinius). Walker punctuated and visually manipulated his words in a way that
stood out to the eye; for example, he wrote certain words in capitals and ended certain
sentences with a number of exclamation points. These typographical elements were all
used by Walker in an attempt to guide the reader and “enable readers...to internalize
Walker’s voice, his argument, and his emotions with the proper inflections...so that his
pamphlet would broadcast his message as widely as possible…” (Dinius). This asserts
the power of the author because Walker meticulously placed each typographical
element there for a reason, to ensure that readers would understand his intended
message within the text. Walker powerfully utilized typography to control and assert his
voice as the author. By raising the capitalization of words and increasing the number of
exclamation points after phrases, the reader became able to hear Walker’s voice rise
with the anger and passion of the words. Walker powerfully inserted his voice into the
text, further establishing his power as the author. When describing Walker’s writing
style, Dinius notes, that “readers can virtually hear his rising voice and anger”. This
shows how Walker saw the importance of inserting his voice into the text. Because
writing this pamphlet was very dangerous at the time, it was important that he command
authority over the text to ensure the message would be received. The outbursts with
excessive exclamation points show the fear, anger, and emotion of the author, a Black
man who had suffered the very atrocities that he wrote about. The power of the author
over the text allows for the strong deliverance of the intended message.
The societal constructs surrounding the texts influence whether the author or
reader has the power of constructing meaning. This can explained by Lloyd F. Bitzer’s
concept of the rhetorical situation, which describes how an “exigence”, or moment in
which something happens, is necessary to cause someone to deliver a message. By
examining the rhetorical situations surrounding both Walker and Barthes, the
differences in power between the reader and author become evident.
The societal construct surrounding Barthes’ writing greatly influenced his theory
that the power within a text belongs to the reader. In 1968, liberal student uprisings
occurred across Europe. This monumental time in history demonstrates how society
began questioning authority. Barthes, a post-structuralist, rejected the new-criticism
notion that texts should be scientifically analyzed, which ultimately elevated the author
to a prominent status of supremacy. In The Death of the Author, he writes, “The
explanation of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it,”
(Barthes). This shows how often readers view the author as an authority figure, and
regard the meaning of the text as a finite explanation given by this authority. Society has
conditioned readers to constantly look for the “right” answer, the single meaning that is
supposed to be found in the text. Barthes, who was also influenced by Marxist ideology
which aimed at giving power to the people, viewed the author as an authority figure that
needed to be removed. By removing authority, Barthes rejected the idea that the author
has power, thus instilling it in the reader. He believed that the reader made meaning of
text, as opposed to the author. The student uprisings, Marxist theory, and the poststructuralist movement all acted as the exigence for Barthes to deliver his message in
The Death of the Author, thus influencing his theory about the power of the reader.
Society during Walker’s time also influenced the roles of both the author and
reader. In 1829, when Walker wrote his Appeal, African-Americans were enslaved in the
southern United States. They had virtually no rights, suffered discrimination, and were
treated as an inferior race to the White people. Many Black people were illiterate and
the few that could read, were unable to read well. This contributed largely to the power
of the author to construct meaning in the text. Walker knew the literacy levels of his
target audience, therefore, his typography was necessary to literally point out his
message. Also, because the pamphlet was obviously written by a black man, the reader
was unable to detach the author from the text. The discrimination against blacks in the
time Walker wrote affected the meaning that the reader procured because they were
forced to view the author as a black man and choose their side based upon this
distinction. If the reader at the time was white, they would oppose it, whereas if they
were black, they would be more likely to identify with it. Walker, however, used his
power as the author to deliver his message as forcefully as possible, in hopes that the
blacks would understand it and react. The fact that the message depended so heavily
on the author demonstrates how powerful the author was in relation to the message.
The exigence for Walker to deliver his message was the discrimination of AfricanAmericans, and through her analysis of his text, Dinius explains how it affirmed his
power as the author.
While both texts differ in their perception of the power of the author, they do both,
however, attribute power of making meaning to the reader. Barthes claims, “to give a
text an Author is to impose a limit on that text…” (Barthes), which means that text
ultimately can be interpreted in many different ways, depending entirely on the reader.
Texts are seen as limitless, lacking one set and final meaning. As Barthes explains, “the
text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture”(Barthes),
therefore readers comprehend text differently because everyone brings to it their own
opinions and experiences. This means that the text combines with the reader’s own
prior knowledge as they read, so no two readers will ever draw the same meaning from
a text. Dinius’ analysis of Walker’s Appeal affirms this concept because every reader of
Walker’s pamphlet definitely did not interpret the message the same. Both whites and
blacks read Walker’s Appeal, therefore, due to the society of the time, they had very
different opinions and experiences. The white people were outraged by it so much that
they “passed strict laws regulating slave literacy and the movement of blacks and the
texts they wrote” (Dinius). Also, to ensure that more blacks could not read or write
similar revolutionary material, “slaves were no longer allowed to work in print shops.
And teaching a slave to read became a punishable offense…” (Dinius). This response
exemplifies how different readers form different meanings from text. These laws, the
consequence of the power of the reader, were implemented to hinder and control the
black audience.
While the author and reader both posses power over the meaning of a text in
different ways, both Barthes and Dinius attest that power also lies within the language
itself. In The Death of the Author, Barthes writes,“it is language which speaks, not the
author; to write is...to reach that point where only language acts..” (Barthes), meaning
that language holds so much power that it can act on its own, asserting its own
meaning. This statement relates to Walker’s Appeal because the typography throughout
the piece causes the writing to often speak for itself. Dinius describes how the pointing
finger, or manicule, “allows Walker’s text literally to point the finger of accusation at
whites for the barbarity of slavery and at blacks for their failure to resist,”(Dinius). Blacks
at this time would never be able to actually point a finger at whites in accusation,
therefore, the language and typography of the text act out this action. The manicule
symbol asserts such power in the text, that when combined with the words, it
designates meaning.
Barthes’ The Death of the Author and “Look!! Look!!! at This!!!!” The Radical
Typography of David Walker’s Appeal by Marcy J. Dinius both describe how meaning is
made within a text, attributing the power to either the reader or the author. Barthes’
theory attributes the reader with the power of finding meaning in a text, while insistently
removing it from the author. Dinius, in contrast, describes the power of the author
through her analysis of Walker’s radical pamphlet, but also attests to the power of the
reader. The society in which writing took place also influenced the roles of both the
reader and author within the texts, and use of the language itself proved powerful to
both Barthes’ and Dinius’ claims. In conclusion, various factors, such as the power of
the reader and the author, the society in which it’s written, and the power of the
language itself all influence how meaning is made within a text; additionally, the amount
of power held by these factors individually further shapes how this meaning is made.
Works Cited
Barthes, Roland. "The Death of the Author." Print.
Dinius, Marcy J. "“Look!! Look!!! at This!!!!” The Radical Typography of David Walker’s
Appeal." Modern Language Association of America, 2011. Print.