The Second Summary
Beta: Hold it, hold it! I have a question. Our minds are like plays where
images of real people and heroes of artistic works act out their roles.
Can we sum it up like this?
Teacher: That is an intriguing summary!
Author, Character, Audience
Beta: OK. Now, I read a book and feel compassion toward a hero. Let’s
say Tom Sawyer again … or wait, … a thought is sneaking around.
OK, give me a second …
Alpha: And what are we going to do while Beta is chasing his sneaky
thought?
Kappa: I’m tired.
Beta: Actually, I’m ready. Remember the last thing I said, that we don’t
know what really affects our minds, whether it is the person who is
arguing in favor of an idea or the idea itself affects us?
Delta: Well, it was not exactly that, but in a sense, yes, you said that.
Alpha: Huh? So it’s not enough for you all to treat literary personages
like real people! Now you want an idea to be like a person too?
Teacher: Let’s call it a quasi-personality.
Alpha: Are you serious?
Gamma: Let Beta tell us his new story.
Beta: Thanks. Quite frankly, it is not that clear to me yet.
Teacher: That’s all right. Go on.
Beta: OK. As I said, I don’t have a theory, just a kind of a feeling.
Kappa: Go ahead.
Beta: Say I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I feel like Tom Sawyer.
I relate to other characters. I feel compassion toward some of them,
anger at others. I get scared, make up my mind about something …
Alpha: Those are not new discoveries.
Beta: No, they are not. I am trying to grasp a theme here. And I understand
that Mark Twain likes this boy and makes us like him as well.
Kappa: Yes, exactly! He does not teach us a thing! He just makes us
like him! That’s it. That’s precisely it. He makes us feel something!
Delta: Does Mark Twain like Sid?
