Reading With My Feet (?)

The key piece of advice in this chapter was "try to find a reading perspective that allows for sympathy with the historical moment of the story, that understands the text as having been written against its own social, historical, cultural, and personal background".

So the idea is not to read with your eyes- or your feet or your ears- but not to read with your eyes. Not to read with your brain.

This era is so unlike any in history, what with all the technology and innovation and selfish perspective, that it becomes increasingly more difficult to insert ourselves into situations that don't mirror our own. To abandon our own mindsets in pursuit of the embodiment of another person's. The character's.

I, personally, have no problem empathizing with characters. It is easy for me to understand their perspectives. I often find myself in a bad mood when things don't seem to be going well for a character, or overly happy when something goes well for the person I am reading about. I find myself living a sort of vicarious reality through the characters in the book- but as easy as this is for me to do, I don't think its what Foster had in mind. He wants the connection to be more tangible. More logical. The ability to empathize on a level even deeper than is natural takes effort. It requires research and thought about not only the character but the society around them. Every aspect of the world around a person characterizes the way they respond to things, how they feel, and what every detail could mean.

David, who wrote many of the Bible's psalms, often comes across as angry and bitter. Vicious, even. In Psalm 42:9, David says "I say to God my rock, 'Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?' My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying all day long, 'Where is your God?'" and in Psalm 43:1 David again mentions his oppression. "Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men."
Without background, these pleas don't seem to make much sense. David was a king. A king who was loved and respected throughout his nation. Why is he searching for assistance and vengeance? Upon researching the matter, I have discovered that David most likely wrote Psalm 42 during the period of Absalom's Rebellion- Absalom being David's son whom he loved dearly, and the same son who conspired to take the throne from his father and put himself in the king's place. Considering these details, Israel would have been divided and David had to leave his palace and head for the desert in an interest to preserve his life.

Now I could read Psalm 42 and 43 without any indication of who the "enemy" or "foes" or "wicked men" were and I could have empathized with David, understanding that there were people who David needed protection from. But I would not know, truly, David's fears and the implication of his request. This man was pleading for the protection of his life. That I could not figure out without digging deeper. The era, customs, relationships that are specific to David's story- those are the things Foster would have me consider. So that I may read with David's eyes, and understand with David's mind.