The Sunday Mail
Masimba T Muusha
Writers never claim to be oracles at all. Neither do they lay claim to be prophetic. They are not practicing psychologists, sociologists, historians, nor scientists — No!Writers are story tellers, they tell stories. And stories are a product of the creativity and imagination of the writers.
In the world of imagination, the mind of the writer roams free from the boundaries, the limits, the possibilities of the known world.
It is nothing short of folly for a reader to regard a story as a manual, a recipe to adopt and use and demand to get guaranteed results or outcome.
The naïve, misinformed reader ever seeking to be guided, to be told what, how to think, what to do, how to be a success… surrender their own responsibility to examine, to check, to question the accuracy, the validity, the value of what they read.
Such a neglect of this duty means that the reader is open to error, to manipulation and corruption for embedded in a story are the writers’ own limitations.
Therefore, the reader is informed that it is his duty to be guided by the awareness that stories are written by people, by finite human beings who have their own understanding, perspective of life, the world and people. In their stories which they create, writers communicate their values, their attitudes, their beliefs and assumptions.
Stories promote, celebrate certain habits, practices, tendencies and actions.
At the same time, the same story may express reservation, opposition and disapproval and hostility to particular tastes and standards.
For example, a story may create an impression being aggressive is an attribute of being a man and that weeping is a sign of weakness in a man.
Such a story, unless read in its historical and cultural context, has the potential to injure or do great harm on impressionable readers. For those of Christian faith, feelings are most legitimate and come from deep, innermost part of a person. Jesus Christ, God in human form, wept.
Therefore, the readers leave their minds behind when they read books at their own risk! Be warned.
The writer, Masimba T. Muusha is an accomplished English Language and English Literature teacher with over 20 years’ experience. He may be contacted on 0777498721.
