Lydia Davis Fear Analysis

Although syntax and emphasis is important to someone such as Barthes who believes in doing this kills the author. Franco Moretti says that distant reading is just as important when studying literature. “Fear” by Lydia Davis a story about a woman who screams about a nonexistent emergency is similar to the Black Lives Matter Movement. Lydia Davis’s “Fear” is about a community who relates to a woman who is terrified of an “emergency” although it does not exist. They comfort her despite no emergency because they have all felt the way she has at one point but has resisted the urge to react in such a way. Although they feel compelled to her fear they do not speak on it in fear of being labelled as she has. Being afraid to speak on things until a breaking point may be similar to the Black Lives Matter movement currently taking social media for a storm.
The Black Lives Matter Movement is a phenomenon that has grown within the last couple of years. Many young black men have been dying at the hands of the police and the views of society has reached its breaking point on the matter. The break has launched a hashtag #BlackLivesMatter which is creating an identity for the Black community. However, in this movement has spawned other movements within the nation, “But it has also spurred fierce opposition under banners like All Lives Matter,

The interpretation provided is what close reading is. My interpretation kills Lydia Davis’s words and message that she was trying to provide. Barthes would say that my interpretation gives me the power and I can uncover the true scope of the message being said. That I must read word by word what the article and story are saying by the usage of language and syntax. One must understand the order of the words and interpret each word. By reading from a distance I will not be able to pick out repeating phrase or words and not interpret