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Reader Centred Approach As a student influenced by the strict guidelines and boundaries of school, I have adapted to the expectations of being an organised and cooperative student. This sense of control affects my style of reading, and I have become accustomed to a style of linear reading, where the organization of the text and my own ideas mould nicely into the novel, confirming my expectations. I am happy to relax and let the text be my guide, getting comfortable with situations and feeling strong emotion towards the characters. The Bluest Eyes broke down all my barriers of expectation and prediction, pushing me on a journey of incest, racism, poverty, and oppression. Excited by this new and exciting way of reading, I was forced to create a story in my mind, based on my individual intuition. I was no longer the follower, I was now the leader, constantly predicting the directions and outcomes of the text. This tested both my ability to read between the lines and to understand a story by drawing my own conclusions. Piecing together timelines and events, I found it difficult to engage in a full and complete understanding of the novel. Taking unexpected time-lapse changes, character references and story line changes, I gained an understanding for Iser’s theory that: ‘Reading is only pleasurable when it is active and creative, or it engages the reader’s imagination.’ (Iser: 1947: p.
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