Understanding Terministic Screens

The idea that terministic screens can deflect reality rather than reflect realty becomes evident in Kenneth Burke's essay.  I was thinking of them as somewhat screening the view of something that is being describes just as a pool screen might alter your view out.  I do believe that this comparison can be useful and that terministic screens do operate in this way.  You get a broad picture of what reality is though your view is not as clear as actual reality.
 
Another way Burke describes how the screens work describes how they direct attention to other things  "Not only does the nature of our terms affect the nature of our observations, in the sense that the terms direct the attention to one field rather than another."(46) Sometimes when one is explaining something to another person they may say something that triggers a completely different thought.  They tend to break reality and blur the situation. The language that humans use anywhere in the world has its imperfections.  It is in my eyes impossible to paint a perfect picture with words.  What one person has in their minds is impossible to perfectly imitate with only the use of words.  I believe that it is when you understand these terministic screens that you can use them to your advantage.  Knowing the imperfections of language and portraying your idea in a way that lets the receiver fill in their own details while sharing the main structure of the idea.




Burke, Kenneth. “Terministic Screens.” In Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: U of California P, 1966. 44-57.