Everyone comes from their own background and has their own opinions about the world around them. They carry those thoughts and biases with them into every text they read, which means they see what they expect to see. The author argues that close reading leads to ethical reading, ethical reading in the sense that the reader hears the author's voice within the text, truly understanding and listening to what the author is saying. Close reading forces the reader to temporarily abandon their preconceptions and “by focusing on the details, we interrupt our projection; we are forced to see what is really there” (Gallop p.11). The author provides historical context, in relation to the “new criticism” teaching method. Between the 1950s and 1970s, new criticism “allowed students to appreciate the complexity of literary writing, to see the artistic work, rather than simply themes and ideas.” (Galop page 13). The problem with the new criticisms is that only “great” works or authors were considered “worthy” of analysis in that way. Unfortunately, most of the works considered “great” in that period were written by men of European descent. In recent decades the multicultural movement has made reading lists in schools more diverse, making it more important than ever to understand the voices of authors, so as not to reinforce stereotypes and prejudices.