Yes, because what does that say about the reader? I think there is the assumption that the reader is this completely objective figure looking at all these and making unbiased opinions, but that is totally not true! Maybe Gilead is only talking about the reader as a construct of the author's mind. Maybe the author only conceives of the reader as a non-criticizing receptacle of these ideas, when that is not the case. Maybe the author's reader is ALSO just a fictional construct!

It is totally a fascinating article. If you can't access JSTOR, I can send you the PDF.