Eco uses the metaphor of the "ghost" to describe the interpretative process. When we read, we construct a "ghost" of the narrative world in our minds. We fill in details that are not explicitly written.

Eco introduces several critical frameworks for understanding how we read: The Role of the Reader - Monoskop

Eco argues that reading is exactly this: a through the structure of a text. The author provides the streets, the landmarks, and the fences (the syntax, the plot points, the grammar). But the meaning —the actual journey—is created by you, the reader, moving through that space.

A hypothetical construct that the author "foresees" while writing. This reader possesses the specific linguistic and cultural codes necessary to interpret the text as the author intended.