Literature: Mirror of Society

Literature is used in English to portray themes and teach the readers morals. Fahrenheit 451 illustrates how one should appreciate the education and resources available to them as it may not always be around. A Raisin in the Sun shows how dreams may be deferred, but they will never die. Of Mice and Men exhibits idealized friendship and the impossibility of the American dream. The Crucible depicts that madness will emerge in society if no one is held accountable for their actions. Money can’t buy happiness is a

Literature; it has compelled us, entertained us, educated us, and drove us to madness. It has served as life instruction, by using the characters as the lesson plan. It is sometimes blunt, sometimes ugly, and in Truman Capote’s case, is so gruesome that we do not dare forget it.

“The Headstrong Historian” and Things Fall Apart forms a topic of what is good for one is bad for another. In Achebe’s novel, Okonkwo often thinks about the matter of his pride and not for his family or

This novel is the definitive tragic model about the dissolution of the African Ibo culture by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo, a great and heroic leader, is doomed by his inflexibility and hubris. He is driven by fear of failure.

To conclude, it is very easy to criticize society. Humanity keeps failing to realize the mistakes they are making and Twain and Shakespeare help the readers see the mistake being made by humans over and over again. Through the criticism of the authors in Huckleberry Finn and Romeo and Juliet, one learns that the authors criticize what humanity has created by incorporating conflicts such as forbidden love, family feud, symbolism and irony. Humanity creates society and if humanity keeps doing wrong, the society will become worse. Why can authors criticize society very easily? Humans are becoming selfish and our society is being corrupted. This is the time to stop following what society does. Don’t follow the wrong things people do just because

There are many ways to interpret a book, one can read it as a character’s adventure, a conflict of ideas or emotions, or a story. For myself, I read the books, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville, in an ironic sense; and while doing this, I noticed that both books showed an intuitive sense of sociology. Furthermore, what mattered most by reading the books ironically is that it is easy to see the outcome of a situation which is pleasing to be conscious of. It is easy to see the outcome of a situation because when one is paying attention to a character, one’s attention is toward a character, except when one’s attention is on an entire situation, one’s attention is on the flow of events and then the

Literature is an essential part of the center of a person’s life. It provides a certain assurance and “feeds the soul” of one. Whether it be a book, TV, or even an advertisement, literature exists everywhere. A person is able to develop many skills by studying literature, and expand the horizon of their learning. An immeasurable amount of insight and knowledge can be gained from the study of literature which contributes in providing readers with an understanding of the past, and a philosophical assimilation of the moral behind a writing piece.

Though many people nowadays disregard the usefulness of literature in modern society I belong to the opposite sect of folk. Reading and literature is more than just words and writeing, its ways for the dead to speak and advise those to come through understanding of common feelings. Whether the author meant to mean something through metaphor or more literally is not important, what is important is that us as the readers are able to communicate and interpret needed information from the subject and author. Something that I sometimes think is lacking in todays society is not just this communictation but understanding. Furthermore reading it gives us a way to understand and invest in lives other than ourselves. Secondly reading and understanding what we read allows us to feel empathetic towards the subject thus allowing us to share our own story of feeling and ideas. This is

Society makes judgements and has certain expectations for each person. These expectations that are given dictate how people should live, act, look, and where a particular person is as far as status. Everyone is affected by society whether they welcome society or are completely against the expectations. Those who are against the expectations of themselves often find that they are not associated with as much or are judged by others for the fact that they do not follow the standards made for them by society. Society affects people in so many ways and is shown through books, magazines, and all other forms of media. Some of the forms of writing that portray society’s expectations are The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, and Of Mice and Men.

He suggests the reintroduction of literature, which possesses the ability to remove society’s uniformity and ignorance. Professor Faber demonstrates this by saying, “We need not be let alone. We need to be really bothered once and a while” (Bradbury 49). In such an ignorant society, citizens feel no need to change anything, because in their eyes, there are no issues worth changing. Literature possesses the ability to reveal the problems to the people and “bother” them into action. It is a tool that can provide constant questions and answers to always keep the mind of society thinking of ways to improve itself. Expanding from literature’s ability to spread facts and idea, it has the ability to teach and connect people and societies on an emotional level as well. Bradbury demonstrates this connective ability by writing, “Oh, there are many actors alone who haven’t acted Pirandello or Shaw or Shakespeare for years because their plays are too aware of the world” (83). Play writes such as Shakespeare and Shaw have created timeless works of literature that share a deeper message of love and emotion to the world. The spread of these plays contributes to the awareness of societies on emotional levels and allowed the world to learn about itself, and how its different civilizations think and act. When literature is reintroduced, it connects the world and its people on an emotional level. All of this

Fantasy is the process of imagining things that are impossible or improbable in literature. Fantasy if often used in correspondence to social criticism, which deals with the exposure of problems, issues and conditions in a society with a flawed social structure, where criticism usually addresses cultural, economic and political issues in a society. This paper will analyze two fiction based novels and the social criticism present throughout this genre of fantasy. With regards to social criticism, this paper will compare and contrast Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing by analyzing how criticism is displayed according to the issues present in the novels, how violence or madness is portrayed and lastly, the pastoral utopian concept of a better place.

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is mainly known for his trilogy that investigates, using fiction, the history of Nigeria. The trilogy begins with Things Fall Apart, followed by No Longer at Ease and ended with Arrow of God. Furthermore, in this critically analytical essay, through a feminist perspective, a chapter of his second novel, No Longer at Ease, published in 1960, will be discussed. The setting of the novel is Lagos, Nigeria and Umuofia, Nigeria during the 1950s, before Nigeria attained independence from Great Britain. The novel, No Longer at Ease begins with Obi Okonkwo on trial, charged for accepting a bribe. However, using flashback, the author takes us back to the point before Obi’s departure

When you’re reading literature it can be somewhat easy to spot the time period, beliefs, and politics. Those are just some factors that can be portrayed in a society. When most authors write they portray their past experiences into their work to create a better connection to what they’re writing about. Then the reader can relate their own personal experiences when reading the works to also get a better connection. Some of the works that will be discussed are written by authors who have portrayed their own experiences and they are “Tartuffe” by Moliere and “Faust” by Goethe. In these works of literature they show the different societies that are portrayed and the types of literary devices used by the author to give their point of view. Also, how each time period has changed throughout history and how it affects human lives. The literature around today would show a different reflection of society then the ones we’ve read over the course. People evolve and adapt to the changes around them, so in literature the authors Moliere who wrote “Tartuffe” and Goethe who wrote “Faust” allowed their works to reflect their society in which they lived.

Indeed, the best works of literature are those which are of relevance to our lives today. Through their relevance, these novels continue to persist and endure on. Through their relevance, we can better comprehend the messages, the themes, and the ideas that are imbued in them. Rather than literature being contradictory and in conflict with the truth and unpleasant reality of daily life, it becomes a weapon through which we can be educated about the existential crises facing our world today. In fact, the statement above could not be more far and distant from the reality of literature today. It is fatally flawed. Literature, whilst at the surface, seems whimsical and amusing is, at its very core, a medium through which we are enlightened

Literature is an imitation of societal values and is thus a reflection of the human experience of a time period. Written works emphasize the elements of culture, by means of characters, particular events, setting and theme, specific to the time period in which it was composed. Furthermore, literature mirrors the troubles or hardships of society and projects the core values that define said society. Thus, as culture has changed over time, literature has remained a critical facet in representing time periods of the past. Essentially, the culture of a time period is manifested through writing in the projection of society’s values, symbolism of the center of community and literature itself.