Literature And Life Essay, Research Paper

Evan Banks

Reading Literature

Henricson

Literature: The Window to the Fallacies of my World

I have never been a person totally content with life. I have always sought more and thirsted for some kind of meaning to the seemingly meaningless things that society forces me to do. I suppose that this yearning I have for the truth ultimately stems from my love of literature. To me, literature is the ultimate marker and judge of society; one can always tell how far a society has come through the words of that society’s literary critics. The reason for this is that writers are true thinkers who have no stake in the world but their writing. In this way authors and poets are the only true objective voices of reason in our world. I have always seen writing as a cultural magnifying glass for the human species and many times the negative aspect of humanity is revealed through this magnification. Constantly I am reminded of the aspects of human nature that anger me and often times this resentful feeling is bolstered by literature. However, I must confess that literature also shows me the beautiful side of life and the world; a side that I often don’t see or even look for. A good writer can bring the most dull and seemingly inane concept or idea into a new light. I often times will take something for granted then read a piece of literature dealing exactly with that topic and come out changed. Nothing is as beautiful until seen through the eyes of a writer.