Literature and communities

Literature can help people to get a real in depth view of life through someone else’s shoes. You can almost get lost into another world while reading a book. No matter if that world is fiction or non-fiction, it can take the reader to an unfamiliar place and make them feel comfortable in that space. A person can take something away from what they have read in some form of literature and put it to use into their communities. Something as simple as a feeling, viewpoint, or even a new perspective, can bring a new knowledge on the whole outlook of something. Literature can help to add culture to a reader’s life. Anytime a person adds culture to their life, they would have a positive affect on our society because they have been enriched with literature. Everyone has different points of view that they wish to express in life, regardless of the theme. Everyone also has different opinions as with literature. Each individual that reads a poem or a story is affected by it differently. However, the common ground for literature and the community and every person that reads it is this: we all must start at the beginning before we get to the last page or line from a poem.

Every community has been affected by literature since the beginning of time. At first, many people did not have the pleasures of being able to read and write and therefore could not appreciate literature. But once they were taught how to read, interests in reading became popular through many communities. Communities are affected by historical stories, autobiographies, fiction, non-fiction, and even poetry told by authors. It is somewhat like a domino effect that has been happening for many years and it will continue to grow and affect those in the future.

The readings from this past’s week even show how communities are affected by literature. My first example is in the “The Prodigal Son” by Luke, (cited in DiYanni, 2007, page 27) is two sons and their father. One son works by his father’s side without complaining. The other son, however, asks for his inheritance as soon as he is old enough to speak with his father about it. The father in this story does as per his son’s request and sells his half of the land and gives the money to his son. That son wastefully spends all of his fortune and loses all of his friends when the money is gone. He ends up homeless and becomes very desperate until he realizes that he will go home and ask his father to become one of his servants. The servants were not as poor and desperate as he was becoming. Naturally his father was so delighted by having his son come home that he holds a feast in honor of the son returning. Then the other son complains to his father about being loyal while the other son did not remain loyal. The father answers his son’s complaint with a great explanation: “son thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine…for this thy brother was dead and is alive again: and was lost and is now found” (cited in DiYanni, 2007, page 28). The father was simply saying that what is his is theirs and he was thankful that his son learned his life lesson.

This story affects the community because it gives people a sense of hope when there is despair. Even when people can bring on their own problems by selfish acts, faith, hope, and love can help people get through the toughest of times. I feel that this story has a very prominent part of the religious community. A person can still receive forgiveness in spite of the fact of the thing they may have done wrong. I most certainly can relate to this story because I have know that I have hurt my mother time and time again, but no matter how big and ridiculous my mistakes have been, she is always there to help and guide me. That is why I feel that if I am impacted by this story that my community is also.

Another story from this week’s readings showing the relationship of how the community is affected by literature is “A&P” by John Updike (cited in DiYanni, 2007, page 32). This story is about a young man that is employed by the same supermarket chain as in the title. He tries to suffer for three girls in hopes that they will notice him but they do not exactly give him the time of day. There are these three girls that go shopping in the store, but they are wearing nothing but bikinis. Being that they are inappropriately dressed, the store manager asks them to come into the store having their shoulders covered next time. The young man ends up quitting his job in the hopes of catching the girls’ attention. I believe that he wanted to be viewed as the hero for standing up for them; even though, the girls were in the wrong for coming into a store dressed that way in the first place (cited in DiYanni, 2007, 36). This story affects the community because there can be different ways that this sort of story can be viewed, and we could all learn from this sort of storyline.

A person can take something away from what they have read in some form of literature and put it to use into their communities for the future. That something can be as simple as a feeling, viewpoint, or even a new perspective, that can bring a new knowledge on the whole outlook of something. A person with culture added to their life, has a positive affect on our society because they have been enriched with literature. Each individual that reads a poem or a story is affected by it differently. However, the common ground for literature and the community and every person that reads it is this: we all must start at the beginning before we get to the last page or line from a poem. This knowledge is something that stays with a person forever; not only here, but in every community.

References:

Di Yanni, R. (2007). Literature: reading fiction, poetry, and drama. NewYork: McGrawHill Publishing, Inc.