1.3–Why [Study] Literature? Preparing for the Plunge

Ultimately, the purpose of all literature is to make us think, feel, and think about what we feel. Particularly effective literature may also move us to action, whether that be to revolt against injustice or to take steps to become the best (or, depending on the literature, the worst) versions of ourselves. For instance, you may find yourself identifying with particular characters in a novel or becoming exasperated with others. You may sympathize with their struggles or feel aggravated when they keep undermining themselves with their own actions. You might put yourself in the protagonist’s shoes while reading or try on the shoes of the antagonist to find that you identify more with that character than with the character readers are stereotypically supposed to prefer. These reactions are worth thinking about further. What does it mean, about the story and perhaps about yourself, that you identify with one character over another? How has the author created that character to appeal (or not) to the reader?

The question of how authors choose words to create their works leads us to think about a primary reason why we read and study literature: connection. Literature offers us connections to our own humanity and beyond; it exposes us to the experiences (both real and imagined) of others, across considerations of time, race, gender, culture, nationhood, space, and worlds. If we read Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” or view Bladerunner, the film based on the story, we are transported to a different place, foreign to our own world, and yet still familiar in its portrayal of people’s struggles with organized religion, relationships, and deciding which actions are “right,” which actions are “wrong,” and whether there are definitive rights and wrongs. In reading or viewing and thinking about these works, we identify and therefore connect with them.

Think about any poem, short story, novella, novel, play, TV series, or film you’ve ever had a strong reaction to; why did you love or hate it? More than likely, your answer will be that you felt a connection to it, whether that connection was pleasant or not. Whether you felt that it spoke to you about your own experience, introduced you to a new way of thinking about someone else’s experience, made you angry or happy or sad, some connection was established between the work and you, the audience. Even if you absolutely hated the piece, it’s still important to think about how the author evoked that feeling and why.