Literature is capable of helping us build our community in a number of ways including:
One: by exposing us to social morality. Literature, in some ways, has the power to introduce us to social morals thereby encouraging us to be better citizens through the stories of legends that pique our interest.
Of course, through literature, most of us learn about inspiring selfless heroes and heroines who went to lengths for their people. Some of these people truly inspire us to be selfless and have concern for our people too. How else can literature help in building our community?
- By Making Us Empathetic.
No community can stand without some degree of mutual understanding. This means that to some extent, we should be able to feel the pains of one another; share in their concerns, and avoid destructively disregarding what others believe in.
The ability to do this is not inherent in every person and so some of us have to practically learn it through disciplines like literature by constantly getting clear pictures of how others feel.
In the same way, since we have learned in previous articles that literature improves our communication skills, it is reasonable to add that by allowing people to have a better sense of relating through communication, literature also contributes to the growth of our community.
- Further, By Mirroring Society.
Again and again, we have learned about literature being the mirror of life.
Through non-fictional books especially, literature has the power to reflect society to us thereby making us aware of our strengths and weaknesses as a people.
With this, it follows to say that this reflection is important to us because without first knowing our problems as a people, determining where to begin to fix our community and ultimately build it becomes unclear to us.
There has to be clarity in our goals; a at least defined view of where we are headed as a community, if we must really head someplace.
- Also, By Gearing Us to Resolve Problems.
Maybe for a second or so time, we shall be citing the example of the influence of literature on the Civil War in the U.S.
Literature triggered the war and it ultimately was the bridge that brought people together again. It wasn’t as direct as we have presented it here, but you can also read about Randall Fuller’s speech about the event.
This, and cases alike have proven to us that literature has the power to gear man towards resolving problems. It has, similarly, taken the place of violent disagreements between people in the past; the U.S. ended up fighting for freedom through pen and ink, informing her people first by the same means.
In the same vein, literature can help in building our community by making us more knowledgeable.
Different scholars have spoken about the dangers of ignorance. In the words of Robert Browning, “Ignorance is not ignorance, but sin”. In a similar view, Johann Wolfgang said: “Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.”
What’s the point? Through the various kinds of literature that there is: apocalyptic, didactic, prophetic, etc., literature opens our eyes to the essential things we ought to know for a better existence.
For instance, we can read about other nations and imitate some things that could foster ours from them.
- Lastly on our list, is By Telling Us About the Past.
The past, as Confucius said, should be studied if we must define the future.
At face level, the past may not be important to man, but on the other hand, it is an essential resource for the prediction of the future of any course. To have a glimpse of the future, one has to first consider what has been of a thing; past and present!
So, yeah, there is literature within history and vice versa. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, there may be more of history in literature than in history itself—primarily because literature as a discipline could as well buy the history of different people and present it as one in a work; in any case, it teaches us so much about the past of humans, consequently helping us have a grasp of the nature of modern-day problems.
Through peeping into the past also, literature helps us learn from those who have walked before us and also makes us see the honest concept of reality; other than the fantasy we’re fed in movies.
The fact that history is capable of making us learn about the past experience of man makes it very helpful in building our community because it ultimately lets us live as though we have lived previously.
We all have a single life to live; this means that without learning from other people, we will always or very often have to learn from our own mistakes to live properly. But with the historicity of literature, we are guaranteed innumerable experiences that we can now live as though we have walked from several times.
To avoid mortgaging our time and efforts to the unnecessary things of life or living a wasteful life, this is what we need as a community.
We must know where we are coming from, to what point we have gotten, and where we are eventually headed.
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