Literature’s Influence on Society

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” - Oscar Wilde. Literature has been a pillar of light, guiding society and revealing corrupt truths, for years. From early classics such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to more modern novels such as Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, authors have been producing breathtaking pieces of literature which inspire and connect people everywhere. Classics such as these spark dynamic movements such as abolitionist movements, which arose from the production of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. We continue to see the evolution of literature, and it’s cause for controversy, as modern authors arise and continue this lasting pattern of innovation and evolution.

Dystopian novels are one of the most powerful pieces of literature that exist. By placing the reader in an unfamiliar environment, it forces them to experience the often corrupt society that the author creates. As corruption is slowly revealed, the reader subconsciously looks inwards, finding similarities in the way their own society functions. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a dystopian novel in which animals manipulate each other to create an unscrupulous government. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” (Orwell) George Orwell’s intention was to criticize the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin’s communist regime. When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, a modern dystopian novel, criticizes the U.S. government’s cruel legal system and the overturning of Roe vs. Wade by placing the reader into the shoes of a moral woman who suffers at the hands of her government. Hillary Jordan also includes the topic of God and how society’s idea of God has warped individuals into judgemental and immoral beings, believing that that was what their God intended. “If God is the Creator, if God englobes every single thing in the universe, then God is everything, and everything is God. God is the earth and the sky, and the tree planted in the earth under the sky, and the bird in the tree, and the worm in the beak of the bird, and the dirt in the stomach of the worm. God is He and She, straight and gay, black and white and red - yes even that...and green and blue and all the rest. And so, to despise me for loving women or you for being a Red who made love with a woman, would be to despise not only His own creations but also to hate Himself. My God is not so stupid as that.” (Jordan)

Timeless classics have also caused controversies and sparked movement. One of the most famous novels that continues to be discussed in schools is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book brings to attention the harsh truths of racism and injustice in America, which in return caused an uproar in the discussion of recial inequality in America.“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, which follows the story of a man obsessed with his youth an beauty, caused discussion concerning morals and hedonistic views, such as Dorian Gray’s. It revealed a more hidden secret of self-obsession, immorality, and emotion that had been present among society through a novel which captures the reality of fleeting beauty as the protagonist spirals into psychosis.

Literature continues to reveal corrupt and even beautiful truths within an individual’s own society and person. It is through these groundbreaking pieces that one discovers their personal truth and narrative, and applies it to their life. The reader’s perspective of the world changes as they flip through the pages of a truly significant piece of literature while also finding comfort within the covers of the books that seem to be a complete reflection of their mind. Authors have been doing what many leaders have only wished to achieve for years, and continue to force society to discuss the hard truths.

Sources

Jordan, Hillary. When She Woke, 2011.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960.

Orwell, George. Animal Farm, 1945.

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890.