Literary Merit In Literature

“It’s hard to judge literary merit (Henry Rollins).” When writing a story, all authors have three key things: a purpose, an audience, and a message. These key elements are used to help not only the writer but the reader figure out the writer’s reason for telling the story. Due to the fact that opinions of individuals range very uniquely, many critics and readers figure out a book's usefulness by deciding if it has literary merit. Literary Merit is a term used to describe a book that is considered to have quality. For a book to have literary merit it must include interesting language, original literary devices, and a connection to the reader's life with an overall message. Many books have been credited to have this title; some books with literary

To help transport the reader into his satirical short story, Voltaire uses satire and vivid imagery among other rhetorical devices. Voltaire’s satiric language can be seen when he talks about the idea of free will. A great example of this is in chapter 2 when Candide decided to go for a walk just because he wanted to prove that he could. During this walk he was taken in by soldiers who believed he was trying to desert them. At his capture, instead of letting him explain himself, the soldiers gave him two choices of death. Through this scene, Voltaire indirectly gives the definition of free will of that time. The whole idea of free will should be a person's right to make any decision they want. Candide believes he is a child of god and with that idea he denies the punishment; this further installs the reader with the true definition of free will. That if free will did exist, then punishments would not occur, and the reality we live today would not exist. Through his satire, Voltaire also uses improper language by having many contradictions in his writing. This lets the reader analyze the contradictions and come up with the conclusion of what he is saying by themselves. On the other hand Cormac McCarthy surprisingly uses imagery heavily in his novel to explain the grey bleakness that has cast over the destroyed land. He also uses this imagery to help explain the tone of the piece; the things he describes that have light are usually the good things, such as the boy, while the things he shadows in darkness are the bad, for example, the cannibals. Utilizing these skills, McCarthy is able to transport the reader onto the road and take them along the journey. Both McCarthy’s The Road and Voltaire’s Candide leave much to the reader's own realization which makes for great teaching material which books of literary merit should