Is Literature Still Relevant To Reality?

Is literature still relevant to 'reality'? A lot of people seem to think not. I've met more than a few people who think that movies can tell as great a story as books can. But are movies as good as books? At some level it comes down to personal preference. Now some film has been considered to be literature by many people; but does great film have the same power as great words? What does separate the written word from other forms of art? Literature has this ability to force readers to use their imaginations in a way that a lot of things can't. It's capable of bringing out a complex series of ideas and, if written well, explain them to people who otherwise might not be able to understand them. It allows us to examine many areas of society at a core level. Not only that, but popular stories have this ability to touch people's lives in a way that most things can't. People drift off into plots and settings and develop feelings and opinions for characters. All types of literature have a place in society. A good novel could show characters developing over several series of situations. They can have plots that grow from different characters and that twists all over the place and finally come together as one giant plot at the climax. Harper Lee's tragic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is an example of a story that is relevant still today. The narrator and protagonist, Scout Finch, is a child who views the town she lives in innocently. Her father, Atticus, is supposed to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. When it becomes obvious to Atticus and Scout that Tom is innocent, Atticus does all that he can to defend him. The climax occurs in the court room where Atticus makes it very obvious th...

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...n be explained, it can be appreciated; however, it takes getting absorbed into a story for a real connection to be established. I don't think the majority of the people who claim that movies are better than their novel counterparts have ever been absorbed into a novel. It's interesting to think that 200 years ago, literacy rates were a fraction of what they are now. It has only been in the last century where large amounts of intelligent, critical thinkers have been able to examine literature in a way that only certain members of the aristocracy could a few centuries ago. In this context, literature has never been more relevant.

Works Cited

Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1960

Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. USA. Penguin. 1985.

warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html. Saxxon Books. 1999