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

merit include, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, and 1984. To consider a book to have literary merit, critics must not only go through a meticulous checklist, but the book itself must gain national acclaim. Cormac McCarthy's book The Road did just this; the epic tale became one of the biggest advertising buildups in American literature. McCarthy’s realistic haunting tale of a post-apocalyptic world brought shivers down his readers’ spines, and made turning the page not only easy, but a necessity for readers who were captivated by the thrilling tale. McCarthy created an original story with questioning themes, surprising plot twists, and an enlightening message. The term literary merit allows for books of different categories to be considered and disputed. The novel Candide by Voltaire is a great example of this since unlike The Road, Candide is a piece of satire that questions the philosophies of optimists and pessimists, the role of religious leaders in past societies, and many other controversial topics. Candide’s tale is different from most books, leaving holes in its plot that has the reader assume things that are later either proven to be true or not. This contributed to Candide’s rising fame in the literary world because most books weren’t able to correctly use this method. These contrasting books raise the question, “What defines a book as having literary merit, and do these two books fit that definition?”
To be credited with having literary merit a book must have an original and newly developed theme that challenges the reader's known perception and analysis of life. Cormac McCarthy do an excellent job at taking commonly used themes like “good vs. bad” and “human survival” and putting a new spin on them. In the Road, McCarthy tackles these themes by having the main characters run into them in a Walking Dead stylistic manner. An example of these themes working in tandem is when the boy and man run across the house where people were being held hostage. Usually in books the definition of good and bad is clearly defined, but in this book, the good people are forced to make decisions that in any other situation would categorize them as bad. McCarthy continuously brings up the idea that morality is a finite phenomenon and to protect that people must make choices that hurt others. The Road then asks, what is the extent of these decisions? Candide’s message, however, talks more about the non physical ideas of how a person should live their life. He is a main character who is so naïve that he is a blank canvas for different philosophers who can manipulate his decisions. Voltaire uses this character to criticize the ideas of the main philosopher Pangloss who believes in optimism. As the world seems to be corrupted by religious leaders, money, slavery and other plights, Voltaire makes it seem as if Pangloss’s ideas are naïve and childish. He shows his message through his main character, by having Candide slowly corrupted by the deadly sins. An example of this would be lust, Candide lusts for Cunegode, and because of this he commits atrocities he would never do in the beginning of the story some of these sins include murder, theft, and betrayal. Voltaire uses this story to speak truths of that time that no one else would have ever done. Both books sheer cleverness creates for amazing experiences for the reader.
A book with literary merit not only has a unique plot, but has interesting language and rhetorical devices.

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

have.
Books that have literary merit are books of the highest caliber, they are able to entice readers of all types and have each of them walk away having learned something new. When a reader finishes a book it is imperative that they are able to take something with them. It can be as simple as a new word or writing technique, and as deep as a revelation or paradigm shift. Books given this prestige have stories that have a need to be told and are worth being shared. It is not to say that books without literary merit are useless but a book with this title usually isn’t categorized as “Leisure material”. Cormac McCarthy’s and Voltaire’s books are a great example of books with high caliber, students not only learn new techniques and skills for their writing but also get immersed in the plot while they do it. As previously stated, Candide gives the job of analyzation to the reader and his message is completely up to the reader's perception. Many books today lead the reader while this book allows the reader to think. The Road tells an open-ended story, a story that even when finished stays in the reader's mind. Books with literary merit are books with some of the best qualities in writing, and yet still one of the hardest things to judge. A work of writing, fiction or not, is highly opinionated one person can not simply decide the fate of a book that millions have read. However, in my opinion after analyzing both books carefully, I believe that both books deserve the right to be put in this category. Candide is a hilarious and thought-provoking tale, Voltaire uses unique language and rhetoric devices to express ideas that all in all were highly controversial. The Road is the complete opposite. McCarthy takes a simple theme and stretches it out to hundreds of possibilities and outcomes using his ever thickening plot and unique style choices. Dr.Seuss says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” It is hard to judge a book by what other people think so instead of looking at someone else's answers read it yourself and come up with your own. What is Literary Merit to you?