Why Study Literature

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With this broad educational system, there are so many to study. So why study literature at all? The answer is that literature is the foundation of life. While it is physically written in words, these words come alive in the imagination of the mind, and its ability to comprehend the complexity or simplicity of the text. Literature allows readers to experience life from the saddest stories to the happiest ones that will touch their hearts. It is a key for individuals to comprehend and understand others as well as oneself.

While it is impossible to completely understand the complexity of others’ world, literature, as an alternative, is the closest thing the world has to being able to understand another person whole-heartedly. By interpretively …show more content…

Reading a material that is relatable to the reader may teach them morals and encourage them to practice good judgment. Literature talks about human life and experience while other areas of the educational system will never teach you. It presents human daily life in a reflective way. When studying science and history, we always get the basic facts and rules of a circumstance only. However, “only literary study persists in posing those questions we all asked before our schooling taught us to give up on them. Only literature gives credibility to personal perceptions, feelings, dreams, and the "stream of consciousness" that is our inner voice.” (Barden 1) In history class, we learn about how it records or reconstructs human life, whereas the literature class clarifies, focuses and interprets human life. An example would be Amy Tan’s stories, where “Two Kinds” is meant to be reflective of the life of Immigrants. While reading and discussing “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, I could relate myself to Jing-Mei’s struggles. Although Jing-Mei was born in the United States, being an Asian American still gives her struggles with her different cultural background. From the story, we can learn about her real experience and true feelings to it. As an Asian American, I can never learn about the truth until I experience it. I can never feel like the same as other Americans until I read …show more content…

Today, with the stressful life style, literature also slows down our fast pace to teach us enjoy and reflect on the beauty around us. It is valuable that it can entertain society. Like pop music, television, movies and comics, they are one kind of literatures. Being able to entertaining people is one of the reasons that they become popular really fast. By studying literature, we can experience even greater delight and find them more fun and exciting. There was a time we read Gary Soto’s “Oranges” in class. Soto takes a few moments to describe the frosty setting of the night. He then smoothly put us in a loving frame of mind. The poem gives me delightful feeling in my heart by connecting the chilly weather with the warm glow of the speaker’s first love. I remembered that day when I took out an orange during lunch. It was a freezing day. It still reminds me of the summery feeling of the poem. I mentioned it to my friend as I peeled the orange. He laughed at me and said, “It’s just an orange.” He didn’t get the warmth and delight. On the contrary, it reminds me of the happiness of my first love and the pleasure I had for the speaker of

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