Dan Alexis E.

Lim HUM 1 Paper May 23, 2018

Life and Literature

Literature in itself is a powerful tool. All of our culture, our ideas, our beliefs, our traditions, and our very
being arose because of literature. It is basically everywhere and it exists on any form that one can
understand, from the stories and poems we read, the movies, shows, and the plays that we watch, and
even the songs that we listen to. Each of them is a piece of literature that deserves to be interpreted,
critiqued, and appreciated. And by doing so we learn more about ourselves and our society as a whole,
which is one of the reasons why we live: so we can understand. Literature is indeed a huge part of our
lives.

Literature serves many purposes. For one thing, it educates us, but not that wholly. It brings up new ideas
into the table in a manner that makes it delightful to entertain. Its depth can be built up by the concepts
we have learned from other fields of study for instance. Certain stories or poems may have themes that
revolve around certain social issues and give it an interesting perspective

Not only that, literature also make us see these social injustices around us, and it can be used as a tool for
revolution. Take for instance Franny Choi's performance of “To the Man Who Shouted ‘I Like Pork
Fried Rice’ at Me on the Street.” This is basically her response towards those people who like to catcall
women on the street, and also point out the racism against Asian people altogether. This poetry existed
because the current state of our society is still stained with misogyny and bigotry and we need to know
that these are problems that we need to take note of.

Literature is not just about presenting awareness about the world around us. It can also portray the
character within ourselves; who we truly are. Literature can show how we humans see ourselves, how we
act when facing great challenges, and how we develop and grow based on them. Katherine Masfield's
short story, "The Garden Party" makes us see the world through the eyes of a naive, pampered,
sympathetic, and pragmatic female protagonist, and we as reader get to see her perspective about life
change as she learns that not everything in life is about happiness, and not everyone shares the same
humanity as her.

Pieces of literature, can beautifully describe certain emotions, and can also elicit strong emotions within
us, whether it may be positive or negative. On of the most interesting traits of us humans is how we
interact with each other in a romantic way. We use and create literature as a medium to express our
emotions, our affections, and our innermost desires, maybe to a certain someone, or even an inanimate
object. E. E. Cummings poems, “somewhere I have never travelled , gladly beyond” and, “I like my body
when it is with your” perfectly describes the speaker's immense love for someone, whether it is just pure
affection, or in the intensity of love-making. Some pieces of literature can elaborate on the emotion of
grief, like Cirilo Bautista's "Jesus Meets his Mother". "Lonely Hearts" by Wendy Cope expresses the need
of the speaker to love someone, to point of desperation where even gender doesn't matter anymore.

Sometimes, some literature makes you see the worst in people, and it makes you hate those characters,
but at one moment you want to sympathize with them the moment they begin to change. Flannery
O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" depicts and somewhat exaggerates the lack of respect of
every character in her story to indirectly say that not everyone s inherently good or bad but each has a mix
of both and human interactions can impact an individual's character, and how one can reevaluate their
own values once they are in situations then can't comprehend.

With these in mind, it is also important that the main take on literature is not just sending some message
or a certain moral lesson, but on how these ideas are presented. Literature has to be both meaningful and
artistic at the same time in order to work. The form, music and language are important elements in
writing poetry. The plot, organization, character development and other elements are necessary for
writing a good story or novel. The proper application of literary tools can really affect the reader's
impression of the authors work.

Overall, it is clear as day how important literature is to us. Literature is an effective tool for reflecting all
aspects of life and projects a version of it in a fantastic way. As life goes on, so does literature, and it will
continue to develop and shape itself in accordance to the current reality. If we live our lives with the
appreciation of the literary art, then we would achieve something greater in our lives.