The first book that I ever read was called Gilbert and the Giraffe. It was about a little duckling called Gilbert helping his friend, Giraffe. At that young age, this book had a huge influence on me as it taught me basic lessons of kindness, compassion, and friendship. Later on, I “advanced” and moved on to reading books like Geronimo Stilton, young adult fiction novels like The Mortal Instruments, and classic literature like the works of Jane Austen and Arthur Miller.
I love stories where the authors describe characters and settings in great detail as I enjoy being able to imagine everyone and everything as best as I can. In Geronimo Stilton’s Kingdom of Fantasy Geronimo the Mouse takes us along on his journey to the kingdom of fantasy. Together, We swoosh around on a dragon and splash around in ponds on our way to save the queen of fairies. In the Geronimo Stilton books, the first-person style of writing, the numerous maps in the books, the use of word art, onomatopoeias and beautiful illustrations, in general, enable readers to imagine this world so vividly that they feel that they are also characters in this story. In her novel, The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath puts us in the main character, Esther’s shoes. Esther Greenwood is a nineteen-year-old girl in 1953. Throughout the novel, she has frequent flashbacks where she describes moments in her life in great detail. Sometimes, Esther is so detailed and descriptive when recalling these moments that readers get so absorbed in her flashbacks that they often forget what she’s doing in the present. In chapter 3 of the novel, Esther attends a luncheon where she eats rich food that her family can’t normally afford. While eating caviar, she describes its briny taste, how it feels to touch and the sensation of the individual globule of caviar popping in her mouth. I have never tasted caviar. I have never felt like I wanted to either. But her description of the experience was so detailed that I felt as if I could vividly and accurately imagine the way it looks, its taste and its texture. Through descriptive world-building and the illustration of characters’ experiences, there are many things that readers will be able to learn and understand from fiction.
Works of fiction teach us lessons about topics like politics, society and science through complex characters, excellent world building and thought-provoking plots. People of all ages will be able to apply what they learnt through the fictional worlds fiction exposes them to. The knowledge obtained through fiction could even lead some to draw parallels with reality, leading to revolutions and social change. I can’t help but wonder about the extent to how much fiction has affected real life.
Has fiction affected us politically?
Numerous works of fiction are artfully created to offer social commentary on both contemporary issues and historical events. These stories bravely challenge established societal norms, sparking conversations that drive positive transformations. Moreover, some specific works of fiction play a crucial role in constructing narratives that critique current political events. For instance, dystopian novels like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent” served as my introduction to diverse political systems and situations, provoking deeper reflections on the complexities of governance and society. These series first exposed me to subjects like the marginalisation of minority groups and the abuse of power. In these novels, the faults of human nature and the necessity of fair and equal rights are shown exaggeratedly to make an impact on consumers. Dystopian fiction has and is often used to tell cautionary tales or draw parallels with the author’s reality.
It Can’t Happen Here, written by Sinclair Lewis in 1935, is a novel about an American leader rising to power the way Hitler did. Exploring various themes from totalitarianism to patriotism, the book demonstrated the rise of totalitarian governments, how these governments operate, and their internal contradictions. It gives an account of totalitarian capture as the product of a skilled, charismatic and opportunistic orator who uses times of economic crisis to gain public support and propel themselves and their advisors into positions of power. This story was recently used to draw parallels with Donald Trump’s presidency. Journalist Malcolm Harris stated: “Like Trump, Windrip uses a lack of tact as a way to distinguish himself” and “The social forces that Windrip and Trump invoke aren’t funny, they’re murderous”.
Sure enough, on Jan 8 2023, Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the country’s supreme court, presidential palace and congress in an attempt to overthrow the week-old new government. It is said that these protests were inspired by what Trump supporters did on the sixth of January, 2021. Just before Trump was inaugurated as president, the New York Times published an article theorising how America under Trump’s rule will be as dark and terrible as how It Can’t Happen Here’s main character, Doremus Jessup thought America under Berzelius Windrip’s rule will be. Through “It can’t happen here”, Lewis wanted to warn readers what America would look like if a fascist leader came to power. He wanted to emphasise that it can, in fact, “happen here” and when it happens next, it will be worse than the time before.
George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four depicts a dystopian society where different types of technology are used to control and monitor civilians. Free thought is criminalised, technology is used to control people and citizens are brainwashed into blindly supporting their leaders. “Thoughtcrime”, coined by Orwell, refers to the unorthodox political views a person might have. George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949. With this novel, he hypothesised that if society continued how it was during his lifetime, everything mentioned in his book could happen. To a certain extent, he was correct. Although we aren’t vapourised for thoughtcrimes, some societies today do punish citizens for acting on any thoughts that they might have against their governments. What Orwell was spot on about was the misuse of technology and the rise of surveillance states. The book’s eerily attentive technology that tracks your every move echoes the state of surveillance we find ourselves in today, from how internet cookies keep track of our data and how various nations and organisations misuse technology to spy on others. Over the years, cases where computers have been hacked and data and even videos have been taken without the knowledge of the owners are commonplace. In the last decade alone, there have been hundreds of significant data breaches. For example, companies like Apple, CyberServe, Twitch, Instagram and Facebook were hacked and their customers’ personal information and data were stolen. Despite some of these companies being worth billions of dollars, their security has been breached multiple times and many of their customers faced the ramifications. Although the events that occurred in Nineteen Eighty-Four were way more exaggerated compared to what we witness today, there are still many parallels between the two.
How fiction has affected us socially.
Fiction exposes us to different perspectives through different characters and could also affect people on an individual level. These works of fiction are crafted to provide social commentary on current issues or historical events. They challenge societal norms, encourage discussion, and promote change. It has been noted by numerous scientists and researchers that exposing ourselves to different pieces of fiction leads to higher levels of compassion, lesser violent tendencies and even higher levels of political consciousness in a person. When a character makes a mistake or goes through a problem, we see inevitable consequences and solutions for this situation. We go through the situation from the character’s perspective and this has the potential to truly change how we might view and approach future situations. This gives us many opportunities for self-improvement and to understand and sympathise with those going through different situations.
Flowers for Algernon was originally a short story written by Daniel Keyes in 1959. It tells the story of Charlie Gordon, a mentally disabled, middle-aged man who participates in an experimental procedure to increase intelligence. Although Charlie didn’t realise it at first, he was constantly being mocked by his peers whom Charlie genuinely believed were his friends. This story clearly illustrates how the mentally disabled were treated in the 1960s by putting the readers in Charlie’s shoes. Through Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes emphasised the importance of showing kindness and compassion to everyone, of learning the joy and purpose of life and how a person’s past actions could significantly influence them later in life.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852, tells the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved man. It was an abolitionist novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe that dramatised the experience of slavery. At the time, it was particularly popular amongst white readers. The main character, Uncle Tom, is described as an enslaved man who is saintly and dignified, noble and steadfast in his beliefs. With Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe shared ideas about the injustices of slavery, pushing back against dominant cultural beliefs about the physical and emotional capacities of black people. Stowe also discussed the morality of Christianity. The novel was written during the abolitionist period and led many slave owners to show sympathy and free their slaves. Stowe’s work was one of the contributing factors to the abolition of slavery and some also claim that it helped precipitate the American Civil War. Sadly, through racist stage productions a few years after the publication of the novel, the derogatory epithet “Uncle Tom” was created. In these stage productions, Uncle Tom was played by a white man in blackface who depicted Uncle Tom to be scornful and someone who was pro-slavery. Before 1856, American copyright law did not allow authors to have any control over stage adaptations by other parties. Therefore, Stowe never approved or profited from these stage adaptations. Because of these stage adaptations, the image of Uncle Tom transformed from a martyr that advocated for the rights of his fellow slaves to one who is a fool and apologist for slavery. Thankfully, through further retellings by younger generations, the reputation of Uncle Tom and the message Harriet Beecher Stowe wanted readers to get was restored.
How fiction has affected us culturally.
Folktales, myths, and classic literature pass down cultural knowledge and traditions from one generation to another. Fiction allows a person to step back in time and learn about life on Earth from the ones who walked before us. We gather a better understanding of cultures and a greater appreciation for them. We learn through the ways history is recorded, in the forms of manuscripts and through the speech itself. For a majority of us, fiction literature is introduced to us early in school. Unsurprisingly, works of fiction have been written even during ancient periods. History is not only a gateway to the past, it’s also suggestive of our present and the future. Within every period of time lies different people and within them, different stages in our ever-growing culture. Each individual was a product of their own time. As a species, we evolve every day and without that timestamp that literature gives us, we would know nothing about the past. There are many things that we could learn through works of fiction from different cultures and different periods of time.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem from ancient Mesopotamia regarded as one of the oldest works of fiction ever created. An epic poem is a lengthy narrative about extraordinary people who did extraordinary deeds that shaped their world. The epic of Gilgamesh wasn’t written by just one person. It is said that generations of several civilisations created the story, added to it, wrote it down, translated it, and edited the collection of stories that came to be known as the Epic of Gilgamesh. The epic of Gilgamesh has been subject to various interpretations by numerous readers, with one prevalent understanding centring around the intricate relationship between humans and their deities. By delving into this ancient tale, readers gain valuable insights into the culture, religion, and societal norms of the people who inhabited that era. This epic has directly influenced other epic poems and modern stories. The Iliad and Odyssey, epic poems by Homer, drew inspiration from the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient source of storytelling. Centuries later, Virgil crafted his own epic, the Aeneid, inspired by Homer’s remarkable works. This creative cycle, driven by human admiration for fiction and revered authors, seems bound to endure perpetually. Humans will undoubtedly continue to draw inspiration from beloved works of fiction, utilizing that creative spark to give birth to their own masterpieces, thus perpetuating the timeless tradition of storytelling and artistic evolution.
Conclusion
The impact of works of fiction on our lives surpasses our awareness. I firmly believe that preserving cultural practices and knowledge is crucial, and fiction serves as a remarkable conduit for passing down this invaluable heritage from generation to generation. Within the pages of diverse narratives, fiction becomes a powerful initiator of discussions concerning contemporary political and social issues. Acting as a catalyst, it heightens our awareness of diverse circumstances, motivating us to take action. By immersing ourselves in these imaginative realms, we cultivate a sense of justice and empowerment, inspiring meaningful change in the real world we inhabit.
