Reading Quiz #2

Reading literature can help society better understand and connect to other cultures.  Mario Vargas Llosa writes, “we share as human beings, what remains common in all of us under the broad range of differences that separate us.  Nothing better protects human being against the stupidity of prejudice, racism, religious or political sectarianism…that men and women of all nations and places are essentially equal, and that only injustice sows among them discrimination, fear, and exploitation” (p. 40).  What he means by this is that every human being, no matter what race, religion, gender, or culture, is all equal and that one can only become connected to others of a different race, religion, etc. is by reading literature.  That is the only possibly way one can become aware of the world around him.

            An example that comes to mind is the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Through this piece of literature, people come to understand the importance of life, liberty, and equality among all people.  Uncle Tom’s Cabin truly showed what it was like to be a slave in the South in the 1850’s.  This novel played a huge part in the Civil War because it showed how awful it was for the slaves.  People realized that slavery was wrong and immoral and started fighting for what they believed in after they read this.  Literature can have such a strong influence on people to do incredible acts of valor that they never thought they had the strength to do.  This shows that through literature, people can become connected and aware of what is going on in the world around them, and standing up for what they believe in.

            On the other hand, Laura Bohannan thought that everyone viewed the world as well as stories the same way no matter what culture or religion.  However, she also proves the point that only through literature can society understand one another by finding out that she is wrong about how she thinks of other cultures once she tells a tribe in Africa the story of Hamlet by Shakespeare.  At the beginning of her story, she thinks “human nature is pretty much the same the whole world over” (p. 29).  She realizes she is wrong by the end of telling her story because the African tribe was so confused on so many different parts of the story.  They didn’t view the story the same way she did, like thinking that two years was much too long for a widow to mourn, or that it is very acceptable for the brother to marry the deceased brother’s wife.  She realizes at the end that only through reading literature and thinking about how other cultures might view the world, stories, or poetry differently, that that is the only way the whole world can be connected.  Through education of other cultures, religions, etc. and by reading can society understand one another even through their differences.

            An example that proves the point that only through reading can people become connected is the example of how differently the story of Cinderella is viewed differently in the United States rather than in China.  In Cinderella in the United States, the Fairy Godmother is an actual person who grants wishes to Cinderella.  However, in China, the Fairy Godmother is a coy fish who grants wishes to Cinderella.  In China, the coy fish is a symbol of good luck.  If society didn’t have literature, no one would be able to understand how cultures would view the exact same story so differently.  Because society has literature though, everyone feels connected because each culture is trying to understand the beliefs, ideas, and opinions of another culture in which they are reading about.

            These two articles, Shakespeare in the Bush by Laura Bohannan and Why Literature? by Mario Vargas Llosa, are connected because only through reading literature can the whole world understand each other.  Without literature, nothing connects us to one another because everyone is so different and unique.  Each culture, religion, political group, etc. will always have different opinions and views on everything under the sun.  However, if everyone makes an effort to learn from literature and understand the other person’s point of view, society will feel more connected as a whole.

Through literature, people won’t feel as alone as they did before reading.  They will feel they have a better understanding of another person’s culture because of the literature they have read on that specific subject of that culture’s beliefs.  Through understanding other’s culture, people become more aware of themselves and better understand themselves because they have learned something new about someone else.  Therefore, reading literature can help society better understand and connect to cultures around the world, including their own.