Why Literature?

A Brief Overview of the Importance

of Literature and Its Active Role in
Referencing and Changing Society.

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Copyright 1996-98 © Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.
Literature Enriches Society in
Two Specific Ways:

Literature provides the chronicles of

society and its decisions
Literature presents the human condition

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 Literature Provides
the Chronicles of Society
and Its Decisions
Literature tells the story of why and how
events come to pass
Literature reflects and effects change in
society
Literature holds events’ place in history
Literature offers interpretation and
perspective of events in history

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 Literature Presents
the Human Condition
Literature tells the story of humankind
Literature reflects the power of choices and their
overwhelming effects
Literature preserves the power of the individual and
his or her desire to triumph over adversity
Literature offers opportunities for faith and redemption

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Literature Tells the Story of Why
and How Events Come to Pass

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her perspective of

slavery in the South in her novel, Uncle Tom’s
Cabin
Michael Sharra’s The Killer Angels uses several
different perspectives of the Civil War battle at
Gettysburg
Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee is
the account of the end of the Native Americans’
way of life

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Literature Reflects and Effects
Change in Society
Utpon Sinclair’s The Jungle is given credit for
bringing the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
through Sinclair’s description of the meat packing
industry
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby depicts
the empty dreams of the rich and the poor during
the Jazz Age

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 Literature Holds Events’
Place in History
Walt Whitman’s poems, Drum Taps
describe the Civil War
Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities
describe France and England during the
French and American Revolutions

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 Literature Offers
Interpretation and
Perspective of Events in
History

John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath tells

the story of the people on the road to
California during the Great Depression
Victor Hugo tells the story of the French
workers during the beginnings of the French
Revolution

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 Literature Tells
the Story of Humankind

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn is America’s journey of
freedom and innocence
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is the
allegory of human nature during the
Salem witch trials and McCarthyism

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Literature Reflects the Power
of Choices and Their
Overwhelming Effects
William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice explores
the Holocaust survivors from a young
mother’s perspective
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick explores the
obsession of Captain Ahab and his choice
to pursue the white whale

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Literature Preserves the Power
of the Individual and
His or Her Desire to
Triumph Over Adversity
Elie Wiesel’s Night is his compelling story
of his surviving Auschwitz.
Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
portrays the Joad family’s unwavering
goal to keep the family together. They
are still used as an example of what the
human spirit can accomplish.

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Literature Offers Opportunities
for Faith and Redemption
Michael Sharra’s The Killer Angels offers the
problem of soldier fighting against friends, identifying
the many personal causes, and following protocol
while searching for redemption during The Civil War.
Elie Wiesel, in Night, must reconcile his experiences
and his surviving in Auschwitz to regain his faith.

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 Literature Is Our Story!

It is the story of our country

• It is the story of our quests
• It is the story of our celebration

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