Art is all around us. We see it in our entertainment, movies, and video games. We see it as coping mechanisms within our plays, paintings, books, and poetry. Art is seen in one of its purest forms in literature. Literature’s affect on art is too great to be ignored: the way that people are able to form emotional connections to characters and events in literature is healthy and relatable. It makes the problems that we are facing today seem a little more manageable. I read because of the deeper understanding and feelings that only literature can offer.
As an 8th grader, my literature class read the novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. After reading the novel, we watched the play and later, the movie. It deeply inspired me to enter the world of theatre in high school.
By reading the book before seeing the play and movie, I managed to get a deeper understanding about the characters — who they were, where they came from, what they felt, and why they wanted what they did. Having this background, I was able to relate to the struggles of these characters, which humanized the characters and made me feel that there was someone else who understood.
People in pain suffer less when they know that they are not alone. Literature creates new worlds and new characters that have the same struggles that many of us do — whether it’s a disability, mental illness, difficult past, or even just trouble in personal relationships. Many times, people view the struggles of the characters they read about as, “if they can do it, I can do it, too.” Literature saves.
Critics might argue that the art of literature makes us as a society too submissive and easily manipulated because we are able to empathize and relate to villainous characters. While a fair argument, I have to bring up the state of mental illness in our country. There are too many people in prisons and jails today, when really all they needed was counseling or help with their mental illness. By understanding the thoughts and feelings of characters that appear villainous, it is the hope that we can improve our lives and the lives of those around us by normalizing emotion and being an outlet and a resource to those with mental health issues.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I certainly was never the type of person who would enjoy reading classic old novels and familiarizing myself with classic literature. The importance isn’t the novel that you’re reading, the importance comes with your connection to the story and its characters.
The truth of the matter is that you simply will not like every novel you read, and that’s okay. You will not like every play or movie that you see, and sometimes art just won’t impact you the way it impacts other people. But even the pieces of literature that you aren’t particularly fond of just makes you more grateful for the ones that really do touch you — the ones that you take advice from, the ones that make you laugh and cry.
My background in literature has shown me time and time again that the characters we read about every day heighten and deepen our emotional capacity and make us feel that we are not alone in the struggles we face daily. Deepening these emotions and truly feeling a strong sense of empathy has helped me to create and perform some beautiful art. I have even created characters of my own based on my experiences with literature and the arts. Literature has had so much of an impact on me that I believe I would be a different person if it weren’t for my background in literature and the arts.
