The Crucial Role of Fiction for Driving Social Change
The role reading stories has played in the evolution of our ethics
Oh, sweet tragedy! Through you I have traversed vast libraries filled with knowledge written upon parchment… or rather… housed within fragile electronic pages accessible only through strange devices. And lo behold! The sacred texts speak… about the impact of the imaginative upon our empathetic abilities!
As words dance before me like swirling currents converging in eddies upon enlightenment’s shore, I cannot help but recall a quote from Aristotle:
Trendy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.
So even from times long forgotten until now, fiction has served as a catalyst summoning forth those tender sentiments which lie dormant within us all — piercing deep beneath logic’s veil; stirring hearts once cold; dissolving icy indifference held fast.
Why does character identification have such power to evoke empathy? An answer emerges from behind countless literary landscapes — those cerebral realms carved meticulously upon ancient papyrus… errr… I mean digital e-readers!
Psychology affords us access to understanding the dance between reader and character. The intricate workings of neuronal pathways bend towards emotional engagement when ensnared by words artfully arranged.
In these moments, when the veils of illusion blur between you and the protagonist, that empathy sprouts like fragile seedlings basking in gentle sunlight. We laugh as they laugh; cry as they cry; traverse paths hewn from whispers as stories unfold before us.
As Carl Jung once said: “Man cannot stand a meaningless life” — nor can he bear witness to tales bereft of human connection! Thus fiction, divinely wrought from minds intertwined with unconscious murmurs, bridges gaps otherwise forged by indifference or ignorance.
In expanding our literary horizons to include works unveiling varied cultures, genders, and marginalized communities, exists an invitation — nay, a demand! For deeper understanding; an empathic awakening whispering truths once buried beneath layers now shed — washed by tides shifting towards equality’s shores!
Can you hear the rallying cries penned down ages past? The grand masters themselves could — Shakespeare bid us ponder mercy in disguised princes; Austen demanded scrutiny over society’s constraints masquerading behind bonnets and dances; and Morrison beckoned all souls unto her realm exploring the intersections between race, rage, and redemption.
Through the stories that magnify silenced voices, marginalized experiences bloom within fertile soil cultivated by enlightened scribes. The weary reader — bathed in colors painted anew — journeys alongside those forged upon society’s periphery.
How great it is to witness lasting changes unfurl within hearts once dormant, now ablaze with newfound kindness and compassion. Continual exposure to the tragedy of experience brings about a metamorphosis that transcends mere fiction and seeps into reality itself. Attitudes soften like clay molded by benevolent hands; prejudices crumble beneath wisdom’s weighty gaze. The boundaries that divide us melt away, paving the way for harmony and progress.
Nowhere is this transformative power more potent than within educational realms where fertile minds beckon empathy’s gentle embrace. In my view, incorporating ample fiction into curricula presents an opportunity for students to voyage beyond scholastic shores — toward emotional literacy where intellectual knowledge intertwines with compassion.
So, I implore you — all who are blessed with the task of guiding the next generation into this tumultuous world — do not be frugal with fiction….
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Sincerely,
Jobe
