There are many reasons why reading literature is important to society and important to being human. Reading literature allows us to step into someone else’s shoes and understand their differences and culture. Allowing us to step in someone else’s shoes, we can feel sympathy, rage, happiness, or love; giving us these emotions means that we can experience empathy, which is the one aspect that makes us human. Authors have the ability to reach these emotions within people by using diction, imagery, metaphors/similes or other literary devices. On top of that literature can also give audiences a glimpse of history, with the use of story-telling, it helps us better understand the time in which the text was written. Using examples of “The Lesson,”
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Sylvia and her friends were taken to a rich toy store in Manhattan and quickly realized that they would never be able to afford toys that expensive. Regardless of what the audience race is, we felt sympathy when Sylvia said, “I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody” (Bambara 93) because although Sylvia is black living in the poorest part of New York, readers understand that it is unfair that because Sylvia is black, she may never receive the type of life she wants. “The Lesson” is an important piece of literature because it emphasizes the importance of understanding individual differences and that everyone does not live the same way. The audience was able to step into Sylvia’s shoes with the use of the first person, and we felt the same emotions that Sylvia was feeling, even if we were not in the same situation that she was …show more content…
Furthermore, literature allows us to discover families that may seem much different than the families we know and love. For some, family means sticking together no matter what, for other’s it means rebelling for the sake of your own happiness. In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds,” the audience discovers how hard family relationships can be. Two Kinds” is a short story about a young girl attempting to please her mother, but also attempting to cultivate her own identity at the same time. However, the mother and daughter not only must face a generational difference but also a cultural one. The mother is an immigrant from China and the daughter is a natural born citizen of America. The mother is an immigrant from China that believes in the American dream; she believes that anyone can succeed in America with enough hard work and practice. However, her daughter was raised in American and does not have the same ideology as her mother. Instead, she believes that people should have their own identity and thoughts, rather than trying to be like someone else or impress other people. In the end, her mother tells her that, "Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!" (Tan 392), which compels the daughter to want to rebel even
Sylvia and her friends were taken to a rich toy store in Manhattan and quickly realized that they would never be able to afford toys that expensive. Regardless of what the audience race is, we felt sympathy when Sylvia said, “I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody” (Bambara 93) because although Sylvia is black living in the poorest part of New York, readers understand that it is unfair that because Sylvia is black, she may never receive the type of life she wants. “The Lesson” is an important piece of literature because it emphasizes the importance of understanding individual differences and that everyone does not live the same way. The audience was able to step into Sylvia’s shoes with the use of the first person, and we felt the same emotions that Sylvia was feeling, even if we were not in the same situation that she was …show more content…
Furthermore, literature allows us to discover families that may seem much different than the families we know and love. For some, family means sticking together no matter what, for other’s it means rebelling for the sake of your own happiness. In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds,” the audience discovers how hard family relationships can be. Two Kinds” is a short story about a young girl attempting to please her mother, but also attempting to cultivate her own identity at the same time. However, the mother and daughter not only must face a generational difference but also a cultural one. The mother is an immigrant from China and the daughter is a natural born citizen of America. The mother is an immigrant from China that believes in the American dream; she believes that anyone can succeed in America with enough hard work and practice. However, her daughter was raised in American and does not have the same ideology as her mother. Instead, she believes that people should have their own identity and thoughts, rather than trying to be like someone else or impress other people. In the end, her mother tells her that, "Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!" (Tan 392), which compels the daughter to want to rebel even