Literature and its Impact

 Literature and Its Impact

“An intellectual expression or a psychological idiom are a product time, whereas the permanent truths are capable of being lived by and seen with, higher than an intellectual vision, at all times” – Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

It is the microscopic intricacies and crystalized attributes that contribute stratospherically in the formation of a literary product. There do exist unimaginable levels of dimensions in one’s mind that form a shelter to such an avalanche of emotions. The essence that a form of art produces, is eternal in nature and possibly nothing in this world can have an ardent compulsion of having it ceased from existence. The subject matter that we do focus upon right now, is like a torch-bearer in the masquerade to a uniquely molded dimension. It’s quite funny how it drives us through such long strides, ye we are confined in a way mentally. It leads the way and it asks us to chose whether or not we want to stay. Literature gives is light, that we might opt not to shine in, but to enjoy the sheer pleasure of its luminance. It takes us deep in the oblivion, without any clue of the kind of infinity that our soul would end up into. 

What more can one expect from a piece of literature, right? But there is surely a lot more to it than just the pleasure derived from reading the piece. Literature can have an impact with such magnitude, which would be well enough to shape the mindset of generations together. But isn’t it strange that just a work of literature, would be the key factor of defining what the next big conflict in the world would be about? Or maybe it would be a reason of peace? Or the flint of a fire? It could be anything to every thing out there! What if I say, most of what has been stated prior to this, has already been happening over the years ever since the existence of mankind. We humans who base our opinions over reliance with an abstract attribute of “faith”, have been rating our attributes over certain morals and principles that have been stated centuries ago by some intellectual minds. Religions are based over the texts by their Oracle. Hinduism, the oldest religion to have its followers existing, observes its ideologies over the “granthas and kadambaris” that we may interpret as “sacred novels”. Hinduism however does not base it’s doctrine on any one particular text, but over the period of time, “Shrimad Bhagavadgita” has been considered to be the holy text of Hindus. Christianity, observes its faith to be exiting based on “The holy Bible”. Islam, observes its actions to be according to the “Quran-E-Sharif”, and so on. These texts are a living example of literature and philosophy governing the attribute of self reconciliation. They form to be a base for the ideologies of a religion. This rely does show us that, literature can be the basis for the structure of behaviour of various forms and kinds of people around the world. It is these profoundly stated words that inspire and induce thoughts and opinions in young minds. We need to understand the authenticity of a price of literature in a way that would cherish its purest form of existence while portraying its presence in other forms as well. 

Words are something that connect with a person on a superficial level. The purest form of indulgence with a being while having the deepest possible privacy of his emotions, is what connecting with words feels like. Now even literature has various forms and ways of its usage. Various genres and ideas to be fragmented from it, to give it a socially accepted title of existence. There are opinions that form an integral part of the library that we do possess. A book has the ability to ignite a debate so harsh, that it would be the reason for a war. A book has the ability to cut off an argument as easily as its words were blotted on a cut piece of papyrus. The words that are used to construct a book, are so intricately chosen, that they ought to have an indulgence over the mind of the reader without any fear of having to face an adverse opinion of the same. Texts have the ability to scrutinise and objectify the existing issues and are free of any scepticism by the critics. They have the creative liberty to speculate the outcome and point out the way things ought to happen, owing to the current circumstances.

But how can books about “Fiction, drama, poetry,etc” shape the of young minds? Aren’t they just meant for the sake of entertainment?

Well, there are these minute aspects contained in every book that say something which someone somewhere had been or has been scrutinising. There exist these forms of portraying the answers to controversies in a clever manner and through the moral of a story. William Shakespeare is your example. Shakespeare’s “ Othello ” has it’s protagonist pictured as a  dark skinned person. And those were the times when racial discrimination did exist quite extensively. And in the midst of such a situation, Shakespeare had come up with a controversial decision to have his protagonist as a dark skinned person. And this act of his, gave way to numerous reforming minds of wanting to possses the attribute of a non-discriminating society. A similar kind of act of his is observed in his play, “The Merchant Of Venice” where one of the supporting plots of the story is about inter-religion marriage and harmony between Jews and Christians who did not believe in radicalism. The same play also did highlight the way Jews were being treated with indifference through the medium of the villain of the play, “Shylock”. His famous dialogue of the torture of Jews formed to be the base for many arguments to advocate for the improvement of status of minorities world wide. 

Let us look at American literature for a while. “Emily Dickinson”, the most rebellious female poet that American land ever did witness, was one that inspired tons of feminist ideologies. She was denied the honours of having her work in poetry published, just because she was a female. But that never stopped her from writing her anguish down. She penned down her anger word by word and deeply ciphered in those words was a cry for ladies being denied proper rights. Afte her death, her work was published, which in turn lit up various thought provoking statements and verses in favour of female empowerment. She had brought it up in the west. 

The land of India, has been witnessing some of the mos profound philosophers since its very existence. Books like “Dasbodh, Dnyaneshwari, Bhagwadgita, etc” have been deeply the source of hope of the people under its influence. 

Literature is something that has the ability to make the impossible, as possible. It is all up there in ones mind that needs a change.

Authored by - Rushil Tambekar