Conner DierksenMs.
PachecoWorld Literature, Period 41 December, 2017The Influences of Literature “Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way”. (Salman Rushdie). You may not agree or you may not with the quote from Salman Rushdie, but literature is societies way of expressing itself and it allows people to express there opinions through words in every way possible. Literature by itself can evoke lots of your emotions this is due to the word placement that is use in stories and literary essays and poems. There have been many important time in history where literature has change the fate for the better and the worse of humanity. The definition of literature is “Written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit”. (Definition of literature).
Therefore the definition of literature is considered an artistic creation that can influence anyone to make a decision. There have been multiple people in history that have used literature as a set of guide lines or a descriptions on how to act.One of the greatest involvements that literature has had on a place in history dates back to July 18, 1925 when Adolf Hitler wrote the autobiographical book by the name of Mien Kampf. Mien Kampf became a manuscript of beliefs of the Nazi party this is due to Hitler placing his own political beliefs and plans on how to better improve the German society in which he believe had become weak and frail. The mien Kampf is know considered to a part of literary art that was written in prison by Adolf Hitler.
This book changed the mindset of many people and cause them to join the Nazi regime which was lead by Adolf Hitler and they believed that he would purify the German race. As we know this literary piece had a large influence because in result many people joined the Nazi regime and are responsible for up to six million deaths of Jewish men women and children. Even though the ideas for Mien Kampf expressed Hitler’s political views many people who joined felt that this book was a voice for them and expressed and accumulated their thoughts in a whole. As we know this book created a large following and had a disastrous influence for anyone of the Jewish faith and resulted in millions of deaths. Another Literary piece that has had tremendous influence on the human society is one of a religious purpose the literary piece that has had the most influence is the bible. The reason this has had such a large effect is there are many books of the religious faith the bible is the book of a religious faith that has caused the biggest influences on the world.
The bible has established many followers of many faiths but, has also has created massive amounts of conflicts in the world. “There have been a total 123 wars that have been classified that have been cause by a religious cause”. (Lurie “Is religion the Cause of Most Wars?). The followers of the bible are classified of the mostly the religious view but there are some follower who belong to know religion but still have faith in the bible. The bible has had some tremendous effects on the world this is by far the most influential book that man has ever had in the history of man.
The bible is approximately 2700 years old and is the most well know book in and is the world and is owned in most house holds. The conflict begin when Christianity its spread through the Roman Empire is when conflict really began when the Christianity was spreading. The Spanish Inquisition was a large mass killing of Protestants ordered by the Catholic Church because they felt their view on religion was the right way. Therefore there the bible has caused many deaths and this is why the bible is the most influential book in all of human history. There have been many authors that have put their own view in book especially their political view this is due to how authors express themselves. One author that expressed his views in all his books was Theodore Seuss Geisel but known by his pen name Dr. Seuss where he wrote many books and political cartoons.
Dr. Seuss wrote many books that express his views one was Yertle the Turtle this book expressed tyranny and Yertle is now known to be an analogy for Hitler. This is due to the comparison that Hitler would overturn and do anything to rise to the top as he did during World War II. Another one of his book that expressed a large amount of his views and this was The Butter Battle Book this book is now known for its close representation of the cold war where neither the American or Russians would pull the trigger they both ended it in a seize fire. The last but not least book that had a large influential piece in it is the Sneetches this book has described the difference and levels of humanity and how we treat people who are different from us. The Sneetches is also thought to be an analogy for the Jewish people during the holocaust because, the sneetches wore stars upon their stomachs the same as Jewish people were forced to wear stars upon our chest.
These are very influential books because we read them as children and don’t comprehend the hidden meanings until we reach adulthood.There is also many things that are dependent this is because literature is key in our society we use it in everything. In the educational system literature has changed everything in our schooling to this day we have access to almost every piece of literature that has ever been created and access to anything we wish to know by the internet. Therefore the reason literature has been influential is because of the fact that we learn everything form literature this is due to the fact that literature is the largest contributor of information in our society is can tell us what has happened in our past what we believe many happen in our future. We document everything from what has happened in our past in all of our wars our outlook on literature has change but sometimes it has been changed for the better or worse. The French revolution was largely an influential piece in history in taught all of us that men all will express themselves in literature and in politics.
The French revolution is described as “The bottom line bought a violent end to feudal powers and monarchy and asserted the right and supremacy of the individual free will”. (Impact of the French revolution). The French revolution also caused a new source of literary inspiration. This is a large impact because it shows the influence of one revolution that put its mark on literary history. It gave many poets a source of inspiration this is due to individuality and equality and set forth a new form of romantic poetry.
The influence the French revolution had that paved a way to modern literature can’t be measured this is not only because it change society in a whole but changed it for the better of humanity. During this period many commoners and philosophers found out that they can express their feelings of disagreement and any other feeling they have through literature. The new form of literature that was found during this time set many guidelines for future philosophers and showed the idea that individualism in literature is needed and in order to express the emotions through literature in a whole. This is how the French revolution effected modern society through literature.Napoleon Bonaparte has also has a large influence on literature this is because there have been many pieces of literature that have been influence on is believed to be War and Peace. The novel War and Peace is a very influential because to this day it is seen as a mirror of our time and shows that in a moment of crisis that we either close down or open up and show the strength of our creativity and emotions.
There were many people influenced by him not just literature was influenced one major person who was influenced by Napoleon was Adolf Hitler he used many of Napoleon unusual war tactics. There has been many thing Napoleon was known for his harsh tactics of war his military tactics and he made sure to document all of his military expertise. One thing that most don’t know about Napoleon is he was a literary genius and a notable collector of art that he was able to acquire many art piece in his spoils of war.
Napoleon had a huge impact in literature because he showed many military personals how his military actions and beliefs can change the world. Society would not be the same because we may not be where we are today in military strategies without him. This is how Napoleon changed literature and how he influenced it.These are some examples of how literature has influenced society these examples all show certain ways in how literature is changing our society in a whole. All literary thing can express thing that you feel and it show that in society that it’s our voice that there is our way of expressing ourselves. This is how literature has changed all of us and how some books can have such a huge impact and how an author can write something that can express not only his thought but, yours too.
These are just a few examples on how in our society it is ever changing and is it is a never ending example on how society can be influenced by anything and everything no matter how small it is from books to large conflicts.
