Psychologist Steven Pinker and literary scholar Suzanne Keen say that narrative fiction expands our capacity for empathy. When readers engage with characters from different backgrounds, they practice emotional and cognitive perspective. For instance, Swahili poetry (ushairi) in Tanzania has historically united coastal and inland communities through shared linguistic and thematic elements, promoting national unity.For the majority of people around the world, our first serious encounter with literature comes from school. Reading and writing has been drilled in all of us from an early age and this is set in motion with the start of examinations.
" literature is the great farm building the modern world and the future"
Being able to judge with a group of characters written on a page is categorical and from a student’s perspective a necessary skill. Additionally, the ability to sense themes and messages opens us up to another way of thinking.
Literature is a reflection of humanity and a way for us to understand each other. By listening to the voice of another person we can begin to figure out how that individual thinks. I believe that literature is important because of its purpose and in a society, which is becoming increasing detached from human interaction, novels create a conversation.
History is not only a gateway to the past, it’s also suggestive of our present and the future. Within every time period lies different people and within them, different stages in our ever-growing culture. Each individual before was a product of their own time. As a species we evolve every day and without that timestamp that literature gives us, we would know nothing about the past.
Literature allows a person to step back in time and learn about life on Earth from the ones who walked before us. We can gather a better understanding of culture and have a greater appreciation of them. We learn through the ways history is recorded, in the forms of manuscripts and through speech itself.
In periods from ancient Egypt, we can gather their history through hieroglyphics and paintings. The symbols Egyptians left behind are what we now use to understand their culture. This is different to Greek and Roman culture, which is found with greater ease, because of their innate desire for accuracy in their writing.
This is the power that words have. They have the ability to spark a meaning, reform a nation and create movements while being completely eternal. Inevitably, they will outlive their speaker.
Literature is the king of community development because it rules the human heart and mind. For policymakers, educators, and community leaders, investing in literary arts—from library initiatives to local storytelling festivals—is not a cultural luxury but a developmental imperative. As we navigate the complexities of the 21st century, the stories we tell will determine whether we build walls or bridges. In the kingdom of human progress, literature holds the design of development.