Literature and Equity

     Throughout history, literature and literary works have existed at times when they were most needed. Most often, especially within the last two hundred years, literature has been used to comment on social, economic, and cultural issues, and to display the inequities between the majority and minority groups. For example, with feminism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many female authors wrote stories, poems, and essays on their point of view in society and how they were unfairly unequal to men in countries that claimed all people were created equal. Many black people also created their own art and literature expressing themselves and their history as well, and sharing it with others to comment on their own unequal positions in a dominantly white society. Being only two examples, there are still many more works of art and literature by many different artists and authors that have some meaning about any issue that may have been present at the time. Such works of literature give people an opportunity to see an uninterrupted view of the "other side" of the issue.

    Whenever there is a controversial topic, many people want to agree with their own view and ignore everyone else, or forget about it without actually considering what other people think, or how they might feel. Especially in our world today, where it seems like everyone just wants to argue for the sake of arguing and being right, people tend to place themselves high on a pedestal above everyone else so they can be the only right answer in their own minds. In doing so, however, they exclude others, and lose the opportunity to learn more about the issue and the other people involved in it. By writing literature, however, the other people have an opportunity to let their voice be heard, uninterrupted from relentless arguments silencing them. By reading literature, people can be given a glance into the other side's perspective, lending an ear to that voice. No one ever said we have to agree with someone else's opinion, but by just listening to them, we acknowledge that their opinion is just as important as our own. In the same way, by reading literature, we can acknowledge that their view of the issue is equally meaningful, letting us all learn from the process, and be a part of the solution.

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