Nocedo 1

John Patrick Nocedo

Mr. Ronald Hennessy Esguerra

Lit 1

February 7, 2020

Literature of Apples and Oranges

One can never compare apples to oranges, an old adage says, but you can compare apples

from other apples, oranges to other oranges. Maybe we are not comparing it right, maybe we are

focused on its totality that we neglect differences that make one superior over the other. The

same logic is present when comparing the literature of knowledge and the literature of power.

Both are entirely different, yet setting standards of what it means to be superior should break

such deadlock and have a better comparison between the two. Before we arrive to such

comparison it is better to first analyze what makes both literature that of knowledge and power.

This paper aims to explore truth as the soul of the literature of knowledge and why the literature

of power is more superior than the literature of knowledge. By then we can formally answer

which literature is the subordinate to the other.

Truth, spirit of literature of knowledge. There are two types of literary work that exist as

far as knowledge is concerned. The first is the one that has value and the other, does not.

Obviously, the former talks about textbooks, self-help books, academic journals, scholarly

articles and the like. They are considered as a literature or knowledge because it contains value

that is practical and can be applied in our external world. The latter talks about gossips, libel,

slander or hate speech that often destroy something or does not contain any practical value. What

separates literature of knowledge to that of neutral literature is its spirit, it is in search of truth or

tries to transplant truth in our day to day existence. That attribute is exclusive to the literature of
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knowledge because it is a literature that seeks to understand aspects of life its main purpose is to

explore a field, accounting, psychology, engineering, tourism and the like. It tells us what to do,

how to do, and when to do it. Without that attribute it becomes neutral literature that does not

provide anything to its readers. Why is it then considered exclusive? Because it is just that, a

manual that tells us what to do, it never inspires to do something it is just there in case we want

to learn or we forgot what we learned. Transplantation of truth is foundation of literature of

knowledge, a backbone that makes it stand, without it, it is just a piece of literature.

Literature of power, the superior literature. There is another type of literature that is

contrasted with the literature of knowledge, the literature of power. This type of literature takes

the foundation of the literature of knowledge, it contains truths about our existence but is written

in such manner that reflects our life. I am talking about classic novels like 1984, the great

Gatsby, Les Miserables and other works that has been the inspiration to move everybody away

from their comfort zones and change something. It is called literature of power because it

impacts the way we live and see life that a textbook can never provide, the reason why it is

superior to the literature of knowledge. It gives us a fresh perspective to live life, it changes our

principles, it makes us understand the struggles of others and challenges our imagination to build

the kind of life we want for ourselves. That life-changing attribute makes the literature of power

superior.

Both literatures may appear to be an apple to orange comparison. I think it is clear by

now that by exploring its effect on the readers, we can make a conclusion that the literature of

power is indeed that powerful. Knowledge about truths, we can get it in months or years but the

truths in the literature of power lasts for a lifetime.