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Preston Wiebe

Ryan O’Leary

English 9

29 May 2018

The Effects of Literature on Change in Society

For centuries, literature has been an extensive part of human culture. From the early

writings of Shakespeare to modern classics like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol or Ray

Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, literature has described key events and opinions in viewpoints that

most people have never seen before. It has given us little-known perspectives on crucial topics of

human understanding and interaction, as well as exposes the social aspects not usually seen. This

gives us rare insight into people and events. Because of that insight and understanding, literature

has the power to affect change in society; the new perspectives that literature gives forms a new

understanding of the world and its people and issues, resulting in diverse viewpoints. We can

look at three examples of literature to see exactly how it has the power to change society.

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Dickens’ A Tale of

Two Cities are all famous works of literature containing key insights that change perspectives in

the world.

The first work we are looking at is Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet. In

Romeo and Juliet, two young teenagers fall in love after meeting each other, but their love is

kept secret due to the feud their family is embroiled in. Later, Romeo kills himself because he

thinks Juliet is dead, and Juliet then takes her own life when she sees that Romeo has died. This

famous tragedy opens up questions about what true love actually is and whether it should lead to

such dramatic results as killing oneself. One of the main places we can see these questions about
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love is when Romeo confronts Friar Laurence about Juliet. The friar responds with this: “Holy

Saint Francis, what a change is here!/Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear,/So soon

forsaken? Young men’s love then lies/Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” (2.3.65-68). In

this quote, friar Laurence is questioning Romeo’s love. He then claims that men don’t feel true

love in their hearts but only love with their eyes. This quote is just a glimpse of the play overall

showing us multiple perspectives on love. These perspectives give insight and give people views

that may change their own. This is just one example of how the perspectives expressed in

literature can change society by changing or providing new views to a subject.

The second story we are looking at is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A

Christmas Carol is a story about a cruel and grumpy old man, Scrooge, who cares for no one but

himself. Late in his life, he is visited by three spirits of Christmas who show him his mistakes of

the past and show him what will happen in the future. He realizes that he has been a bad person

and needs to improve his life or he will always be remembered as the awful person he has been.

When Scrooge finally changes for the better, he is a new person. “He became as good a friend, as

good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or

borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them

laugh…” (Dickens 91). This book is an example of how people can change and become better. It

shows us an example of a man who was considered mean and caring for no one but ultimately

changed. The book gives you a glimpse into the mindset of this man before and after his drastic

change for the better. We can learn from this by gaining new understanding of what we as

humans can do to become better people. It shows us that we have so little time on this earth and

that we can make the most of it and be remembered as great people. A Christmas Carol by
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Charles Dickens is just one more example of how literature can teach lessons and give insight,

affecting the way that society changes by the things it teaches.

The last book we are going to look at is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Though it's

debated what the true meaning of the story is, I think it's clear that this book is a stark warning: if

we as humans continue down our path of immersing ourselves in media, we could end up in a

bad place someday. Whether the story is truly about censorship or about over-immersing in

technology, it is a strong book with some very powerful messages. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit

451 can be so powerful because it is giving humanity a warning about a strongly debated topic.

Any book that has such a powerful message is made so that someone will look at something

from a different perspective, and that is exactly what Fahrenheit 451 does. The central part of the

story is about the forgotten books and how much power they contain. In the story, Guy Montag

discovers the power that these books contain. "There must be something in books, things we

can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You

don't stay for nothing” (Bradbury 24). Later, one of Guy Montag’s main mentors in the story

describes the power of books in this quote “Do you know why books such as this are so

important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means

texture. This book has pores” (Bradbury 38). This part of the story, describing the importance of

books, sets the scene for Ray Bradbury to create a piece of literature that gives so much insight

and perspective to the issue of censorship and technology, that it is still debated today. Such a

well written book with that much power is a pure example of a story with the ability to change

society.

As we can see, literature affects change in society by teaching lessons, providing insight,

and giving us perspectives we have not usually considered. When new insight and perspectives
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are seen by more people about crucial topics, the world and society truly changes. The three

pieces of literature that we looked at are only a few examples though. Literature as a whole is a

very powerful way to reach people and because of that, it will always be a factor that changes

society.
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Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451, 1953. New York, Del Rey Books, 1991

Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Romeo and Juliet.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005.

Web.

4 May 2018.

Dickens, Charles A Christmas Carol, 1843. José Menéndez.