Simran Week Three: Spreading Awareness
Books are a powerful way to connect with the audience and spread awareness about an issue. Each word in a book is artfully chosen in order to present the most compelling message. In addition, books have an unique feature that separates them from other mediums such as speech: books give readers the opportunity to listen to a character’s thoughts and actions. This is essential because it allows readers to step inside the shoes of a character they otherwise might not be able to relate to.
I can speak about this from personal experience. Last year, I read the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is about the story of two women in Afghanistan from the 1960s to the 2000s. Even though I had prior knowledge of the Taliban, reading the book really emphasized to me how horrible the Taliban’s rule was. Oftentimes, when we think about large issues, it is often in more of an abstract sense since we can never truly imagine what is going on without prior experience. However, I have personally found that reading stories about other people’s experiences allows me to think of these issues in less of an abstract sense.
Books’ ability to spread awareness can lead to changes in how society thinks and even new legislation. One instance of this is the impact of the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. This book is about the harsh conditions immigrants faced. In doing so, the book also revealed the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry. The public was outraged, and the book led to the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. I was surprised when I had first learned about how impactful this book was. It truly shows to go why words can be so important. Learning about this book also made me think about why it is so important to be aware of issues in the world. I wanted to present a question: What is one book or documentary that you read that really impacted you?
Works Cited: https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Jungle-novel-by-Sinclair#ref341377
Image Cited: https://www.meredithandwinblevins.com/archives/789
Comments
I really like how you said "each word in a book is artfully chosen," because I feel like we rarely see how many times people rewrite and ponder over their writing before we read and judge it. It reminds me of how Fitzgerald rewrote his novel, The Great Gatsby so many times before publishing it. This inspires me to begin reading books more carefully to appreciate their prose. I agree with how you can learn a lot from books. In addition to A Thousand Splendid Suns , I also learned a lot about the reality of the Holocaust from Maus. To answer your question, a documentary that really impacted me was a short documentary on Youtube where people, who were volunteers, saved thousands of trafficked children. It was very touching and inspirational.
Oh! I remember reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and learning about the muckrakers (which included Upton Sinclair) in USH! Both were super fascinating topics. Although I didn’t pay much attention to its ties to reality and was much more invested in the plot, A Thousand Splendid Suns truly made a statement of how horrid the conditions were for women under the Taliban’s rule. The Jungle allowed for safety regulations on the food we consume, which I personally find essential to the well-being of America. I honestly have not watched or read anything that impactful to me lately.
-Angel
I can concur that I find out a good amount of information through books. Many of these books I am forced to read for academic purposes. While I may not have enjoyed reading it at the time, I appreciate the knowledge that I gained after reading these books. I particularly enjoy discussing these books in English class, as I learn about how these academic books connect to the real world and what type of message they are trying to spread. The Crucible, for example, is a prime example of this scenario. I have heard of the Salem Witch Trials through mass media many times before, but I did not learn of its connection to McCarthyism until I was forced to read The Crucible for APENG.
I feel like books are always a stepping stone for us to learn more about life, society, and just almost anything in general. I find that stories are a major influence to everybody whether it being about learning something new or reflecting. Sometimes, I find myself reading something that gives me second hand embarrassment and a reminder to not do the same thing as that character.
Books are a wonderful way to connect to an issue, an event, the author's mind and a tool that you can learn from. Books give you an influence and a new experience that you have never had being really to step in the authors or character's shoes as you stated. Personally these I feel like come mostly from those that have experienced the tragedies and those that want to share and talk about something that should be talked about and shared.
I really like how you gave us examples as to how a book is so much more different than a speech. I would also choose "A Thousand Splendid Suns" to be the book that allowed me to understand real-life issues better. I believe that is the only book I actually read nonstop for school because it was just so interesting. Books aren't really my thing as I prefer to watch the movies, but reading a book grows your imagination. (I sound like a mom LOL.)
Sincerely,
Mrinmayee
I also remember reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and was so shocked by the atrocities Afghanistan women faced. My parents used to tell me how people all over the world suffered from inequality and unfair governments. Listening to this as I grew up, I kept it in the back of my mind but never really witnessed it here in Fremont. So when I read that book, I finally could understand what Afghanistan women went through and how traumatizing the experiences were. Books are powerful where they help us put ourselves in others’ shoes and experience the same emotions the characters face in the book.
Sincerely,
Faith Tong