Dayanara, of Quincy, Illinois, wrote: “… my dream is to become an author someday. My dad would never approve of it though. He wants me to become someone who can change the world, but he doesn’t understand writing can change the world.”
Go Dayanara!
But … can writing change the world? Having just been emerged in the world of the American Revolution so as to write Sophia’s War, the evidence is clear that such writing as Tom Paine’s Common Sense, and “We hold these truths to be self-evident … “ changed the world. But since Dayanara wrote to me, perhaps, it’s fair to ask if fiction can change the world? More specifically, can writing for young people change the world?
I am struck by how many adults vividly recall books they read as young people and with an enthusiastic memory for detail that is striking considering the years which have passed. I’ve noticed, too, how many people recall, in particular, a teacher who read a lot to a class. I’ve often been told by older women that, when younger, they read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle many times. Only rarely however, did they tell me what they did because of that reading.
Speaking for myself, I do believe And To Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street, opened my imagination. The Wind in the Willows gave me a new awareness of the natural world. Treasure Island, informed me what a boy (Jim Hawkins) could do.
Beyond all else, however, I believe reading taught me how to think. And what I read was, of course, writing.
2 thoughts on “Can writing change the world?”
Oh, ones I’m interested (but that doesn’t mean anyone else is): Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Anthony Trollope (at least his Ballister and Barchester series and a couple of his stand-alones), Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins (obviously I’m into Victorian literature). Thomas Hardy, George Elliot, William Faulkner. I haven’t checked to see what’s already done. I’ll look at the Essentials and Summaries list, too. I did enjoy doing the complete works things, like Dickens and James.
Oops! Sorry, that comment was for something else! Here is what I meant to say:
Some fiction can directly change the world, a notable example being “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Most often, however, the story changes the reader, who in turn goes out to change the world. Funnily enough, this morning I am rereading Meindert de Jong’s “The Wheel on the School” and had just come across the statement, “…sometimes when we wonder, we can begin to make things happen.” The power of literature is in sparking and then directing that wonder, which in turn can change the world.