Social transformation through literature
WRITING, reading, and analyzing literature have multiple dividends, including the solutions to the socio-political situation of a country. The reason is that literature discusses and debates social issues and shows a positive direction where the answer is available. Besides, the literature is an attempt at the freedom of expression and speech, which makes it a platform to present everyone’s point of view. When all are given a chance to speak, the voices of dissent are listed, and it helps us understand the reasons and causes working at the back end of the problems. For example, the poetic voices of Faiz and Faraz in modern Pakistan have played a significant role in creating resistance and resilience in the voice of dissent.
The world of literature mainly shapes the world around because it impels the mind to imagine what is difficult in the real world. Not only this, but it also further inspires and urges individuals to realize their dreams. It means the world’s beauty and aesthetics are mainly because of the works of literature and art. The poets like Maki Qureshi, Toufiq Rafaat, and Daud Kamal have also contributed to making and shaping a body of literature called Pakistani Literature to give an identity to Pakistan.
The world’s great writers wrote their imaginaries and showed their people the path which could lead them to glory and beauty. It has helped shape societies positively, and the world has become more habitable, stable, and worth living. This function of literature should be popularized because it is a vehicle for the social mobility of ideas and discusses societal changes. Consequently, literature becomes the force to depict the social trends and the new acceptable shape of society. It shows and paves the way toward the beautiful world and spreads the message of love among human beings. For example, the novels of Charles Dickens proved instrumental in securing the rights of women and children, and those of George Eliot and Virginia Wools proved women’s leading roles, as discussed by these writers.In the modern and postmodern era, the voices of T. S Eliot and Chinua Achebe became significant in the context of voicing and making national imaginaries.
Literature at the national level represents the desires, wishes, and dreams of the people where it is being produced. As such, it becomes a presentation of the people and society. It gives equal chances of representation to all sections of the community. It represents identity, imagination and aspirations, and the people’s history. It provides the chance that the people of a society may represent their people instead of some foreign power that should represent them. For example, the writers like Shakespeare and Milton developed the imaginaries of the British people, and Robert Frost and Walt Whitman in America did the same. In the case of Pakistan, the writers like Sidhwa, Mohsin Hamid, and Kamila Shamsie are doing this very well.Mohammad Hanif introduced many new and workable critical discussions on the Pakistani socio-political setup. The same can be witnessed in the fiction by Earnest Hemingway and Fitzgerald in the United States of America.
Because of all the above-discussed points, literature helps transmit people’s culture, psychology, faith, and desires and establishes their point of view. With the passage of time, literature instils and injects healthy trends to improve the shape and hue of society. In this way, it proposes a strategy to create a better world for children, women and men. Literature plays the role of a transformer that is readily accepted. Transformation of society is an essential ideology to walk with the rapidly changing world. The nation that learns to live and progress as per the trends around them and attempt to claim their share of this progress and technology become rich nations of the world. The progress of man and improving the quality of life has depended mainly on transforming society.
Pakistani literature has also played this role since the movement for Pakistan started. The men and women writers reflected the desires and aspirations of the aspiration of people through the portrayal of men and women characters. When the writers found progress in the West and America, the writers began to teach people the change towards betterment. Such women and men characters were portrayed to show people their role models during the 1970s. From then onwards, many writers opened the world outside and introduced us to the world phenomenon of different natures. It has further promoted technological advances and the need for the digital world. It moved further and made Pakistan part of world issues because the people of Pakistan are spread far and wide, and the world is making an impact all around them and directly and indirectly impacting the world of Pakistan. This impact has brought wonderfully notable changes. Such is the role of literature, which is a magnificent, great, and powerful force for the benefit of society.
