paper

and here's my paper

Apology for Literature

In a consumer-driven world, we feel the need to constantly assign values to everything. Nothing is allowed to just stand alone as its own reward. So whether it is money, possessions, or status, the material gain you can get from something is usually what determines its value. Sancho Panza, ever the realist, subscribed to this notion by saying, “nowadays, wealth is better than wisdom: an ass covered in gold seems better than a saddled horse” (589). This idea is applied to fields of study just like everything else. Unless a major can guarantee you a high salary, your choice of job-offers and the promises of “success”, it is generally considered to be useless. English Literature happens to be one of these disparaged degrees, which forces us to constantly be defending it. Sidney wrote his apology for poetry as a defense against historians and philosophers, but today those two schools would be lumped together with Literature in the humanities. Nowadays we must defend our studies against our Engineering, Architecture, and Business counterparts. While some may find this a hard thing to do, I find it a rather simple task, given that the benefits of studying literature are so glaringly obvious to me.
For one, the study of literature teaches one how to think. It could be said that majors like math, engineering, and chemistry are basically the perfection and memorization of formulas, equations and tests. In no way is that a bad thing, but it constrains the mind in a way that prohibits creative and analytical thought. In literature there are no set rules; no equations to follow; no absolute truth or ways to prove something one way or another. Literature is not bounded by scientific reasoning. For this reason, those who study it learn to think in a way that cannot be achieved by studying the sciences or business. One must learn to think for oneself to be a Literature major. Literature students cannot follow a pattern of proofs to come to conclusions; they must use their minds to discover their own meanings. Studying literature teaches us how to think on our own, a skill that is invaluable in almost any profession, English-related or not.
Secondly, studying literature is the best way to develop decent communication skills. Articulation and proper use of language are skills whose values are limitless. What good is an idea if it cannot be properly communicated? Misunderstandings have been the downfalls of civilizations and the causes of war. Literature teaches expression and rhetoric. Without literature, we would have a 1984-style language, with words removed and the language simplified, rendering Earth a boring and expressionless place to live.
Thirdly, literature is one of the most powerful things in the world. Look at the billions of people whose religious beliefs are based on the study of a Holy Book. Look at the effect of Hitler’s propaganda. Look at Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the hastening to civil war that it brought on. Literature can persuade, direct, convince and teach when it is used properly, so it makes sense that we should study this powerful tool to understand how we can employ it in a beneficial manner.
Finally, and most importantly, literature gives insight into the human condition that no other study can. If engineering and business are the practical side of life, literature is the passionate side. Ask someone what makes life worth living, and the answer rarely settles on money or a job, but can usually be traced back to an emotion. The love of family. The joy of skiing. The pride in an accomplishment. Ask them what were the worst times of their life and once again it goes back to an emotion. The pain of death or of a break-up. Guilt from a mistake. Depression. Fear. If the heights and depths of human existence are marked by emotions, why is the one field of study that explores these emotions so often disparaged? We can read a history book and know that we declared independence in 1776, yet we can not understand the fervor and passion of patriotism without the writings of Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin. We are told that the Civil War was fought to end the cruelty of slavery, but cruelty is just a word until we see the suffering of the slaves through the writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglas to tell us. We know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, but we can’t imagine the fear they had without the writings of Anne Frank. Literature lets us understand each other; allows us to empathize with each other in a way that could not be possible with other studies.

In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, John Steinbeck said:
The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication, nor any membership in literature.

The study of Literature is the study of what is truly important. It can give hope. It can teach. It can create compassion. It can make us laugh. It can make us cry. It makes us understand why we do certain things. So, as long as there are humans and human emotions, literature will be necessary, and the study of it invaluable.