The Importance of Books and Literature in Teaching

The reason why books and literature are so commonly used in teaching is because of how effective they are as a structured format of learning. They are able to use numerous different techniques to adequately educate their reader about a certain subject, topic, or idea. Because of its effectiveness, one genre that is commonly used is speculative fiction. The reason it is an excellent method of teaching is its uses of symbols, ability to demonstrate important life lessons, and it allows readers to reflect on the current problems in today’s society.

The use of symbols is one of the many things that makes speculative fiction an effective teaching tool. A great example of this use of symbols can be found in the book 1984 by George Orwell. In the dystopian society that is described in the book, everything is controlled by the government. One of many ways the government keeps track of what all the citizens are through devices called “telescreens”. They watch the citizens every movement through these devices.The protagonist Winston Smith is tired of this control and begins to rebel against the government in various ways. While staying in a room above an old antique shop that doesn’t have a telescreen, Winston hears a woman singing outside of the window. Winston “could hear the woman singing and the scrape of her shoes on the flagstones, and the cries of children in the street, and somewhere in the far distance a faint roar of traffic, and yet the room seemed curiously silent, thanks to the absence of a telescreen” (Orwell 208). The woman singing symbolizes Winston’s hope of freedom from the oppressed way of life prompted by the government in the future. The singing women reappears a few more times throughout the book. This use of symbolism is able to demonstrate to readers important insight on the protagonist's thoughts and feelings. It teaches them more about Winston and allows for them to have a deeper understanding of other themes and motifs that show up later within the book. Another example of this use of symbolism in speculative fiction can be found in the short story “Harrison Bergeron”. This story takes place in 2081 in a society where everyone is equal. To make everyone equal the government utilizes handicaps to make people who are above average more average (“Harrison Bergeron”). With these handicaps the government is able to control very large groups of people and make rebellion almost impossible. They also make hobbies and simple daily tasks, like watching TV, unenjoyable for the citizens who live within this dystopian society. Because of this, these handicaps symbolize the theme of oppression. This symbolism allows the audience to have a deeper mental understanding of why the author wrote this. It teaches them to read in between the lines, and that the words that the other wrote is not always what they are trying to say. To add on to that, it also helps the audience interpret later events that take place in the story. 

Additionally, speculative fiction is able to effectively teach people important life lessons. In the short story “The Lottery” the people of a small town have a lottery to choose a person they are going to stoned to death. It is a tradition that has happened for many years. Everyone in the town picks a piece of paper from a box. Whoever picks the piece of paper that has a dot on it will be stoned to death by the other people who live in the town (“The Lottery”). The main theme being conveyed by this story is that life isn’t fair. The random nature of the lottery system allows for anyone, despite what kind of person they are, to be killed for no other reason than that they pulled a piece of paper with a dot on it out of a box. This theme of life not being fair does not only apply to this story, it applies to real life. At the same time of reading an interesting story, the reader is also learning an important lesson that can be applied to their life. Whether it be being denied by a college that they have been working to go to their entire life, or not winning a raffle at the fair, the same lesson still applies. Another example of this in the movie Logan’s Run. In this post-apocalyptic and dystopian society, everyone only lives for pleasure inside of a huge dome and must die at the age of 30. Everyone lives in the same houses, they wear the same clothes, and do the same things. The citizens of this society know nothing of the outside world. In the beginning of the movie we are introduced to the protagonist Logan 5. He works as a “Sandman” for the government. His job is to stop people called “runners” from trying to escape the dome when it is their time to be killed. Later in the film, Logan is given the assignments to find the location where the missing runners are hiding. Over the course of this mission, he meets many new individuals who not only help him with his mission, but help him find himself and realize he does not want to live the way that the government has told him to live.(Logan’s Run).Throughout this journey the audience is taught an important life lesson about being unique and staying true to yourself. Even though the main point of the movie was not about teaching life lessons, it was still able to incorporate it while still telling the story of a dystopian society.

Finally, speculative fiction is an effective teaching tool because it allows the audience to reflect on current problems in today's society. Going back to the novel 1984, the protagonist, Winston, is waiting to meet someone in the forest. While waiting Winston thinks to himself the about how “there were no telescreens, of course, but there was always the danger of concealed microphones by which your voice might be picked up and recognized; besides, it was not easy to make a journey by yourself without attracting attention” (Orwell 177). It is clear that technology has become harmful and very invasive to the people who live in this society. In the world we live in today, technology has become a big part of everyday life for all of society. Especially this year with the worldwide pandemic, people everywhere now use their devices to do their jobs,attend classes, and complete school assignments. Because of this people have made themselves extremely vulnerable to technology and the internet. This has given others the ability to easily steal important personal information and see everything certain individuals do, search, and look at online.This connection between a fictional world and the real world allows the audience to reflect how technology is used and our world and show them what could happen to society if technology is allowed into their lives more than it already has been. To add on to that, in the TV episode “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” the viewers are shown a society where at the age of 18 everyone gets plastic surgery to be “beautiful”. The main character of this episode decides she doesn't want to change her looks with plastic surgery. For the rest of the episode the viewers watch everyone around her try and pressure her into going ahead with the surgery, so she can fit the societal beauty standards (“Number 12”). The idea of plastic surgery has become very popular amongst people of all ages and backgrounds. The reason for this being the unattainable beauty standard that has been placed upon people by the media. This standard has led many people to believe that because they do not fit the standard, they are not beautiful and in turn feel the need to change the way they look with cosmetic surgery. The connection between the two worlds allows the audience to think about if they want the world to become a place where everyone has to get plastic surgery just to feel comfortable in their own skin.

There are many things that make speculative fiction an effective teaching tool. When all of these elements are combined they create a captivating and an intriguing story, while educating readers about different topics. This can not only be said for speculative fiction, these elements and techniques can also be used in other genres of literature. No wonder why books are such a staple when it comes to teaching.