What Is Literature For?

Below is a set of five discussion-driven prompts based on a video and article. The prompts are most often assigned to students through Edpuzzle. The article has been reformatted below.

Here is an embedded link to the Edpuzzle assignment for students:

Copies of these questions are below.

Video Timestamps and Prompts

Overview | 0:15

For each of the following prompts, you must explain the concept you have just heard. You can develop that explanation with personal examples and/or information from the video and article.

Range of Emotions and Events| 1:28

It might appear to be a time-waster, but literature lets you access and experience a range of emotions and events that would take countless lifetimes to encounter.

Explain this concept in your own words, especially how, according to the video, literature does this.

Someone Else’s Point of View | 2:01

Literature gives you the chance to see things from someone else’s point of view, which is the best way to develop empathy for others.

Explain this concept in your own words. According to the video (or article), why is empathy for others so important?

Your Uniqueness | 3:18

Through books, writers are able to help us reflect on who we are. We’re all a little weird —and sometimes you can feel like no one else is— but literature opens your eyes up to the truth that everyone is a strange and interesting person.

Explain this concept in your own words. What does “strange and interesting” mean in this context? Why is that “truth” so important?

Growth Mindset | 3:59

Fear of failure can be within everyone, but when you read stories of the ups and downs of different characters, you can help show yourself that it’s okay to fail. You can see that failure is a part of life.

Explain this concept in your words. Then briefly discuss your personal understanding of the idea that failure is part of growth. It’s a cliche with some truth to it. What has your experience been?

Wisdom, Goodness, and Sanity | 4:36

We should learn to treat [literature] as doctors treat their medicine, something we prescribe in response to a range of ailments and classify according to the problems it might be best suited to addressing. Literature deserves its prestige for one reason above all others: because it’s a tool to help us live and die with a little more wisdom, goodness, and sanity.

This is the key quotation for a makerspace approach to literature. It’s how we can think of literature as a tool for solving the problem of how we live our lives.

Explain this concept in your own words, focusing on your understanding of the metaphor. What is meant by “ailments” here, and how can literature compare to medicine?

OPTIONAL RIVER WRITING PROMPT

Use the universal writing guide to write an essay about an interesting aspect of your reading life: