Modern Literature

I have always received a shocked reaction whenever I tell people I was born in and lived in India for 8 years before moving to the United States. “You don’t sound Indian,” or “your English is really good,” are common replies, and, every single time, I have to explain my family and my upbringing to alleviate the curious person’s confusion.

What I often fail to mention is how I developed my English skills at such a young age in a country of primarily non-English speakers. From the ages of 3-12, I read quite literally every single book I could get my hands on. These books helped me grasp English at a young age; a skill that has helped me in every facet of my life.

I find language to be the most impactful factor toward success. To be an effective leader, you must communicate using clear and concise language. To be an effective collaborator, you must learn to use empathetic but firm language. And to be an effective learner, you must be able to articulate your thoughts into questions that can be directly and easily answered by a teacher.

The importance of literature lies in its use of language. The first-ever books were created as a method of sharing knowledge, and to this day I find my most effective learning done by reading a book. It may not always give you the instant answer you are looking for, but literature provides the gift of multiple perspectives, many of which may not be even acknowledged until written about.

As the popularity of reading books takes a hit, I find that people are less open to new perspectives. Combined with the social isolation and mental health crisis caused by a global pandemic, reading has become a far cry for many as overstimulating social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels take the attention away from more pressing matters. Reading from different perspectives helps develop empathy, and as more and more people start reading less and less, the average empathy in interactions drops, and people become less understanding of each other as a whole.

Yet there are new methods of reading that exist in ways never imagined just 30 years ago. With the immensely accessible internet, anyone can read articles or magazines or newspapers or blog posts or literally anything, at just the click of a button. Opinion pieces are becoming more prevalent, and platforms such as Medium and Reddit allow for anyone to share their thoughts easily.

Literature is evolving. From Shakespearean plays and novel-length poems, writers have begun to say more in less. As attention spans begin to shrink due to overstimulation, I believe the world of literature will see a shift from the previously expected longer works to shorter, more opinionated and colloquial pieces. However, these works serve the same purpose: to articulate the thoughts and perspectives of the author using masterful language.

As literature becomes more modern, an individual’s grasp over language will become their most powerful skill. Soon, all literature will become electronic pieces, and who knows, maybe someday in the future 12AP English will be analyzing a Tweet or a Reddit post just as we have analyzed Shakespeare.