How Literature shaped me?

When I began my undergraduate studies, I saw literature primarily as a source of stories and entertainment. Texts were enjoyable narratives—something to read, admire, and move on from. However, as I progressed through my UG curriculum, literature gradually became more than just stories; it became a lens through which I began to understand human behaviour, society, and myself.

Works such as Lord of the Flies revealed the fragility of civilization and humanity’s darker instincts, while Death of a Salesman exposed the emotional cost of shattered dreams and societal pressure. Texts like Poe’s The Black Cat, Karnad’s Nagamandala, The God of Small Things, and Heart of Darkness deepened my understanding of psychological conflict, gender and cultural identity, caste, and colonial power.

Among these influences, Maya Angelou’s writing was especially transformative. Her powerful voice on women’s rights, dignity, and freedom reshaped my perspective, teaching me that literature can be both deeply personal and profoundly political.

By the time I entered my postgraduate studies, literature had transformed my way of thinking. I no longer approached texts only for their plots but for their ideas, contexts, and silences. Literature enhanced my thought process, sharpened my critical abilities, and encouraged me to question accepted norms. From UG to PG, literature has gradually shaped my perspectives, helping me grow intellectually, emotionally, and ethically. Today, it is not merely an academic discipline for me but a means of understanding life, society, and human complexity.

When I entered my postgraduate studies, literature stopped being something I read and became something I examined, questioned, and lived with. Shakespeare’s Macbeth revealed how unchecked ambition and moral conflict can shape—and destroy—human choices, while Pride and Prejudice taught me to read beyond first impressions and understand the quiet power of growth, restraint, and self-awareness. T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land challenged me to engage with fragmentation, uncertainty, and modern disillusionment, pushing me to think beyond linear meaning. Similarly, Beckett’s Waiting for Godot reshaped my understanding of time, existence, and silence, showing me that meaning can exist even in uncertainty and waiting.

Through these works, literature shaped my intellectual discipline and my outlook on life. It trained me to sit with complexity, question assumptions, and explore deeper layers of human experience. By the end of my PG journey, literature was no longer just an academic field—it had become a way of thinking, reflecting, and understanding the world and myself.