How Literature shaped me ?

One can think and easily answer why education is important. To earn money ? To become a scholar and popular ? To get a good life partner ? Apart from these all my answers are like this, " Educated people think rationally than other people and tackle the problems in life differently. They can put their ideas and thoughts differently when one needs help and try to solve the problem in different ways. "

Yes, for me LEARN - UNLEARN and RELEARN is the stepway to go forward in life. As a student of English literature, After completing my Bachelor and Master, now I must have to answer these questions. What is the role of literature in my life in the sense How Literature shaped me ? How will I apply this learning lesson in my further life when it is needed ? When I was about nineteen - twenty years old, I was very emotional. During my Bachelor I had fitted fix definition of literature in my mind that,

" Literature is the mirror of Society. "

Yes, during Bachelor when we studied George Orwell's " Animal Farm " one quote from that text touched my heart and tried to analyse it deeply but didn't catch the words of this quote properly. The quote was,

" All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Now, After completing my master's I have learned the very meaning of this quote. When I came to take admission in Department Barad sir had asked to answer some of the questions. One of the questions was What is literature ? My answer was only in one line which you can see in the above image which I have put at the beginning. Now, I can answer the same questions in very different ways. Now, I understood that,

" Literature is the X - Ray image of society which shows us the good as well as the bad picture of society. "

The very first question stuck in my mind is that,

" In literature characters grow but do we grow ?"

It is very hard to answer this question when the time comes to apply these learned lessons in real life. Yes, very stupid ideas stock in our mind about religion, blind beliefs and customs of society from our childhood. But when we grow, become educate and try to think rationally these all stupid ideas stop us to think in different ways. At that time it is very hard to come out from all these things. After studied literature during these five years what I have learned that,

" At Least be honest with yourself. "

But when I was studying the text " The White Tiger " I have learned that honesty and over kindness are like the hedge of thorns. If you are honest and over kind then what Vikram Halwai ( The father of Balram Halwai) said that you will be treated like a donkey. Do the work for your own self and get the success. If you work honestly then you will never get out of the Rooster Coop.

Other thing which I have learned from literature is that,

" Struggle makes us Hero. "

Virginia Woolf, J.K Rowling and other many female writers are the best example of that. After struggling a lot you will get success and can become great. As Barad sir always says that if you want to get success you must have to prepare yourself to be strong. This is the biggest thing which I have learned from literature that no matter what other people think about you and whatever they say, you must have to ignore them and prepare yourself to be strong. And then you can work towards your goal.

Yes, Harry Potter is a masterpiece for me because it gave me a new vision to think in a different way. This is the text from which I have learned how to choose the path of right and the path of easy. How to sustain ourselves strong even in darker times also. As Dumbledore says to Harry that,

" It is not our ability, it is our choices that makes us what we are."

" Happiness can be found in the darkest of times if we remember to turn on the light. "

" No divine, no dead once, no loved once to save us. It is we who save us. "