multiculturalliteraturethemes

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Powerlessness in Literature

“The acknowledgment of powerlessness does empower. We humans are powerless over a whole host of factors and conditions in the world, and mostly we’re not bothered by these.”

-Peg O’Connor

Has there ever been a time in your life when you have felt powerless? Have you ever been stuck in a situation that you have had absolutely no control over? 

When characters are powerless in regards to their fate, it creates an atmosphere where the world has gone dark and one is defenseless. This can be exhibited in “The Guest” when author Albert Camus sets the stage of the story by detailing, “But it would be hard to forget that poverty, that army of ragged ghosts wandering in the sunlight, the plateaus burned to a cinder month after month, the earth shriveled up little by little, literally scorched, every stone bursting into dust under one’s foot.” The world that he has created for his readers is one that already feels powerless, even though the main conflict has not yet been introduced. 

To encapsulate this feeling of powerlessness in writing, one has to first make the world of the character capture the powerlessness of a situation that the character is about to be thrown into. Another example of this can be found in “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka when the main character is turned into an insect.

Despite this harrowing experience, the main character still attempts to live normally and go to work. It describes his bedroom in his parents’ house and his schedule, which consisted almost entirely of working and traveling to work. These details help contribute to building a world in which a situation like this can occur. 

To teach others this theme of powerlessness in literature, I would recommend assigning readings on short horror stories since, in many, there is a point in which the main character is powerless, such as in “The Metamorphosis” when he finally escapes his room and his family and boss have to witness what he has become. 

To get students to gain interest in this topic, one could let the students choose the stories they analyze for powerlessness. That way, the student can look at pieces of literature they already enjoy and analyze characters that they are interested in. For me, I looked into the story “Hans in Luck” by the Grimm Brothers and found that trying to analyze Hans’ reaction to his predicament and the choices he had to make to get back home due to his powerlessness that burdened him with each decision taught me a lot about this theme. Students could also look into the stories behind different movies that they like to find themes of powerlessness and how to build stories where characters experience powerlessness and are forced to react to it. 

Overall, powerlessness can, ironically, have a powerful impact on a story and a character’s decision, so learning how to analyze and create stories with themes of powerlessness can help teach writers how to keep their writing creative and intriguing. 

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Capturing Culture in Writing

“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Culture is an important part of an individual’s identity and understanding one’s culture can strengthen an individual. To be proud of one’s culture is to be proud of one’s self and one’s origins. 

Confucius valued culture and believed that embracing culture could help a nation be successful. He believed that having good values and being humane would allow China to be prosperous and bring the people together.

In Confucius’ collection of works, The Analects, it mentions this interaction: “The Master said: ‘Shen, my doctrine has one single thread running through it.’ Master Zeng Shen replied: ‘Indeed.’ / The Master left. The other disciples asked: ‘What did he mean?’ Master Zeng said: ‘The doctrine of the Master is: Loyalty and reciprocity, and that’s all’” (The Analects, 4.15). This piece of writing reflects on China’s value of loyalty and good doings that was deeply rooted in their culture. 

In order to express culture in writing, the author has to introduce the audience to the beliefs and traits that define the culture. The author has to research the culture and ask what the traits and beliefs of the culture mean to its people. In order to teach students how to make their piece of writing cultural, you have to challenge them to be able to define different cultures and identify the values that that culture holds. 

My favorite way to practice learning and identifying the values and traits in a culture is to do it with make-believe ones. I analyze the societies and the cultures that are in fantasy books and movies. For instance, a good movie to practice this on is James Cameron’s 2009 movie, Avatar. The fantasy world has its own people that the main character, a human, has to learn about and adapt to their ways. The character goes on to find value in their culture and try to help save their world. By encouraging students to identify the traits and values of different cultures, the student can learn how to include them in their writing and encourage others to value these cultures as well, just as Confucius did with China. 

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Short Stories

“Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people, and open us to the claims of others”

-Peter Forbes

Short stories are able to teach lessons, help us see life through different perspectives and worldviews, and shed light on important issues. They can also be very entertaining to read!

In the short story, “Man of La Mancha” by Chu T’len-Hsin, the focus is on a man who was more obsessed with what people would think of him when he died than the threat of him actually dying. The character mentions, “No matter how you looked at it, it would have been a pretty loutish way to go, so I refused to fall or even to rest, though by then the chill from my internal organs was spreading out to my flesh and skin.” The main character refused to die in any way that would be considered lame or embarrassing. This story brings to light the problem of how affected people can be from things like reputation and status and it makes the readers recognize these things in silly in the face of actual death. 

In order to help teach others how to analyze and write short stories, one should first cover the five basic elements of a short story: character, setting, conflict, plot, and theme. From there, the student can begin to understand what creates a short story and how to recognize these elements in the short stories that they read. 

You can assign short stories to your students or let them choose some of their own to help them get engaged and bring some variety to the classroom. These short stories could have different themes depending on the time of year that you teach it. For instance, every Halloween I’ll read some of Edgar Allan Poe’s scary short stories to help get me in the mood for the spooky holiday. This should help keep the students engaged and excited to keep on learning!

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Symbolism in Cultural Literature

“In terms of the symbolism, I think that if you do it right, writing is a bit like dreaming”

-Steven Knight

Symbols are used to create meaning and sprout emotions in literature. Symbols can represent ideas or a cause that can lead to bringing people together and lighting the spark of change. 

In “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Marmon Silko, the story of a young woman being away from home and exploring her relationship with a criminal man, who may be a mountain spirit, is littered with symbolism and represents her journey through the story. The river at the beginning of the story is symbolic of both the woman’s way home and the woman’s way back to the man. The story details, “I knew it was there, even if I could not see it, on the sandrock hill above the river, the same river that moved past me now and had reflected the moon last night” (p. 2543). The river follows her throughout the story and it symbolizes her journey and the choice that she has to make- whether to take the river home or to follow the river back to the man and their relationship. 

One way to teach symbolism is to first start by explaining how symbolism works. Symbols need to represent an abstract idea and have an emotional tie with it. The best, and easiest, example of this is emojis. This is an easy way to help students understand how commonly symbolism is used and is a way to apply popular culture into your teaching. Tracee Orman, a writer for The Secondary English Coffee Shop, wrote “Emojis are probably the most widely used symbols for communicating various messages, emotions, and ideas. It helps to point out to students that they are already utilizing symbolism in this way.” 

Of course, books are also a great way to identify and analyze symbolism and some book recommendations for this topic would be: 

-To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

-The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

-The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

-Animal Farm by George Orwell

-The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

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Identity in Literature

“Unless we base our sense of identity upon the truth of who we are, it is impossible to obtain true happiness” 

-Brenda Shoshanna

Identity is an important concept that makes up the base for characters in literature. Who someone is, or who they see themselves as determines the kind of actions they will make and how they will drive the plot.

In “Chike’s School Days,” by Chinua Achebe, the main character is established in his own identity that has been formed by the mix of his family’s cultural beliefs. Although they are African, they also share many cultural beliefs with the English and have many of the same values. Even the name of the character, Chike John Obiajulu, is demonstrative of his identity and what defines him as a person. The name “Chike,” the name gives a literal description of an aspect of his family life and the role he plays as the only son. His other names, “John” and “Obiajulu” also showcase different parts of his identity. “John” demonstrates his family’s acceptance of the “white man’s culture” and “Obiajulu” is a connection to their African roots.

Literature is a powerful tool that can help others shape their identity and discover important parts of themselves. WordPress states in a post, “Literature doesn’t just make us smarter, however; it makes us ‘us’, shaping our consciences and our identities. Strong narratives help us develop empathy. Individuals who frequently read fiction seem to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them, and see the world from their perspective. With empathy comes self-awareness, of course.” 

One of the best ways to teach identity in literature is to challenge your students to figure out what makes up their identity. One’s identity is often a mixture of other identities that one has come across and experiences that one has had that have shaped their person. You have to get your students to question what creates their identity and who they are. 

A practice method for this to help get students engaged is to have them each pick a character they like from a movie, television show, or book and have them pick about the identity of that character. This can be a fun activity for the class and can spark many debates!

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How Choice Affects How the Audience Views a Character

“Every choice comes with a consequence. Once you make a choice, you must accept responsibility. You cannot escape the consequences of your choices, whether you like them or not.”

-Roy T. Bennett

Choice is a powerful part of a story that helps drives the character towards defining who they are and helps the plot progress. A person’s true colors come out when they are forced to make hard decisions where the consequences and drawbacks are unavoidable. This leads the character to their destiny and gives their story meaning. 

In Jorge Luis Borges’, The Garden of the Forking Paths, the main character has to make a dire choice between his country or his people. The story speaks, “I thought that a man can be an enemy of other men, of the moments of other men, but not of a country: not of fireflies, words, gardens, streams of water, sunsets.” This line shows the intensity and pressure behind the choice that the character is forced to make, and also helps establish this character’s values. It is clear that this character has an attachment to his roots, and does not want to see them torn up. 

In order to teach the importance of choice to young writers, it is essential that they get a complete grasp of the character and the character’s perspective. Many writers often have difficulty getting a complete understanding of the character they have created, and this can lead to having them make decisions that do not agree with their values. It is a lot easier for members of the audience to see when this happens because they often times become very invested and attached to the characters. 

An exercise that can incorporate popular culture in class would be to have the students all pick a character that they admire and have them define the character, then analyze why they have made certain choices. For instance, Iron Man in Avengers: End Game, made the pretty drastic decision to sacrifice himself, despite stating on record multiple times that he had a lot to live for. This can help get students engaged and can spark classroom debates!

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What Happens When Characters Exhibit

“Anyone can become angry, but to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way… that is not easy”

-Aristotle

Everybody gets angry from time to time. Whether it’s from a minor incident like someone cutting you off on the way to work, or something major like getting cheated on by a romantic partner, everyone has felt anger and rage in their lifetimes. 

In This Way For the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, by Tadeusz Borowski, the main character has an epic meltdown full of rage. The character exclaims “‘You see, my friend, you see, I don’t know why, but I am furious, simply furious with these people—furious because I must be here because of them. I feel no pity. I am not sorry they’re going to the gas chamber. Damn them all! I could throw myself at them, beat them with my fists’” during this tantrum, shocking the readers. 

This intense declaration shows the audience the character’s inner thoughts and dark desires. It makes the audience see the character’s true colors and the fact that they stand out in their beliefs. This gives the story an interesting edge that they did not see coming. 

In order to teach the impact of rage on characters, teachers should be encouraged to ask their students about a time they have been very angry and how they reacted to that. Did they come to any conclusions about the thing they were upset about? Did it shock others or cause others to change their perception of them? How did they grow from releasing that anger? From there, students can understand what drives a character to act out like that and how it can affect a story, just as it affected their own personal stories. 

To incorporate some popular culture into the classroom for this topic, ask students to share some of their favorite rage quit videos from the internet or discuss some epic meltdowns that they have seen characters have in books or movies. This can be a fun discussion for the class and an opportunity to teach. 

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Author Bio

Hello to everyone reading this blog! I am Alexandra Gawronski, an English major at Grand Canyon University, who would like to share with you some of the knowledge I learned in my Multicultural Literature course. This blog is meant to help teachers and other students gain an understanding of themes in literature and culture. 

Multicultural literature is literature that shows aspects of life from the viewpoints of different cultures across the world. These works of writing show the reader what life is like outside of their own culture and demonstrates the values of these other cultures. Throughout this course, we have discussed works from ancient China, China during Confucius’ time, modern China, Native American authors, Africa, African American authors, Latin America, and Post-Holocaust Jewish authors. These pieces of writing each demonstrate different cultures, values, and beliefs that are held throughout the world. 

Global, in relation to literature, means that a work of writing can be translated and read across the world. These works, however, are not only understood by other people from different cultures across the globe but can also be related to. Although the works all display different values and beliefs, they all have one thing in common: they all show human nature. Although people from all over come from different places and act differently, we are all still human, share many universal morals, and have emotions. Although someone today may not be able to share the same insight as a person who bore witness to the Holocaust, we can still understand that kind of pain and sorrow that they felt because these are feelings that all humans have felt at some point. This makes literature global because people from across the globe can relate to it.

The blurring of national boundaries in 20th-century literature can best be explained as the mixture of two or more cultures. The “blurring” of two nations occurs in literature when values from more than one culture mix in order to show that these cultures have mixed and that they have a mixture of beliefs and values. A real-world example of the blurring of national boundaries outside of literature can be the marriage of two people from different cultures. When this happens, the two families of the couple are joined together and as a result, their views, beliefs, and values will mix and the family will no longer have just one national identity. 

20th-century literature portrays struggles with cultural identity by using stories to convey the intricacies of identity and how many do not exactly fit into the culture they were born into. In many cases, stories show a character being torn between cultural identities or disagreeing with the values of a culture that they are supposed to represent. In many pieces of Chinese literature, you can see women who are forced to submit to cultural norms in order to fit into their cultural identity, despite disagreeing with the way things are and the share of power that was held between men and women.