The purpose of Literature is the purpose of Language – Communication. Then comes into question what is being communicated? What is being communicated has the power to influence your thoughts.
What influences your thoughts can influence your actions. Your actions determine who you are, and who you are affects the society you live in. The aim of Literature should be to bring about changes in the society.
Literature is a life-moulding tool. It is food for the mind. The mind is a powerful influencer of physical actions. So, be careful what you feed on.
Story tellers are society moulders, builders of great influences.
See Miss Havisham and Silas Marner, you don’t want to end up like them – don’t take life too seriously – move on from hurts and disappointments.
What do you want to achieve as a story teller? You can tell a great story that can make a young man NEVER to touch banned substances; make people desire to live in integrity; never to touch cigarettes, alcohol, abstain from premarital sex. You can make young people decide to make a good name, never steal, cheat or tell lies; to be decent, polite, etc.
Enid Blyton’s stories, provide foundation for quality lifestyle. She tells stories of kindness, etiquette, integrity, etc.
Cyprian Ekwensi and others in the junior readers, African Writers series, tell healthy stories that can positively influence young minds. So our Education Board must be careful about what they approve for our young people to read.
Nigeria Education Board must determine through research what our values are as a country. Through careful study and planning, the board should arrive at what kind of people we want Nigerians to be? Lairs? Cheats? Loose young men/women? Thieves? Aimless people? Violent people? Then, choose books that reflect our values and who we want Nigerians to be. We must have values as a country and we must pattern our Literature after those values. Literature must be intentional, purposeful, aimful. This is because, books affect minds, minds affect behaviours and the collective behaviour of a people, give a name to their country. Because Literature (including its dramatization: stage, TV, film) gives delight, don’t lose sight of its message. Literature transforms lives, either positively or negatively.
Books must be intentionally written. They must be planned intentionally as tools to influence young minds, exposing them to the right values. Whatever people are exposed to, that they become – young or old, but especially, young people of impressionable age.
Books for nursery/junior primary schools must be intentionally written to make stealing, bullying, lying, fighting, dishonesty, unpleasant to them. Rudeness, impolite behaviour, verbal abuse, quarrelling, must be painted as unacceptable.
Note that Literature here refers only to Prose fiction, Poetry and Drama. Literature therefore is neither reportorial nor scientific nor facts from history.
In dealing with the purpose of Literature, we’re concerned with the content and how it affects readers. So, the purpose of Literature is related to the influence of Literature.
There are many purposes of Literature, including to entertain, stimulate and interest. But our concern here is with the aspect of Literature that enlightens the reader, increases his scope of knowledge, which can ennoble the reader or debase him.
The intent of the poet, novelist, playwright or short story teller is to sell us an ideology. Take for instance, in Half of a Yellow Sun, the author paints a picture of an admirable young woman, Olanna, who tries to evade the stereotype of married life. This ideology is perhaps a new feminism, I don’t know. It’s mainly seen in the western world. For example, Goldie Hawn and her partner Kurt Russel have been living together, unmarried, since 1983; Oprah Winfrey too. For the pop culture generation, we see Kourtney Kardashian preferring an arrangement of living and having children with her lover, Scott Disick out of wedlock. This is the new school – a rejection of conventional lifestyle – an expression of freedom (only I wonder why they get offended if their partners are caught straying – methinks their liberality should extend to a bohemian kind of lifestyle). So, the message from the writer is, you can have a marriage-like situation without a legal-binding – see, the people doing it are ‘cool’ people.
Another idea pushed in Half of a Yellow Sun which we see in another novel, In Dependence by Sarah Ladipo Manyika, is the idea that you can find fulfilment in raising a child not from your womb.
This ideology has been captured in Mary Anne Evans’ (George Elliot) Silas Marner. Even the Biblical Joseph accepted Jesus as his biological son when he wasn’t. So, this ideology although well accepted in the western culture is just gaining acceptance in Africa. Adoption in Africa used to be shrouded in secrecy. So, when authors sell these ideas, unconsciously, readers assimilate and begin to practice them.
So, this is one purpose of Literature, selling ideologies which unknown to the readers, they will unconsciously receive and practice until such ideologies become the norm.
Now, what if it is a bad idea being sold? Think of a ‘good book’ well-written, with the idea of young people having an active sex life outside marriage, as a way of life. If you cast your mind back, you’ll see it wasn’t so from the beginning. As it is being written, it started being accepted, just as infidelity is being eulogized and it’s being acceptable now, to the extent that it’s almost strange to find sexually faithful married couples. Moving ahead, we see homosexuality has crept into Literature. Movies, dramas and even children plays on TV are selling the ideology.
Someone says at the onset of something, this behavioural pattern is wrong and society rejects it, then some smart person with the gift of writing, writes glowingly about how an exceptionally admirable character, a hero of some sort, possesses such behaviour, then like Robin Hood, like Anini – these thieves rob the rich and give to the poor, that makes them heroes? So, stealing becomes noble and they are celebrated.
Writers go further to show how wonderful people who take money that is not theirs have a wonderful life. So, unguarded readers imbibe this unconsciously, and boom, people are pilfering. But, maybe, we should just allow everything since in the world today every abnormal behaviour has pressure groups crying that they should be allowed to live their lives. After all, they harm us not, why don’t we just look away and mind our business?
No matter how good a book is, how enjoyable, pay attention to what the author is selling, his ideologies, beliefs, which he is trying to feed us sip by sip until they permeate our whole being and become a new norm.
So, give a thought to what you are guzzling. What is the writer selling in the subtlest, engaging, gripping, interesting way? Is it witchcraft? Is it stealing is good? Is it sexual looseness is acceptable? Is it homosexuality? Bohemian lifestyle? Whatever it is, will affect your mind, influence your actions and thereafter, the society.
Nigerian writers should do well to attack the ills in our society, for adults/junior readers. The culture of punishment for wrongdoing must be limned into our stories.
