Escapism Vs Book

Books are a great way to escape the troubles of the world and find a world in which you feel you belong, and they can also enhance our knowledge and feelings of belonging in the real world. Novels also fall into a category of pop culture, leading to conformity, both in good and bad ways. Books are create emotions in people unlike any other and these emotions help bring people together. Reading novels enhances both our understandings and feelings of belonging in society.
Escapism is when a person turns to something more enjoyable and more pleasurable to get away from the harsh realities of the real world. Escapism is natural and healthy, allowing people not to be immersed in a world of depression. Krystal (2012) believes that fans of the fantasy
genre need wizards and dragons to spice up their everyday lives. On the other hand, escapism can turn unhealthy and obsessive, leading down a path which isolates the person from the rest of the world, only belonging to a very specific group of others who do not belong.
For many, reading books is pleasurable, but for some it is about “keeping up with the Joneses”.
People hear that there is a hit movie coming out in the next year, and it’s based on a book, so of course they read the book before anyone else, just to try and get ahead. Ask them about their interpretations of the book, and they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you, as this isn’t why they read it. As Murakami (1987) said, “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” This quotation isn’t all about conforming, it’s also about not conforming, and how reading books that suit the individual can augment that individuality and also their scope of
thinking.
The short film Tales of Mere Existence: “How to carry your books at school” (2010) is about a boy who learns that by carrying his books around in certain ways, he will get treated differently. In the end he does what everyone else does and wears a backpack, giving in to conformity. It isn’t only the act of reading books that influence us and our place in society, but also the way we go about the process.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, (Bradbury, 1953), the act of reading books is enough of a crime that the government can burn down a house if books are found there. The protagonist begins reading in secret and finds the overwhelming about of emotion and information kept in books, and he eventually runs off and finds a group of others like him that read for the greater good of society, a place where he truly fits in. While it is a novel about politics, there is a great sense of unity that is felt through those that read it and through those that read in general. The emotion that is felt when reading books is second only to the real deal. Books have this heart wrenching ability to tear our hearts to pieces, but also to invigorate and empower. Fiction writers greatly influenced the way society looked at the big issues at the time. Every big movement in history, the civil rights, women’s equality, anti-war and gay rights movements have all been impacted by the works of these writers. Bratton (1981) says that “the flood of fiction for children was written in the nineteenth century with the intention of conveying moral instruction.” On a smaller scale, books can have far greater personal impacts.
I’d heartily recommend a box of tissues if you were to read Bridge to Terabithia (Paterson, 1977), Les Misérables (Hugo, 1862) or any of the Harry Potter series (Rowling, 1997-2007), because you will need them. They aren’t all sad though, books can make people feel great, and many people turn to reading them when they get down. These books enhance our own emotions and can make us feel emotions that aren’t possible in our own lives. Novels can also conjure empathy. A well written book will make it out as if the reader actually experienced the events, not just read them on paper. This allows people to connect with each other when these situations happen in real life. While one may have never lost someone close to them, after reading a few novels where this happened, they can begin to sympathise and empathise with the person feeling those emotions. Fiction novels are great tools when it comes to harnessing a sense of belonging, allowing us to feel things we have never felt before, learn things we would never have otherwise, and escape to a world never thought possible.
Krystal, A. 2012, A Critic at Large, “Easy Writers,” The New Yorker, May 28, 2012, p. 81
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/05/28/120528crat_atlarge_krystal#ixzz2IvZMgkvi
Murakami, H. 1987, Norwegian Wood, Kodansha, Japan
Bradbury, R. 1953, Fahrenheit 451, Ballantine Books, United States
Yilmaz, L. 2010, Tales of Mere Existence: “How to carry your books at school”, accessed 18/01/2012, http://youtu.be/lJZk9izakuM
Bratton, J. S. 1981, The Impact of Victorian Children’s Fiction, Croon Helm, London
Paterson, K. 1977, Bridge to Terabithia, Crowell, United States
Hugo, V. 1862, Les Misérables, A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie., France