van peer

In the article “Literature, Imagination and Human Rights,” Willie Van Peer proposes that through excursions into the literary canon one can evoke their imaginative sense and ultimately escape an encapsulated society, through developing a higher ethical awareness. Further he notes the “Edification hypothesis” which articulates that reading literature makes the reader more socially tolerant, more perceptive, and more politically conscious. In other words, he emphasizes the role literature plays in triggering this disencapsulation mentality and how by association guides our actions towards the establishment of a better world. Van Peer dedicates a large part of his article to discussing the concept of an encapsulated society. He argues that we as humans are limited by our presuppositions, beliefs, customs and habits. The author argues that principles of solidarity, of justice and protection may be operative in all cultures, however they are often used restrictively in that they are made applicable only to ones own social group or “clan.” Effectively, this renders those who are not part of this “privileged group”, such as slaves, people of different ethnic, social, religious backgrounds, and gender as excluded from such principles. Van Peer suggests that it is literature which proves to be this catalyst in allowing us to break free from this “culture of exclusive rights”. Through acknowledging Charles Taylor, he articulates that the canonical works of the past provide us with the strength and insight to confront the difficult transition into a disencapsulated world. (Taylor) He argues that there is an intermediate stage between realization and

Our current view of the world is restricted by our limited imaginations and in order to ignite, or expand our imaginations to appreciate “what might be,” we must be exposed to alternatives of the current realityHe argues that there disencapsulation is a concept repeatedly brought up in the Article, where we essentially through imagining a better world, break free from the limitations and restrictions that the current world holds. He articulates that people in the past did not have the slightest problem with social segregation, as to them it was engraved as a principle of their culture. To Van Peer It was only through imagining freedom, and social reform did movements against segregation occur.

Van Peer asserts that this transition from what is to what might be, is ongoing and difficult. Extending our knowledge to what is “out there” can be very straining,
After the acknowledging the development of this mentality, Van Peer proposes the idea that
Van peer demonstrates how diving into historically acclaimed texts such has “Hard Times” gives people the opportunity to realize potential changes that could occur in society. Van Peer claims that Dickens’s portrayal of true nature of each social class in the time period allowed readers to open their eyes and realize how corrupt the hierarchal system of the time was and the misery of the working class.

Literature has a unique power to make us understand the thoughts and feelings of other human beings.
Van Peer begins by articulating that literature can have profound effect on the way people th