On Literature

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

When I’m minding my own business in class, reading some book or the other (most recently, A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene), a classmate of mine -you know who you are- inevitably approaches me and asks to borrow the book, flipping through its pages for a good two minutes. At the end of this ritual, he remarks, “Nice storybook, I’ll give it a try someday.” Him manhandling my book I can tolerate; if it actually encourages him to read, I’m all for it. But calling it a ‘storybook’ is where I draw the line. It has always been a pet peeve of mine, and it infuriates me even more because I can’t actually argue against it. After all, it is a book, and it does contain a story. A treehouse is a house, usually built in a tree; therefore, even if you dislike the name tremendously, how can you challenge it?

I think my main issue with the term is that it simplifies the entire concept far too much. The impact of literature -a term I greatly prefer over “storybooks”- on society as a whole, ever since the ancient traditions of passing down myths and legends by word of mouth, cannot be understated. Even some of the classics we read and enjoy today, like The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer, were originally epic poems recited by the man we now credit as their ‘author.’ But in reality, he never wrote them down at all. The poems were likely composed around the 8th century BCE, but they weren’t transcribed until much later- possibly in the 6th century BCE, during the time of Pisistratus, an Athenian ruler who is said to have commissioned an official written version. Before that, they were fluid, evolving stories, with different versions being told by different performers. In fact, there is ongoing debate among historians about whether Homer even existed or if he was merely a convenient name attributed to these stories by later generations.

The Iliad and The Odyssey were more than just epic poems for the ancient Greeks- they were foundational texts that shaped their understanding of heroism, honor, fate, and human nature. They influenced everything from Greek education to political thought and even religion. You may ask, dear reader, how ancient stories of war and politics remain relevant to
day. I would argue that they are more relevant now than ever before. Every hit movie, from Harry Potter to Interstellar to The Hangover, follows the basic framework provided by The Odyssey, where the protagonists fight their way, in some form or another, just to return home- just as Odysseus did. Pop culture references aside, with major parts of the modern world either at war or on the brink of it, The Iliad serves as a grim reminder of how people have endured such bleak times for centuries, and of the inevitable consequences of war. No matter the era or the weapons used, the fallout of mindless violence and bloodshed remains the same.

If we return to our roots for just a moment, Indian knowledge traditions have preserved philosophical insights and theological concepts through two distinct streams: Shruti (that which is heard) and Smriti (that which is remembered). Shruti encompassed divine revelations, including the Vedas, while Smriti comprised experiential wisdom passed down through generations. The Vedas, the Upanishads, and of course, the great epics -The Ramayana and The Mahabharata- continue to influence our society in countless ways. Indian literature has shaped almost every aspect of modern life, from classical dance forms like Bharatnatyam and Kathak to the plots of Bollywood movies and daily soaps. Even Sanskrit and English, though seemingly distinct, share deep linguistic connections through the Indo-European language family, which explains their similarities in vocabulary, grammar, and phonetics. Western philosophers like Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, and Thoreau were deeply influenced by Indian texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, and who can forget Oppenheimer’s infamous recital of a line from the Gita after witnessing the first successful detonation of an atomic bomb during the Trinity test in 1945?

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

If The Iliad and The Odyssey have stayed relevant for centuries by shaping how we understand war and human resilience, then dystopian literature does the opposite: it serves as a warning, a flashing red light telling us where we might be headed if we aren’t careful. Books like 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury weren’t just dark, pessimistic takes on the future; they were predictions. And looking at the world today, those predictions don’t seem so far off.

Orwell’s bleak vision of a world where the government controls truth, thought, and even language may have felt extreme when it was written, but today? We live in an era where misinformation spreads faster than facts, governments and corporations track our every move, and news is carefully shaped to fit the narratives of those in power. “Big Brother is watching” isn’t just a phrase from a book anymore- it’s reality, whether through surveillance cameras, data collection, or algorithms that know what we want before we do. A few days ago, while mindlessly scrolling through Reddit, (I won't pretend like I'm not a victim myself) I came across an advertisement for a  'free' television set, with the catch that it comes with a secondary display solely for advertisements, which is why the set itself is nearly free of cost. I do not know whether that TV actually exists, or whether it was a prototype -which is more likely- but the thing that spooked me out the most about it was that it had a built-in camera as well, which would show the advertisements only if it saw that you were actually watching the television. Readers of 1984, remind you of anything? It reminded me of something I saw on a notice of a website about piracy a long time ago- if something seems to be completely free, then you are the product.

In Brave New World, Huxley warned of a society controlled not through fear but through distraction. He imagined a world where people are too busy chasing pleasure -constant entertainment, consumerism, and mindless indulgence- to care about their own oppression. Sound familiar? Endless scrolling, influencer culture, and the obsession with instant gratification and dopamine make his vision feel eerily relevant. We aren’t forced into submission; we choose it. In Fahrenheit 451, books are outlawed and intellectual curiosity is stamped out- and we see echoes of this today whenever books are banned for offending certain groups, challenging religious norms, or promoting “undesirable” themes. Even Harry Potter was once suppressed for allegedly promoting witchcraft.

In this age of social media and binge-watching, we seem to have taken a step backwards
. Physical books are becoming rarer, but oral storytelling -once the primary means of sharing narratives- is making a comeback through reels, podcasts, and audiobooks. I know, I know, comparing The Iliad to TikTok reels is quite a stretch, but one can’t help but wonder- did the Ancient Greeks not feel the same way about their epics?

So, in conclusion- if this is an essay, an argument, an article, or whatever else you wish to call it- I ask you, dear reader, to not treat books as mere “stories.” Every piece of literature, whether profound or seemingly trivial, carries a deeper meaning, whether the author intended it or not. Literature is one of the simplest forms of communication -just a finite set of words, rearranged over and over again- and yet, it is also the most complex. That is what makes it so hauntingly beautiful. Storybooks, eh?