Importance of Fiction in Our Lives; Fact or Fiction

Why? Why read fiction? What impact does reading fiction have on our lives? Many people read and enjoy fiction as they find that fiction creates a simulation of another person’s life. Many read fiction as an escape from their own lives. Many read to learn valuable life lessons. Many read simply to relax. In a recent study performed by Emory University in Atlanta researchers found that reading a fiction novel heightened connectivity in the left temporal cortex and in the central sulcus. Each are areas within the brain respectively responsible for receptivity for language and motor sensory. These heightened levels were not only seen the morning after each reading but also five days after the novel was completed. Through reading fiction it is clear that it develops imagination, perseverance, teaches morality in life and brings together societies.

First of all, reading fiction helps to formulate imagination in the lives of humans. There have been studies performed showing that an increased imagination also leads to being more creative. This is also noted by one of the great minds of the 20th century Albert Einstein who says, “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” this is also seen in the classic novel Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, Harold is a curious boy who creates his environment with his purple crayon. One day Harold goes for a walk with his purple crayon with which he is able to create anything he pleases. Harold does get lost in the story and started making several windows to find his window. He then remembers that his window is the one that his window what right around the moon. While this book is meant for toddlers. It is one of the first examples of imagination that children encounter in their lives. This novel teaches the reader about hope, optimism and the ability to think outside the box and creates a sense of imagination. Therefore the reader is developing their imagination similar to working out a muscle and is developing a sense of creativity, one of the many advantages of reading fiction.

Secondly, from many works of fiction there is a protagonist and there is a problem and the work is based off of the protagonist’s ability to struggle to solve the problem and most achieve their goal. This can be seen in Workaholics season 4 episode 7. The three roommates and best friends Adam, Blake and Anders are practising their basketball dunking skills in their pool. They get their ball into their neighbour’s back yard. They find a pile of old splintery wood. Adam thinks that a slide would greatly improve their dunking ability by adding “mid air awesomeness”. The slide works but as predicted Adam comes out of the pool with his in many pieces of wood and is pouring out as fast as a landslide. They decide to get someone to build the slide for them. Feeling as the quotes that were given were too expensive they look for odd jobs that can be done to make more money on the side. They continued to persevere and found an ad as clowns for a birthday party. Becoming an instant hit within the community and the kids as they basically act as kids themselves. They get very proud and show up to one party late and intoxicated. They find out that a clown named TK replaces them. At TK’s next party they aim to sabotage their rival by cutting the springs from a trampoline. Instead of having TK jump on the trampoline the birthday boy jumps on the trampoline and gets injured. TK then gets fired and the trio is ecstatic as they are once again the best clowns in area. They then notice that TK lives in his car with his wife and an infant. They feel very guilty for being the cause of TK loosing his job. They finally decide to have TK build their slide and have TK’s wife clean their house. In this episode we learn that through perseverance Adam, Blake and Anders were able to get their awesome slide set up in their backyard. Lastly, fiction teaches the audience morality in their lives. This comes from an individual’s ability to relate to the character and their struggles within the form of literature. This is illustrated in Jonathan Gottschall’s “Why fiction is good for you”. Jonathan explains that there is now evidence to suggest that fiction develops a sense of morality in the readers’ mind. He uses the example of the famous situational comedy Modern Family. Using the fact that “TV show that treats gay families nonjudgmentally (say, Modern Family), our own views on homosexuality are likely to move in the same nonjudgmental direction” (Gottschall). In the article Gottschall explains, “Fiction… increases society’s fund of empathy and reinforces an ethic of decency that is deeper than politics”. Reading fiction has changed from simply reading a novel but has now turned into a way to bring communities society and nations together simply based off of a common ideology or morals. In conclusion, fiction while seeming pointless in our lives has many positive attributes associated with it. These include developing imagination and perseverance, teach morality in life and bring together societies. All together as a society we should encourage increased fiction within our toddlers to help develop their brains at an early age.

Works Cited
Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon. New York: Harper & Row, 1955. Print.

Holm, Anders. "Workaholics; We Be Clownin." Workaholics. Dir. Rob Schrab. 05 Mar. 2014. Television.

"Jonathan Gottschall: Why Fiction Is Good for You." The Dallas Morning News., 25 May 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.