Notes Of A Native Son By Connie Willis: Literary Analysis

Why do we read this? Connie Willis touches on this thought in her novel Passage. Willis states, "That's what literature is." It’s the people who go before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them. Willis. She is almost begging readers to read as much as they can. Reading teaches us morals, lessons, and knowledge through secondhand knowledge from the literature. The most obvious example of a piece of literature trying to express an idea, lesson, or moral is through an essay. When looking at Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin, a collection of ten essays focusing on race in America and Europe, we can easily pick up on the lessons and morals being presented. Baldwin

One piece of fictional literature we learn many lessons from is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Some of the themes included are not judging a book by its cover, not destroying what’s beautiful, and fighting with your head, not your fist. When we look at the world as it is, it is riddled with bigotry, racism, prejudice, and hatred. These lessons are so important to learn, and the book provides the opportunity to learn. Some say fairytales and fiction cannot be trying to tell readers something because they are fake stories. However, this is not true. If we look at “Little Red Riding Hood,” it is, at its core, the story of a young girl who is tricked by a creepy person with ulterior motives. Yet because of the fairytale characterization of the talking, lifelike wolf and the girl with her beautiful red cape, this lesson is commonly missed. Many readers don’t realize that many of these cautionary tales are for younger readers, and the fiction appeals to them as more entertaining than a brutal tale of a young girl who was tricked by an old man. When reading any piece of literature, you can find at least one example of an idea, lesson, or moral