Literature always shows on which stage of the development the society or nation is in a whole. It is often marked as a masterpiece or banned by certain society clusters, because of its powerful influence. In such situation people often think about the purposes for writing. One can consider that the first is money, where the author thinks about the benefits. On the other hand, there are those who support the meaning and believe the idea to be the main reason for writing.
Though, first of all it is important to find out what the literature is. As it was mentioned above, literature shows the stage of the development of any particular nation. This is the top of the iceberg. If to look deeper, literature is reflecting the reality of the period it was created in. Every historical fact or particular feature of the historical period has been kept by the author and fixed in his work, sometimes in a hidden way in order to avoid problems with authority.
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a great example when the authority was depicted in a funny, often unacceptable for that period way. Carroll figured out how to avoid the questions and put the main action underworld. In order to make it look more precise and interesting he called it Wonderland. This can, actually, have few reasons. One is that the period of Queen Elisabeth was rich on events. The other is that the whole European community was shocked by the fact that Elisabeth managed to rule the country for about 63 years in a row. And this is in the period when not all kings were able to sit on the throne for a period longer then a decade. In the Chapter VIII there is a moment which actually creates the image of how the Queen ruled her country. “˜The Queen had only one way of settings all difficulties, great or small. “˜Off with his head!’ she said, without even looking round(Carroll). Lewis Carroll saved reality he faced. On the other hand, in all the stories for children there must be someone good and someone bad. Using this contradiction, the author can make hints and audience will response by considering if the fact has place or whether it is a pure fiction.
During the whole book the author tries to keep the tension and to create so called wow-moments. Lewis had chosen a cat for this role. But the cat is not as simple as it seems. Despite it has all characteristic features of the cat, it also pops up in the unexpected moments, when there are doubts. It can choose when and to whom he can show up. As in the following situation, when Alice was standing in front of the King, when the Cat asked her what she thinks about the Queen. The Queen smiled and passed on, while the King was irritated by the fact that he can not see the creature Alice was talking to and that he can not control both of them: Alice and the Cat. “˜I don’t like the look of it at all,’ said the King: “˜however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.’ “˜I’d rather not,’ the Cat remarked (Carroll). It often looks like Carroll wished to act in this way. Maybe that is why he created Cheshire cat, who is always polite and smiling. Though, he always tells what he thinks, but what is accepted.
In the Carroll’s work there are a lot of such small, but important facts. Another of them is the army. The idea of the Carroll to use cards as a measurement of human importance in the royal life is magnificent. It creates a doubtful feeling. On the one hand, we are all equal, but only the strongest survive. On the other hand, the higher position in social life is, the more important you are. But with all his skills, Carroll showed that society was able to be destroyed as to exalt. The main thing he tried to say with this book was that the simplicity is the key to understanding. Everything simple is highly gifted.
One interesting fact is that the authors are writing their literary works, but the literature is created by the nation. The author needs the audience and its appreciation or critical overview. This gives a reason to claim that the idea comes first. On the other hand, some sciences claim today that there is no literature at all. This makes to think that sometimes the idea is not accepted by the society. The time can be wrong or there already exists similar idea. Lewis Carroll’s book succeeded because it created the new world for one little girl, named Alice Liddell and masked all people in personages of the story, in an attempt to keep their particular features. He created the fairy tale.
I am not sure about the author’s main reason for writing Alice in Wonderland. It might have been money; however, if the author writes a book with the only though about money, it will not have an expected influence. If to compare today’s reality, predominantly all are writing because of money.
From my experience, I can tell that the opportunity for the author to be published in other countries gives a huge push for writing. And still the main thing in here is the idea. It can be spread by publishers and may give its offspring. The idea is a change which somebody can implement in his life.
If there was a word first, then idea comes along. People created money later. The best thing is when everything is balanced. The writer creates a book. This book is acccepted by the publishers and if all goes well, the author receives his check. The author tries to change the form, the tone, the landscape, but the idea remains the same. This is a problem. In the society of consumerism there is difficulty in finding a real literature. Of course, there are interesting ideas in each book and sometimes they are worth reading. If the book was written, this means there is a purpose for it and there are people who will read it. On this stage it is important for the author to let it go. Letting the book live its own life and becoming a part of the social life is a good idea. If the author thinks only about money, it sounds as an obsession. The power to control people’s minds is only there, where books are missing. But if people are reading books, it is hard to make them to believe in something unbelievable. The money oriented writing can have a total fiasco.
In the situation where there are contradictions in why authors are writing, the best way to solve this argument is to remember that the good book is like a cognac: the older it is, the better it tastes. Under such condition, it is up to the writer to choose where he wants to be: either in people’s hearts or in their stomachs and to ache because the digestive system not always can cope with it.
I remember how my teacher of literature, Mr. Ashraf, used to say that if we try to find interest in everything, we will loose the best moments in our life. The same I have heard from my parents. In their opinion, if I will put all my energy and all my heart in the work I am doing, I will get results that money cannot measure anyway and this is love. Love of the people I work with, love of the people I work for. As soon as I will achieve my goal they will always help me. But in order to show have influence on the audience, the idea I want to present them must be clear. There is saying that if you cannot explain something to the child your idea is not worth listening now. This means that you should work on it a little bit harder. From my experience I can say that I recent book was published in Kuwait. If to speak about money I will not receive much. Nevertheless, I received an opportunity to spread my ideas among others and who knows, maybe some of them will find a target audience and something will change in the people’s minds and attitude. Confucius said if you want to change something, first start to change yourself. With every book I understand that there is so much to do and at the same time so limited time we all have.