How Fiction Can Help You Face Adversity
5 Reasons To Read Fiction During Troubled Times
“A book, too, can be a star, ‘explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,’ a living fire to lighten the darkness.”― Madeleine L’Engle
The world is no longer the same. There is so much in the world that has fallen into darkness. Every day, we hear more about what went wrong than about what went right. Even truth continues to be distorted.
Where do we go from here? How do we find some sense of reprieve after a difficult day?
My friend, in times like this, reading fiction can help us face the difficulties we’re going through. Here, we can find consolation in that “other world” that can allow us to see things in a far better light.
Here are just some of the ways fiction could help us in this time of adversity:
1. It distracts your attention
Instead of always listening to frightening news around you, you can focus your attention elsewhere. Instead of dwelling on various scenarios that only keep you awake at night, you can fix your attention on another world.
While there can be a criticism of the “escapist” attitude this seems to address, we can always go back to J.R.R. Tolkien’s opinion on the role of fantasy in our lives. While it may seem to lean towards “escape”, Tolkien reminded us that there are two kinds of escape.
There is an escape from something we shouldn’t run away from, like escaping from our responsibilities and obligations. But there is also an escape from something that is harmful to us. Is it a bad thing then to escape from worrying that only keeps us paralyzed in times of danger?
“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?… If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”― J.R.R. Tolkien
2. It gives you empathy
Reading fiction can help us improve our ability to empathize with the suffering of other people. Once we enter a story, we get to know various characters. We learn about their past experiences, their wounds, their fears and their many weaknesses. We learn where they’re coming from. As a result, we move away from being judgmental and we learn to be more compassionate with others.
In times of adversity, this can help us understand each other better. Instead of letting fear, prejudice and anger turn us against each other, we learn to listen and to empathize with each other.
In Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, we learn to empathize with Jean Valjean, the protagonist of the story who was imprisoned for stealing bread. Ex-convicts are easy to judge, but do we really know their story? Jean Valjean only wanted to feed the children of his sister, but he was imprisoned and considered an outcast from society.
“Those who do not weep, do not see.” ― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
3. It helps you identify with the hero of the story
Sometimes, it’s hard to look at the situation clearly when you’re in it. But once you take a step away, you see better. That’s what happens when you look at a situation from the perspective of someone reading about a fictional hero or heroine.
Fiction helps us identify with the hero’s journey. We understand ourselves as we read about the hero’s difficulties. We also start to believe in our strength as we see how the hero discovers his or her gifts. Taking that perspective, we face the difficulties in our lives with more confidence and faith.
4. It allows you to dwell on beautiful things
There are many stories where we can enter a whole new world that captivates us with its beauty. Who can forget Narnia? And who could not be amazed by the Shire where the Hobbits lived? Whenever I read The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, my spirit is transported into a world where Elves lived, a world so fascinating it can’t help but make my spirit soar.
“The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name… In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lórien there was no stain.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
5. It gives you hope
Fiction often gives us the opportunity to see the happy ending of a story. It shows us that though there may be terrible problems for the characters to face, there is a resolution that would more than compensate for all the troubles they went through.
For all that it’s worth, it gives us hope. It allows us to believe that the current darkness we’re facing is only temporary. It keeps us looking towards that day when we can see the light again and we can finally find our heart’s true desires.
“The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending… is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of… sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories
Final thoughts
In a world where darkness looms and hope seems to fade away, we can continue our journey by using the tools we have to explore what’s within. By reading fiction, we enter into another world, a world where we can see better where we’re going and where we can discover who we really are.
In a way, reading fantasy and fiction is an escape from all of the things that give us fear, anger and despair. But it is also a refuge where we can regain our strength and where we can get in touch again with our souls.
In the end, we go back to our lives with renewed faith and hope. Our aim is not to live in a world of illusions but to use the courage we’ve found to overcome the adversities we face in our lives.
“Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith. Faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.” — Madeleine L’Engle
In a world that is becoming more secular each day, let us never forget that there is a God who watches over us and is with us. In Him, we are safe and loved. And nothing is impossible with Him!