How can literature help us in our search for ourselves?

Question

How can literature help us in our search for ourselves?
I have to write an essay on this. The four books that I am using for this essay are Kidnapped by Stevenson, Life of pi by martel, King lear and The great Gatsby. I have to use themes, human convictions and human capabilities from these books to write this essay. I dont know how to start this essay. Any help for the introdution paragprah will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I will not and cannot write the introductory paragraph for you, but I will tell you how to approach it.

From all of the books you are referencing choose a character and a single common theme or event that relates to your life, your hopes/aspirations or your fears - pick an emotion.

Then think through what that means to you. Do not think about the assignment - think realistically. Compare the characters' experiences to yours.

You should be able to summarize what you intend to expand on for the main sections of the essay.

Dividing each section into a single topic and ending with another summary of how you wish to use what you've learned from the the characters' lives.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

maybe your intro paragraph could use an example from your own life where you can relate to something that occurs to a character in one or more of the books. you can then tackle broader human convictions, etc. in the rest of the essay.

i am most familiar with gatsby so i can say how i would appaoch this topic using my own life since i often relate to the narrator, nick because of his views and experiences that are exposed in the book.

Answer 3

you keep asking this. do your own homework. like i said if you read Gatsby the first paragraph is easy!