Learn about why reading classic literature is important and how it can help you in the long run.
Tackling classics is a daunting task for many individuals, and not just for those that are young and inexperienced. All ages arguably struggle with opening up a copy of Pride and Prejudice or The Grapes of Wrath and actually sitting down and digesting the information. Though your list of books to read is no doubt growing longer and longer with each passing day, here’s why you should put that one fantasy series down and crack open Dorian Gray and other books of that caliber.
First off, classics enhance your critical thinking and analysis skills. Your typical authors, though their books may be interesting, action-packed, and enjoyable, are most likely not writing with the level of intelligence of classic authors, and their writing style is much more simplistic and less convoluted. Authors like Henry James, James Joyce, and Jane Austen write prose that is littered and layered with countless symbols and hidden metaphors that one must have a keen eye for. Dissecting their messages is half the battle, and then understanding said messages is the other half. It won’t be a breeze, but it will feel quite rewarding once you turn that last page and can finally say that you took on a classic novel.
Not only do classics make your thinking skills stronger, but they also introduce an entirely new and complicated set of vocabulary words, words that your professors may not have even heard of before. Colleges and employers are always impressed by someone with an expansive vocabulary, and the best way to accumulate a “toolbox” of words is by reading. There truly is no better and more efficient way to get exposed to new vocabulary than by reading, and no less, reading a classic. Every other sentence, there is a word with a few syllables that might take a little bit of time or a quick Google search to sound out.
Along with both of my first points, classics delve into a diverse world of social issues and offer a plentiful amount of wisdom. Dorian Gray offers many insightful one-liners that will leave the reader hanging on every word and contemplating the meaning of the quote for days after. Quotes like “Sin is a thing that writes itself upon a man’s face” and “each of us has heaven and hell in him” are poignant and dramatic but allow room for the reader to ponder its meaning, morality, and life in general. Gaining diverse perspectives and those that are different from your own is a vital skill that you will need for life if you want any chance of cooperating with anyone.
The classics genre is riveting and exciting, so if you’re sick of the banality of young adult novels these days, check out the following list of classics to get you thinking.
- The Dead, James Joyce (short story)
- The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
- Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
- A Room of One’s Own (Virginia Woolf)
- 1984 (George Orwell)
- The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
- Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
- A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
- The Cask of Amontillado (Edgar Allen Poe)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque)