Historical Events In Literature

When historical events happen, it is nearly of human nature for us to learn from mistakes and apply corrections to prevent any similar sort from repeating. With that being said, some events have a larger impact on us than others. Those are sometimes then transformed into pieces of literature and art, as a reminder in the far future the outcome of certain acts are not kind. With these pieces of writing, most are focused on a singular person/family and their experiences throughout a period of time, yet all help us remember and understand the suffering and pain they went through to conquer their time period.

Whether a magazine, comic book, biography, diary, all writings of literature based on events of history impact all societies, reminding us of what led up to large events, and all in all can help us prevent anything similar from happening again. For reference, a few pieces include, The Diary of Anne Frank, written based on the Holocaust and Nazi situation, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, written based on slavery and people of color, and Gone With The Wind, written based on the war and reconstruction period. 

The Diary of Anne Frank focuses on the story of a young girl named Anne, when she and her family are forced into hiding from the Nazi’s during the holocaust. The Franks, along with another family, the Van Daan’s, are hidden in the upstairs of an office, with the help of Mr. Frank’s co-workers. They stay hidden for over a year, and as some parts of Anne’s diary are included, we hear how much she misses her regular life, friends, and activities. Most people, if they decide to read her story, feel empathetic for her, how people treat her, and what she has to go through at such a young age. In the best case, people will take this into account, and realize killing/harming someone just based on their ethnicity or religion is useless and dumb, we are all human and deserve to believe in what we want to. 

Another piece of literature written based on a historical period of time is, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, which reflects on the early 1900’s particularly in Mississippi, where blacks were unfairly treated and placed at the bottom of a social hierarchy. This story focuses mainly on the Logan family, specifically a young black girl named Cassie. Her family goes through many, many issues during the plot, including unfair rent issues, unfair situations with whites, and Cassie’s experiences at school. Most get a sense that certain white groups and families are attacking the Logan’s especially, due to the vast amount of land they own. Once again, no matter the skin color or race, we are all human and deserve the same, fair rights. This story hopefully gives other race readers an opportunity to see what blacks are forced to suffer through, just being black. With all that has happened the the past century, we can hopefully make sense and think of all as equal.

There are many examples of written pieces which reflect on historical events, all with the purpose of spreading awareness of treating all people equally. Hopefully, in the mere future, humans will not be so impatient and dumb with one another, and countries may finally be at peace, working together and collaborating instead of starting wars and causing trouble.