Literature and Society

Literature is simply great. It provides us with such contentment which is unmatched. It directs society. It contains the best experiences and thoughts of the people of society. It is said to be a mirror for society. We know about society through it. It reflects the ideas, feelings and people of the society. It enables us to peep into past as well as future besides present. It is our best friend in isolation. It contains elements of astuteness. It gives us the accurate moral advice. It is the literature that develops and elevates everyone. It keeps us up to date.

More than once it has been said that literature reveals society. It is an imperative documentation of what humans have seen in society, what they have practiced of it, and which has the most abrupt and long-term significance for all of us. The proper endeavor of literary persons ought to be providing in their works as a facsimile of society. No doubt, literature and society are interlinked. The truth of literature is not different from that of society. It tells us not only what is seen or learnt, but also the thoughts and feelings which are associated with other men and produced in their mind. It can therefore give us a more real and more truthful portrait of men and behaviors. The characters in literature are the creations of writer’s mind. They are the representations of the original as well. We always expect from a true literary artists not merely a picturesque presentation of life but a picture of life, at once real and ideal that is to say not a copy of what it is but what it ought to be. In fact all art is rooted to society and no literary artifact can be more separate creation. The personality of or the collective experiences of authors through which they observe life is greatly predisposed by life around them. Even the greatest genius like Shakespeare and Kalidas described the society into which they born. They were not totally free from the impress of time. Whatever the scenes of assassination, psychosis and maneuvers we find in their plays were the result of their efforts to furnish to the contemporary society. We should not fail to remember that the value and brilliance of literature is superior to life. It is the peculiar glory of great literature that it lasts longer than kings and dynasties. The political world of Homer is dead while his creations are living even today. The grandeur of Rome has gone but the fame of Virgil is yet animate. The visions of Kalidas still stir us like the living fire. The great medieval powers are forgotten but the songs of Dante are still relished. Similarly, the Elizabethan age will be remembered as long as the English language lives on account of its Shakespeare.
Literature, according to the lexicon, is the pieces of writing that are valued as works of art especially novels, plays and poems. Reading good books brings us closer to the best thought of the best mind and this habit gives us superb joy. Sir Richard Steele says, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Reading is our unfailing companion of solitude. It is s source of eternal joy and pleasure. In reading books we find an escape from the cares and worries of life. Books also revolutionize the public opinion and reform the moral tone of human society. We should be careful of avoiding bad books, also, which may spoil our good habit and character. In short, it presents the picture of the world in a more attractive manner than the world really is. Stories and novels are a great source of pleasure and recreation. It takes us into a new world of imagination and joy and we forget our worries and surroundings. The nexus between literature and society is crystal clear. We can take an example of Bandopadhy’s novel; “Pather Panchali” that depicts human quality. The story of the novel deals with familiar matters of today. The sorrow and joy of the countryside in a village that is passing away in a fast changing social environment before eyes are described in it. It traces the life of Apu from the childhood. The first part deals with social milieu in which Apu was born and it has been depicted sensitively. The portrayal challenges may be sought in society. Apu’s sister Durga is the principal character round whom the littlie boy grows up. What a loving character is Durga! It is through Durga that Apu enters the nature and for the first time in Bengali fiction; Nature becomes a living personality that weaves its spell on the human mind. Literature is instinct with the spirit of our society. it brings home the beauty of the society and its people in unexpected ways. The vivid description of nature appeals to our mind and we can see Nature with our eyes and hear manifold music with our ears. The novelist looks and grips mind and heart of the people of the society. Literature and society is the two sides of the same coin. Each gives life to each other. Without society, literature cannot be visualized. Similarly, society depends on the direction of the literature. The two great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have been guiding Indians and others since a long time. It indicates the impact of literature on society and vice versa. Both have greatly influenced the social strata, political arena, moral education, conducts, religion, physical and psyche of human society. Even today we imagine the Ramrajya. Literature and society is tied with invisible force which can never be separated. They exist together as the carbon copy of each other.

Criminalisation Of Politics

The word Politics has today become one and the same with disloyalty or opportunism. It has degraded into a shameless business. Everything is reasonable in politics. The result is that honest and noble people try to keep away from Politics. However, Democracy stands for the rule of law and the holding of free and unbiased elections to make certain the will of the people. But in quite recent times this peaceful method of community change has been much vitiated. Brutality, rigging and booth-capturing have become the order of the day. This actuality was highlighted during the elections to the local bodies including District Boards, Municipalities and Municipal Corporations as well as elections to the Lokshabha along with a number of state legislatures. It was found that confirmed criminals and even those who were behind the bars were given tickets by different political parties. What is more shocking is the fact that they won the elections. There was cruelty on a large scale in a number of places and hundreds of lives were vanished. The cult of the gun prevails and criminals are often hired for the purpose of capturing booths and violent behaviors or threats of violence. Without a doubt the entire democratic process is neglected. All this indicates the criminalization of Politics today.

The Government and law enforcing authorities seem vulnerable in modern day Politics. Today MPs and MLAs are either have close associations with criminals or are men with criminal records. Criminals have gained access to socio-political survival and the expectations on democracy appear to be panic. Gangsters move about freely in order to eliminate their political opponents and creating fear. Unfortunately, nobody has the motivation to put down such immoral actions with and iron hand.

Criminalization of Politics is the greatest jeopardy that faces democracy these days. Leaders of all political parties and intellectuals want to remove criminals from the electoral process but anti-social elements are involved to ensure their success. Quite often the appeals are put forward for a protective measure against the activities of the anti social elements. But the menace is that the electoral process would pass into the hands of anti social elements. The access of criminals into the political field has caused chaos in the sphere of the administration or government.

Democracy desires command and an enthusiasm to stick to a set of laws of self-control. We need the rule of law and a suitable agency to enforce it. Such an agency is furnished by the courts. Criminal law may be considered as the most effective weapon of social defence. A large number of politicians take aids of muscle power during elections either to coerce voters for securing their votes or to degrade the opponent contestants. The consequence is that the exploit of muscle power has become a habitual characteristic of the electoral procedure. The cerebral may complain about this practice, the newspapers may transmit lengthy critiques in condemnation of it, the public strong-willed human beings may depict it as a refusal of free and reasonable elections but the fact remains that the vice leaves and one cannot flee from unsympathetic actuality. The electoral process thus leads to close linkages between the anti-social constituents and the elected officials. The close linkages of anti-social elements with the local politicians operate as a frightening feature for the law enforcement agencies from ensuing and taking sturdy deed in opposition to them. According to newspaper reports about 100 elected members of the legislature during the last five years had illegal records. We can well visualize the panic of policemen while dealing with such facets. Incident also enlightens us that just the once an individual gets elected to a legislature the election secures for him not only some kind of amnesty from legal course of action for his precedent actions but also affords him implicit invulnerability from further proceedings against him for violation of criminal law.

It is no suspicion and accurate that this is not legally acceptable and the law does not tolerate such circumstances of concerns but systems are at all times found to thwart the law. Once the consciousness exists that it is complicated to secure the assurance of an accused in a court of law, the sufferer of the offence of their close relatives, look to extra-legal techniques to reconcile score with the offenders. Such a state of affairs means a collapse of criminal justice and it outcomes in a situation of the turmoil and lawlessness. The efficiency and influence of the administration of criminal justice can be guaranteed only if we can abolish or at least curtail political and other inappropriate hindrance in the analysis of offenses. Indian democracy must be saved from the eminence of criminals and all the wickedness that it implies. Under no circumstances should law be taken into one’s own hands. However in this respect the leaders of the country themselves are not liberated from charge, for they have been blameworthy of stirring the people to take alternative to aggression.
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