Novels That Led to Social Change

12/12/2010

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Although it is extremely rare for a work of fiction to have an impact that brings about social change outside of its literary context, two American novels that have had such an impact are Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair.

We all know that Uncle Tom's Cabin has been credited with starting the Civil War, and it's author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, is remembered as "the little lady who began the war."

I have read Uncle Tom's Cabin but have not read The Jungle.

From the synopsis of the latter book, I understand that Sinclair's story is about a Lithuanian immigrant who worked in Chicago's infamous Packingtown in the early 1900s.  While Sinclair hoped to expose the packing industry's appalling labor conditions, it was his descriptions of the disgusting filth and contamination in American food that outraged the reading public.  As a result, President Theodore Roosevelt demanded an investigation which led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws.

A well written novel may not impact a whole nation, but it can have an impact on its readers. 
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My Brother's Ship

11/21/2010

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We had plans for Thanksgiving week but all of our plans were laid aside when we received the news that my only brother, my only sibling, had slipped away from us last Friday.  He died suddenly from heart complications.  He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother, a brother-in-law, an uncle...and so many other things to so many people.  He will be missed.  We hadn't lived geographically close to each other for years, but he was there, within reach of the telephone, and now he's gone.
     I've always loved the allegorical story of the man who boards a ship and as it sets out to sea those on the shoreline wave and tearfully say, "There he goes."  But those on the other side of the water see the ship approaching and joyfully declare, "Here he comes!"  I know my brother had a Savior, a mother and a dad as well as other loved ones to greet him.  But we are left on this earthly shoreline to nurse the void left when he set sail.  

Tammy's Book Parlor
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The Inspiration for Stories

11/9/2010

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The imagination is a wonderful thing!  Remember when you were a child and someone read you a story?  The story was simply words printed on pages, perhaps with a few illustrations.  But your mind grasped the storyline and filled in the details and probably even added a few interesting elements that weren't in the story. (I learned this while reading to my young grandchildren.)   As you grew up and read books for yourself, you not only grasped the storyline but  mulled over the author's perspective in telling the story.  If the story touched you as poignantly as the author hoped, you probably had a new viewpoint to consider when you finished reading.  Novels, though not written with the factual accuracy of non-fiction, have challenged our consciences, lifted our spirits, and transported us into our neighbor's shoes.

I believe creativity comes from...our Creator.  Reading the stories of the Bible opened, to me, an understanding of the baseness of human nature as well as the assurance that God transforms the vilest of men if they allow Him.  To this day, when I read the life of David, I want to weep with him over his failures and rejoice with him over his victories.  God, Himself, inspired the story-telling not sparing the ugly parts so that we might gain His perspective.

My fingers are tripping over each other in their eagerness to finish my next two books - one set in the Southwest and the other in Mexico.  Are the stories based on real people?  I think you will know when you turn the pages.

 
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    Author

    The people who have most influenced my life were not Very Important People (VIP's), except to me.  They were ordinary acquaintanceif s, friends, and family, whose little every day stories, told in my presence,  inspired me.  Many of these people never realized what a book their life stories would make -- until I came along! :)  I enjoy the writing and retelling of those ordinary lives, in novel form - which gives me license to create dialogue and suspense.