At times, it seems that books may suffer the fate of old tape cassettes or computer diskettes. For more than a decade, they have lost their significance. Maybe not now, but sometime in the distant future, books will lose their original meaning, and reality will turn into a soulless, mechanized and automated organism. And if the edge is the problem of reading books, arguments from literature and life will best illuminate this issue.
How it all began
When the problem of reading books arises, arguments from the literature do not always give an exhaustive answer to this question, but they affect it from all sides.
Books in human life appeared in the V century. These were scrolls of papyrus that joined together. Two centuries later, parchment sheets began to be sewn together, thereby forming the prototype of the first books. It is not known who and when decided to write down the information, but thanks to this noble impulse writing appeared, and eventually books.
In the Middle Ages, the ability to read was considered a privilege of noble people. And only the most affluent family could have a book in their house. When paper was introduced into use, the price of books dropped slightly, they became more affordable, but still remained a valuable acquisition.
During the Second World War, rarely anyone had books in their house. As V. Lakshin observes in his works: “in those days, to read a book was happiness.” He tells how the guys of 10 years were read by Turgenev and Dostoevsky. They did not neglect the work of Schiller, whose most popular work at that time was "Cunning and Love."
And finally, the age of digital technology. Urbanization and mechanization of society push the book to the background. Young people read little, especially fiction (in particular, classics), because now most of the outstanding works are filmed - to watch a movie is much faster and more interesting.
The effect of the book on a person
Maxim Gorky once said: “A book is worth loving, it will make life easier.” And often books become the main factors that shape a person’s personality. If the problem of reading books is considered in this context, the arguments from fiction will illuminate it very well.
For example, you can recall Tatyana Larina from Eugene Onegin. She read out works of the era of romanticism, endowed Onegin with qualities that he had never possessed, and when she realized what was happening, she was not even disappointed. Because of her hobby, she is constantly in some kind of exalted state, denies the vanity and pettiness of the mortal world, her ideals are largely identified thanks to books, so she is so different from her peers.
The influence of books on the formation of the human person can be traced in Dostoevsky's work “Crime and Punishment”. It is worth remembering the moment where Sonya Marmeladova reads a passage from the Bible. Imbued with the idea of God's unlimited mercy, Raskolnikov, being in Ostrog, reads it.
The book is the last refuge
And no matter how positively the book affects a person, whatever the arguments, the problem of reading books has always existed in society.
Now this is the problem of "non-reading", and earlier - the lack of books. In difficult times, when a book appeared in the hands of a person, he literally came to life before our eyes. Having run through the first lines, a man seemed to disappear into another world.
It is worth recalling the story of A. Pristavkin “Rogozhsky market”. Military Moscow. Everyone is trying to survive as he can. The main character of the story managed to sell a bunch of firewood and now wants to buy potatoes. That's just, succumbing to the persuasion of the cripple, acquires a book. Realizing that it’s impossible to turn back, he begins to reluctantly flip through the pages of “Eugene Onegin” and carried away does not notice how the noise of the market square subsides, and he himself is mentally transported to the world where balls are circling, champagne is pouring and there is real freedom. The book gave him a sense of delight and hope for the best.
I wonder if potatoes can affect a person in this way?
Pill for "faith in a miracle"
And if you raise the question: “The problem of reading books,” arguments from literature open up another facet of it. Namely - faith in a miracle. The book makes you not only distract from reality, but also believe that everything will be fine. It is worth recalling the story of K. Paustovsky “The Storyteller”. The time when events take place is the beginning of the twentieth century. On Christmas Eve, the main character is presented with a collection of Andersen's fairy tales, he was so carried away by reading that he dozed off under a Christmas tree and saw a famous storyteller in a dream. The hero is grateful to Andersen for appearing in such a difficult period and making him believe in a miracle. He revived the hope that everything would be fine, and showed the true beauty of life, its greatness and transience, which should be enjoyed every day.
The problem of reading books: arguments from life
But it is worth returning to the present. The problem of reading books, the arguments of which are presented above, has not yet been exhausted. Today, people really read less. A few decades ago, when the Soviet Union still existed, its inhabitants were considered the most reading nation in the world. Each house had a collection of books, and there were lines in the libraries. In particular, this was provoked by fashion and the lack of other ways to entertain, but then they definitely read more. And the attitude to books was different. Now you can often see a neatly tied pile of books near the garbage can. Of course, it quickly disappears from there, but the facts speak for themselves: throw out books, can arguments be more weighty?
The problem with reading books these days is not that people don’t read at all, but rather that they “absorb” too much information.
If earlier children simply read fairy tales, now mothers and grandmothers are looking on the Web for tips on how to read a fairy tale, which fairy tale will be good and which will be bad. All books can now be found in electronic format. But this does not affect the fact that reading has become less. Now people simply consume information, looking through the content superficially, and the good old books, which enchant with their style, remain in the shade - they have no time.
Dystopia
Here it is, the problem of reading books in modern society. Arguments in this regard can be given from the work of Ray Bradbury. He describes a world where there are no books. Also in this world there is no place for conflict, crime and humanity. Where do they come from if no one reads? Therefore, nothing provokes the creation of a thought process. One of the moments that cuts into memory is the conversation of the protagonist with his wife. The author writes that she spent days in a room with large hologram screens and interacted with non-existent relatives. And to all her husband’s questions she spoke only about the need to purchase another screen, since all the “relatives” could not fit. Is it a utopia or a curse? Let everyone decide on their own.
Life-giving literature
Very often, literary critics call good works "living books." The modern generation is rarely keen on reading, and if it reads something, it is mostly one-day books. A simple plot, an uncomplicated syllable, a minimum of complex information or facts are an excellent trio to pass the trip to work. But after such literature it is difficult to pick up the works of Tolstoy, Gogol or Stendhal. After all, here all the information is presented in a complex format - a refined literary syllable, subtext, a complex intricacy of sentences, and most importantly - a topic that always causes a desire to think.
So, the problem of reading books ... Arguments can be given endlessly on any issue. But the main problem of our time is an elegant “mutation”. A virus in which readers have become consumers of information: they don’t care about the elegant syllable, conclusions or introduction, they want to know the answer to a specific question. And books that have transformed into a category of content. They can be downloaded or viewed, but rarely comes to thoughtful reading.