Literature, boiled down to its core, is the reflection of human ideas and ideologies. A literary work’s words are tools carefully crafted to the author’s intention, whether that may be self-expression, social and cultural commentary, education, or an exploration of the human condition. However, literature never exists solely in the author’s dimension. It is instead a nexus point between the reader, author, and the broader socio-cultural context. As a result, literature becomes a weapon used to propagate a call to action, like evolutions and uprisings, and, undoubtedly, violence. Whether that violence becomes moral and justified or considered inherently evil is determined by the audiences of time. Thus, what follows is a quick glimpse into a literary history with a legacy of violence.
1. The Bible
Arguably the most controversial piece of literature in Western history, time and time again, the Bible has been used as reasoning for everything from war to charity. For centuries, humanity has waged wars in the name of religion. The 11th and 12th century Crusades, for example, resulted in the estimated deaths of over a million people across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Moving across the globe, in colonial North America, the Bible had been a tool to aid in the forced conversion of Indigenous children to Christianity, notorious for its use in the violent so-called assimilation systems such as residential schools.
2. The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Communist Manifesto became the trigger for the social revolutions that would define much of the twentieth century. From Moscow, Russia to Beijing, China, along with several proxy wars, the Communist Manifesto sparked revolutions led by the working classes against oligarchic and corrupt forms of government. Violent uprisings and warfare would result in the exile of the former government and the formation of the Communist state. Though the topic of communism is hotly debated to this day, critics argue that communist states tend to fall victim to authoritarian regimes.
3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Though now considered problematic for the stereotypical portrayal of its Black characters, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 anti-slavery novel had been crucial in forming the basis for the American Civil War between the pro-slavery Confederacy and the abolitionist Union, having greatly fuelled abolitionism in the United States. The popular novel contributed to the debate on slavery on a national scale, which heightened tensions between the American states, eventually leading to a war that would result in the abolishment of slavery and its enshrinement in the United States Constitution.
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