Yes,
there is! This is what Ruby Davaseeli, an
English Professor, and her team of undergraduate Students in Bharathidasan
Women’s College Puducherry proved.
Before we proceed to know how they did, it may be of interest to throw
some light on the vital but often neglected question-whether reading literature
helps build character in students and makes them more humane. The answer is, yes it does! Many great
philosophers, educationists, and writers have emphasised reading as a necessary
tool to build character and instil moral values in students. The philosopher
Francis Bacon wrote, “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and
writing an exact man.” Another writer and Nobel laureate William Faulkner said,
“Read, read, read. Read everything-trash, classics, good and bad, and see how
they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the
master.” And, “Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life,” insisted the Global Literacy Campaign.
What
we understand form these quotes is that reading has its own positive influence in
our minds and actions. If so, then what influence does reading literature have
on humans? The answer is simple: Reading literature makes the ‘humans humane’! Literature
is a societal mirror. It captures and reflects the society in its entirety-society’s
way of life, morals, ethics, emotions, sentiments, goodness, shortcomings, love,
hatred, anger, jealousy, power struggle, revenge…and everything. Looking
ourselves at the mirror helps us to correct our appearance. Similarly, reading literature helps us to understand
the culture of humanity and its multiple dimensions which would sensitise us to
many of the human problems. Such an understanding of and sensitivity to human
problems is what makes us more humane.
If
reading is such a powerful medium then we may ask another question-whether the
students in the contemporary world are trained and exposed to variety of
readings including literature. The
answer is an unfortunate no! The Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER), 2011
brings out a disturbing fact that the learning ability of children has declined
in India. For instance, the percentage of children in standard V who were able
to read standard II text books declined from 53.7 percent in 2010 to 48.2 per
cent in 2011 across the country. Although
this evidence is not directly related to our arguments here, it does point to
an alarming situation in the country side that large chunk of our school children
cannot read their textbook through, let alone reading and comprehending literary
books! What about the modern young
graduates then? Do they have interest in reading literature? Sadly, not many have interest in it. It is worth recalling a few examples reported
in Times of India, October 13, 2008, Patna edition. In an interview, when asked to name a novel
by an Indian author he recently read, the candidate an English Literature
graduate, openly admitted that he had read none. Another example-in a written examination, the
candidates were asked to tick the name of the author of Letters from A Father to His Daughter. It seems most of the
candidates failed to tick Jawaharlal Nehru as the correct answer. The news paper report also observed that the
reason for declining reading habit of the young generation was due to
increasing obsession with visual medium like television and internet.
Now let us get back to
the question we raised in the beginning, “Is there an innovative way of motivating
students to read literature?” Yes, there is! The way is story telling through
the exhibition of artefacts depicting the literary works of great poets,
dramatists, and novelists! This is what Ruby
Davaseeli and her team of undergraduate English literature Students did in
their college premises in the first week of October 2012. The literary event attracted college
students, teachers and people from different walks of life. Perhaps, the current trend of declining
interest in reading literature among the young generation prompted Ruby to choose
this innovative method of story telling through artefacts exhibition. Roughly 210 brilliant young literature
students, divided into a number of teams-each team with a story and artefact,
painstakingly and charmingly explained the artefacts they themselves
handmade. It was captivating listening
to the students explaining the love, hatred, anger, jealousy, power struggle,
morals, ethics, sentiments, and emotions depicted in the literary works. Immediately after the exhibition, I developed
the urge to read all of the literary works exhibited, though I read many of
them in my school and college days. I am
sure, like me, many visitors would have felt the same urge to read or revisit them.
Such is the power of visual medium. Like
the way the movies The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter ignited the passion in many
viewers to read the fictions after watching the movies.
In the
era of declining interest in reading, an innovative and constructive initiative
of literary artefacts exhibition like this, though symbolic, deserves wholehearted
appreciation and support. Such creative events
would go a long way in triggering the passion for reading in the modern young
minds.
Well
Done Ruby and Team, Keep it up…!
Selvam Velangani Manickam
