In the past it was believed that literature achieved its importance due to its ability to show people the way to goodness and virtue. To what extent can this be said of the importance of two of the works you have studied?
As human morality is something that has been contemplated and debated throughout time, a lack of definitive answers has led authors to continue to explore and guide human nature in a positive direction. Amid the severe brutality of a dictatorial regime in Korea, 1980, the book “Human Acts” tackles at what it means to be good. Set in Gwangju during the pro-democracy protests and spanning to 2013, violent crackdowns on student uprisings necessitate the inherently altruistic qualities of humankind to help others and to take a stand together. The polyvocal narrative provides insight into the acts of good will of numerous suffering characters. Through the recurrent idea that ‘humanity’ presents itself on a confoundingly wide scale from barbarity to benevolence, Han Kang urges the reader to embody kindness and selflessness in times of desperation. In the near-future novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Atwood similarly leads the audience to question the nature of human virtue, however toys with the fluid definition of virtue through the lens of a theocratic society which distorts Christian values. Set in ‘The Republic of Gilead’, society is factioned into classes with an emphasis on strict adherence to religious law; the focal character and Handmaid Offred providing witness testimony to the oppressive rules which deem her ‘virtuous’ under the eye of the regime. In both works which are grounded in real-life events, there lies a didactive element to the narratives which may be important for the reader to consider the significance of being a ‘good’ human.