Writing Social Commentary: Do Words Still Have Power?
Trying to change the world is a surefire way to heartbreak and tragedy.
What levees can a man throw up again the rising tides of blood lust when the war drums sing? What antidote to the surging poison of rabid opinion? What shelter from hate can he construct? None. He is helpless before the constant threshing of humanity, an atom of grease in the great engine of history. Nothing is more foolish than trying to change (almost) everyone else.
Except perhaps trying to change everyone else by telling them a story. And yet, that’s what I set out to do when I began writing my current WIP.
If you’re a regular reader, you know I’m Nigerian and that I love my people. You know it pains me greatly whenever movies, books or the news media portrays Nigerians (and Africans in general) in the usual contextual trifecta of poverty, war and corruption.
It doesn’t hurt because these things are totally untrue. It hurts because these are the only truths people see. They do not see us as individuals. Instead we are connotations of Darfur, undertones of religious violence in Jos, associations of female circumcision in Egypt, remnants of dictatorship in Zimbabwe, rumors of gay discrimination in Uganda. We are Africa and all the hell she entails.
Signing petitions, emailing bloggers and generally screaming my head off whenever I came across these characterizations quickly proved futile. I was going to write the great Nigerian novel and finally show the world the whole truth. I would create characters so real that the world would know us for who we really are, would see us as individuals again. I was going to change the world.
It’s been three years, a few thousand hours, many neglected relationships, 106, 000, 000 words, several drafts and a thousand dollars or two and ceaseless agonizing. A notion has come upon me, spread from mind to heart to soul the way only poisonous thoughts can; perhaps it is impossible (and not just terribly difficult) to change the world through the written word. I am pretty sure my novel is a good read but I wonder how much it could change the prevailing portrayal of Nigerians (and Africans) even if it was an eternal classic. In writerly lows like these, I look up to my literary forbears for inspiration.
Lately, I find none.
When was the last time a novel answered the great questions of our time? When was the last time a novel changed so many people, society itself changed? Where are the novels that seep into our collective subconscious and affect positive change? What writer has the persuasive reach of Rush Limbaugh? The adoration of Taylor Swift? Where is the famed power of the written word?
Uncle Tom’s Cabin and To Kill a Mockingbird took on racism, The Grapes of Wrath sounded the plight of the poor (as did a lot of Dickens’s work) , Atlas Shrugged’s “rational selfishness” is the ethereal bedrock of many a conservative ideal (not sure thats a good thing), 1984 provides the vocabulary and framework for anti-oppression, anti-totalitarian discourse, Fahrenheit 451 is a divining of literature’s decline in our reality show, mass media and TV existence.
But all these terrible isms (racism, terrorism, sexism, class-ism, imperialism) are still around. Are these not diseases of the collective conscious? Why has our healing been inadequate? We have battled ideas with ideas, thoughts with thoughts. We have shown the how and the why of these isms, and yet our healing gives no succor. Has a novel ever stopped a terrorist from wearing a dynamite vest? Has the written word ever stopped a nation from going to war? Or a bunch of skinheads from beating up a Mexican?
We don’t even try anymore, either the number of social commentary novels is shrinking or the public grows increasingly deaf to them.Not every novel has to be commentary on society. Not every novel has to tackle big problems. But maybe too few novels do. None succeed.
Do you words still have power to cause real change in society? Did they ever have that power? Is it still worth it to seek those words? Is the pen still mightier than the sword? Is it even mightier than a show on cable news? Have I missed a blindingly obvious example of a novel that changed everything?
Related Posts:
Join The Conversation
Wow -it’s early in the morning for such big questions. I too despair over the state of our world which has seemingly gone media crazy. I fear for our kids minds when all that goes into them is so much slush. But I do have something that gives me hope and comfort – the writing community here in cyberspace and the ability we have to keep all forms of written communication alive and well. Look at the number of serious bloggers – and by serious I mean, not celebrity nonsense blogs, gossip sites etc – we have the power to change things, to bring things to light, to help make an important issue understandable to the masses of people reading us each day. This is where the new power lies and even if we reach only one person each day – we are successful. This is the new frontier for writers – like the expats during the 1920′s – we can flee to safer, more rational ground where we can work to invoke change in the world – to discuss the BIG questions, and to keep our craft alive.
Great post Mayowa – can’t wait to see what this discussion brings.
Lol that thought (too early for such seriousness) occured to me before I put this up this morning. I rummaged around for something else to put but this is all I had (consequence of living post to post instead of saving em up I guess).
You know, you’re perfectly right about the writing and reading community online. There’s an immense amount of intelligent discussion taking place and we are mostly sane. What is missing and what I would love to see and help achieve is for all our intelligent discussions, our best ideas and most illuminating stories to go out and change people outside of the community (the other 95%).
This is probably my fault for really buying into the idea of a novel changing large swathes of society. I really did believe that when I started out and the sudden realization that it may be impossible is a bit of a downer.
Thank you for the hope. It helps.
This is a great topic, though a little depressing for the morning.
I think there will never be one novel or even an entire library that will change things for everyone. But I think if you realize you won’t change everyone (just like you will never please everyone) then you can be freed to focus on the people you can please, those that will listen and be changed. And the changes won’t happen overnight. You mention To Kill a Mockingbird but how long before it began to take hold?
I love T’s point that the web is the “safer, more rational ground” and I think she’s right. Blogs will reach that smaller important audience first and most powerfully and the influence can spread from there.
Hey Alley,
Oh yeah it’s not exactly light hearted fare lol. I’m generally too much of an asshole to try to please everyone and I agree trying to change everyone is just as futile. I can’t seem to think of an example of a novel that changed a significant number of people (To Kill a Mocking Bird generated a huge furor when it was published but I’m not sure it changed minds enough to matter right there.).
The idea of gradual change from smaller to progressively large sections of society is appealing but I’m not sure positive ideas propagate that way. There have been a ton of smart, intelligent bloggers for a very long time and every section of society has a good portion and yet the good doesn’t spread like it should.
Relax. :)
Change rarely occurs immediately, nor as quickly as we would like. It may not even happen in our lifetimes, but it happens when individuals begin to do the tasks necessary for change to occur.
Slavery did not end in America immediately. It took time. It took individuals sacrificing themselves in hopes that their children would have a better future.
Segregation did not end immediately in America. Rosa Parks was most likely not the first person to refuse to move to the back of the bus. However, her decision met a wave of influence when others took up her treatment and used it to rally protest and support.
A few years ago, Barrack Obama was elected president. An accomplishment that would have been impossible not too long ago.
Change happens over time–not immediately. So, keep writing, keep trying, keep struggling. The power of writing and the power of words is that they do not decay over time. They can be strengthened, they can be picked up and used to inspire a generation of people far from where those words were first born.
It was the words and actions of Gandhi that inspired Martin Luther King. It was the actions of M.L.K. that made it possible for blacks to have access to the rights of their white counterparts in a non-segregated society. Change does not happen immediately, it takes time and consistency of purpose.
So keep on doing, what you need to do to bring about the change you seek.
Howdy sir,
I wish I was better at relaxing…agonizing is kind of my thing…could probably give progressives a lecture or two on the matter.
“the power of words is that they do not decay over time” – Thank you for that sir, I hadn’t thought about the longevity of words and how what inspires now can inspire in the future.
I agree about the gradual nature of change and your examples illustrate that perfectly. What I don’t see in these examples are the influence of the novel. Ghandi’s words inspired MLK because of who Ghandi was. Ghandi, Rosa Parks, MLK, Barry…all changed society because of their actions and we heed their words because of those actions.
It almost seems like the real chain of events is from action to inspiration to action and words are only the messengers. I used to think the words, in the form of stories, could make change happen.
Change the world for the better? Whose idea of better? I don’t think that any one action can change everything. How would one change everything? How would one define everything? I have more questions than answers, it seems. The parameters are quite variable, so I’m not sure I understand the scope of your question and musings.
Hey Trina,
I think we can agree about what better means on some of the big isms like terrorism, racism and sexism. The kind of change I envisioned (in my naivety) goes like this: author writes book, book truly makes people see world in a different way, book is read by a large portion of the population (for the large impact) and as a result of the majority/sizable portion seeing things in a different way, society changes.
The Grapes of Wrath exposing the plight of migrant workers made the country better in my opinion. Same for some of the other books I mentioned. It just seemed to me that they made these great strides that were never came to full fruition and I wonder where the limit for words is. These words that we string together, these stories we tell, what are there limits? What can they really do? How far can they really go?
Thanks for stopping by.
You had me thinking about this all night, so I would say see, words most certainly have power. Your post is actually going to inspire me to start a discussion along these lines on my own blog. I think it’s an important question and I’ve given it considerable thought in the past few hours! I’ll try to ping you/trackback/notify you somehow, as soon as I figure out how that is done. I will like to you in any event!
Excellent, I’m looking forward to it!
I’ve been thinking about it a lot too, reading and responding to the comments have really helped sort things out quite a bit. Not only that the comments actually gave me an idea for my next post, so inspiration all around lol.
Now, did I mention how much I like the look of your blog?
This is great stuff, Mayowa!
I went on to consider that there are many books that have changed the world. I am not religious, but some that come to mind are the holy books that are central to many religions. Certainly, they have done much to shape our society and many others.
Additionally, while many books may not inspire the types of social movements that can be easily detected, they do change the hearts and minds of individual readers. These readers may then live their lives differently, even if in very minute ways, but these things make a difference. Our actions have a rippling effect. All of our actions in some way effect the world beyond us.
The great tomes of religion (Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita etc.) have had lasting and widespread impact, no doubt about it. I think i excluded them because the odds that I (or most writers) will write one are rather low (maybe understatement of the year lol)
It is really hard to measure the impact of the written word and that actually gives me hope that the impact is much greater than we can easily divine. I like that a lot.
And, I thank you for the compliment on the appearance of my blog. I appreciate it.
Anytime.
I think that trying to “change the world” in a sweeping way with a novel is a big task and I have my doubts that any novel has ever had that kind of immediate power. I do think that sometimes, like with “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and similar works, social novels can bring together like-minded folks and open dialogues. Which is of huge import. I also think that a novel can reach an individual and open his/her eyes, and even if that’s just one person, it’s one more person with open eyes than before you wrote your book, and that’s also of huge import.
I get what you’re saying about how the world (especially the West) views Africa–as an undifferentiated continent of warfare and poverty where Kampala is no different from Johannesburg is no different from Aqaba–and how you feel it’s important to give the world a uniquely Nigerian novel. That would be very cool. I don’t know if any one author has the power to open the eyes of the world to the diversity that is African culture, or even to show the diversity that is Nigerian culture, but I guess I don’t know if that should even be your primary concern as a writer.
But stories do have tremendous power, and sometimes stories told around campfires become legends and myths, and myths shape whole peoples and I think this process did not end back in the age of myths, but is ongoing, because people crave narratives that explain who we are. So keep writing, even if you can’t see big-picture results. The mind you broaden with your stories could be the mind that saves the world.
Hey Scott,
“change the world in a sweeping way with a novel is a big task” – no joke! It’s very daunting and I think that is why I wrote this post…to know what I could realistically expect to achieve even if my story was the best it could be. “Bringing together like minded folks and opening dialogues” and the other possibilities other commenters have mentioned are more than worthy goals now that I know what they are. I just suddenly dawned on me that maybe I was expecting my words to do too much.
I’m even more obsessed with showing the whole truth about us than with the publishing industry (despite the many frantic posts on the industry on this blog). It has been pretty risky to write with such a huge theme in my mind but i think I’ve been able to avoid writing one of those obvious “I have a thinly disguised message” novels. I tell myself to write the most entertaining and authentic story based in Nigeria that I can and the individuality of the characters will show on it’s own. We’ll see…
I like this “stories to myths” sequence a whole lot, myths can be so powerful once they are embedded in culture. Thank you for the encouragement, the writing continues without end.
All,
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who commented on this post. I am very much coming around to the “long term” approach when it comes to the impact of my writing,.
I don’t think I could have worked through it on my own and I really appreciate you input and encouragement.
This by no means ends the conversation, feel free to add anything else you think would make this clearer or add to the discussion.
Thanks folks.
Great post. How did I miss this when you first put it up?
I’ve never been a real idealistic person, but once I started confronting the question of what sort of change one person or a few people can make, I began to become increasingly pessimistic. I’m talking outside the realm of novels and writing for the moment, but I think it all connects – it’s all part of this bigger question of what sort of change one person can really create. And as great as it is to have a supportive and thoughtful network of bloggers and twitterers online (as one of your commenters noted), what sort of impact do all these people really have? I worry that many people view writing as an end in itself; that if you simply go on your blog and write about an issue, you are doing something good for the world. I can’t tell you how many people back in the states have posted things about this library I’m working to build, but they never take the step of actually SENDING books. And a lot of people are like that, and it doesn’t matter how many people throw something up on facebook/twitter/their blog, it doesn’t have any real world effect for the simple reason that they view the world of their writing as “real” enough. They never take it any further.
That said, I view the world of novels differently and I think that you should be more hopeful about the possibility of changing, through writing, the way that people think of Nigeria and Nigerians. It’s hard to measure what sort of impact any book has, and in order to maintain sanity you probably shouldn’t try. Every day when I go to work I have to remind myself that if I can do something positive for even one kid my time here is worthwhile; and I don’t totally believe it, but if you can change the way one person thinks…that’s worth something, right?
Ellen,
Well said, well freaking said.
“They view the world of their writing as ‘real’ enough.” – Amazing insight really, we put out all this content and while it can be great positive content, it doesn’t directly translate into actions…and only actions count. I can see you’ve thought about this a whole lot and I imagine you see the effects a lot more as a volunteer. Ultimately, it takes faith to take action and know that it makes a difference, no matter how small. So yes, it’s definitely worth it to change the way one person thinks.
Thank you so much for the encouragement. I can’t tell you how much your comment and the others on this post, have helped me work through this.