Fiction and non-fiction books
From Dickinson College Wiki
Its All Make-believe: The Role of Fiction in Social Protest Literature
Why Write Fiction?
- It is extremely hard for minority groups to bring about social changes on their own. They need at least a partial help from the dominant group. The dominant group often resists their efforts for changed because either they blame the minority group for their circumstances, or the majority feels threatened or ashamed by what is happening. By setting a story as fictional, even if it is based on real events, the dominant group is able to relate to the characters and the suffering that they are going through without feeling threatened. Through the “fictional” characters the reader is able to see that the victims of poverty and other social ills are people that are just down on their luck. These people find themselves in bad situations not because they are lazy or undeserving, but because of circumstances beyond their control (Netzley). The reader sees what life is really like for the characters and stops blaming these groups for their predicament. Putting an end to victim blaming is an important step in social progress because it takes an issue and makes no longer a personal problem, but a societal problem.
