Literature’s Functions

In the second chapter of Moran’s Interdisciplinarity, “Literature into Culture,” it is said that “Literary works are also interesting ideologically precisely because they often fulfill several functions with coexist or conflict with each other” (59). Moran goes on to discuss these functions – works of literature are often published for a profit and/or with a specific message to deliver, but at the same time may be perceived by society in a multitude of contexts because it is hard to predict what significance and meaning a text will have to different people. This idea, of pieces of literature serving multiple functions at the same time, is one that relates to a few of the works I’ve read in this semester alone.

The freshman writing seminar I’m in focuses on the effects the media has on the perception of mental illness in society. The 1950s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, one of the readings in this class, stands out to me as a prime example of what Moran is discussing. It can be assumed from the subject matter – men in a mental institution are inspired to rebel against the authority of the cruel, unforgiving head nurse – that the novel aims to deliver specific messages about the humanity of psychiatric hospitals and the nature of mental illness. However, it’s true that the novel’s significance is different when it is fed “…into the wider circulation of meanings and signification in the culture as a whole” (Moran 59). Kesey’s work is not only important because of what it says about the treatment of those affected by mental illness; it was incorporated into the counterculture movement of the 1960s and fed into the public’s desire for social change.

While literature may be distributed with one intent at the time of publication, I agree with Moran that the perception of a work changes when it is thought of in social, cultural, or economic terms. One text can have a multitude of meanings depending on the person, group of people, or the approach you take when thinking about its significance. The multiple functions of literature and its ability to be integrated into multiple other disciplines is part of what I find to be so interesting about studying English.

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