Imagine that you are reading a fictional book, you have been reading it for hours and the main character dies. You have become so invested with the book and so you begin to cry, but why would you feel so emotionally impacted if the character is fictional. Fiction seems to have the ability to impact different aspects of our lives and bring up various emotions even when we know that it fictional. Fiction can influence individuals to behave and feel certain ways, when we read books or watch films we gain emotions and build attachments to characters. The Paradox of Fiction argues that having these feeling based off a piece of fiction is said to be irrational. The premises for the argument are as follows: In order for us to be moved by what we come …show more content…
Starting with the first premise, it seems plausible because if we know that a situation or a person does not exist than how can we have that emotionally impact us, and if it does are those emotions even real because they are being based off of non-existing situations and/or people. At times when dealing with fictional work we can build attachments and relationships with characters, but when these feelings arise it is because people are getting lost in the work because they are believing that the character is not purely fiction. Accepting this premise can be difficult because we are saying that we believe something that we know to be fictional. Premise two is related to premise one in the way that is allows us to reject it. It is stating that when we are dealing with a piece of fiction we essentially do not believe that the characters or situation are real. Premise three seems plausible if premise one is to be accepted. Premise three is expressing that these fictional characters and situations have the ability to move us emotionally. This makes sense with premise one because if we believe that the fictional characters and situations are real then we can allow it to move us …show more content…
With the first objection, it can be said that part of Charles does believe that the green slime monster is real. However, Walton says physiology is quasi fear, there is a need for beliefs to act upon it. Quasi emotions are different from real emotions because they are not as a result of existence beliefs. Therefore, Charles does not believe that the green monster is real because otherwise he would act upon his fear. Walton also discusses a difference in the type of belief. If you are scared of something like heights, you will avoid something like a roller coaster at all costs because why would you put yourself in a situation that will bring you negative emotions. In contrast when watching the film of the green slime monster, Charles is choosing to stay and watch the film rather than leaving. He chose to go see the film knowing that it could potentially scare him. With the Paradox of Fiction, it could be that Charles momentarily believes that that the green monster is real and because it is momentarily he doesn’t have time to react and act upon it. Walton responds by stating that quasi emotions need to be
This passage is interesting if the reader knows nothing about the book at this point the reader might question the passage, what does this mean? If you are one of the few people who read a book completely cover to cover, the publishers page states "This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author's own life all incidents, names, and characters are imaginary (O'Brien Prologue). You have no what is going to be real or fiction.
Jonathan Gottschall in his article,'' Why fiction is good for you ,'' he begins with question in his article is fiction good for us ? as it's known we spend most of time in our life by read novels , watching films , tv shows and other . Most of these things may affect us in a positive or negative way . Jonathan in his article show us that '' fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence through studies that show us when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard '' ( Gottschall 3) . He also states in conclusion,'' Reading narrative fiction allows one
The stories can be completely true, completely fictional, or a mixture of both but no matter what as long as there is someone around who reads the story, the characters are saved from their “deaths.” The people or characters go on to live in the hearts and minds of the readers, who can go back on the journey again as long as they pick up the book and turn the pages. The stories may not all be factual or about real people, but the effect the stories have on the readers is what makes all stories true and really and is what saves us
When you read, especially fiction, you experience a broad sweep of human life. You gain access to the thoughts of others, look at history through another person’s eyes and learn from their mistakes, something that you otherwise would not be able to experience.
...or they were representations within an offshoot of "reality" within his own mind based on his experiences in the world. Furthering this, the reader has the same experience with the fictitious world of Goodman Brown, as even though it is a work of fiction, it is grounded in reality based on its ideas alone.
While fiction deals with things, people and situations which have never existed, it may very well be inspired by real factual data. A history professor might recommend his students to use a fictional novel in order to get better insight regarding a situation. History records facts, not feelings. Fiction might present feelings and therefore allow the history student to understand the impact of happenings and to grasp the humanity which lies behind the factual data. Chatos story might be fictional, yet it is safe to assume that many Chatos have really existed and still exist. Statistic data and factual recordings may be insightful, that being said we might state that fiction serves history as an emotional
Douglas Light said that our imagination is better than any answer to a question. Light distinguishes between two genres: fantasy and fiction. He described how fantasy stimulates one’s imagination, which is more appealing, but fiction can just be a relatable story. In the same way, books and movies are very different entities. In the short parable Doubt, the readers are lured in to the possibility of a scandalous relationship between a pastor and an alter boy.
Perception, the theory of knowledge, is a primary issue in that of explaining how it can either provide someone with ‘knowledge’ or a belief about this world. Can we allow one’s perception to have the same weight as factual information? Nevertheless, the perception of reality existing cannot be fact-based of being entirely true. The strange part about all this is how reality may not exist. The reason why we anticipate in one reality, in one perception, is that we only see our central point of the story. Just because one observes something in a specific way does not make it so. This problem has been looked at in terms of a dubious argument that appears to show that such knowledge and premise are impossible. Although I can concur that the perception
Fiction often imitates life, as well as life imitates fiction, as we will see in the following comparison between a newspaper article in the Philadelphia Inquire in 1987 and a short story written by William Faulkner in 1930. Although there are some differences such as the time, place and circumstance, the two studies are chillingly similar.
In general, I have learned that every fantasy story affects a reader’s suspension of disbelief in different ways, and it depends on the fantasy setting and on Rosemary Jackson’s concept of ‘known’, ‘unknown’ and the ‘longing for an absolute
King is right when he argues that people like the sudden excitement of watching a horror film. The horror genre keeps us on the edge of our seats and has us entranced with the overstimulation that comes with them. When he says “To show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this rollercoaster” he is implying that a horror movie is similar to riding a rollercoaster (King 1). The analogy lets the reader know he is saying people revel in the emotion of a horror movie, even if it scares them. People enjoy riding roller coasters because of the excitement and the rush that comes with it, just like people enjoy horror. The
Fiction is innately known to move us, entertain us and even confound us. By piecing together abstract worlds and thoughts, fiction guides the reader to an endless space of possibility. The characteristic most associated with literary fiction is the tendency to doubt existence while questioning the reality of the literature. One author famous for his use of literary fiction is Jorge Borges, who focuses his stories around this sense of fabrication. In the foreword for his eight stories Borges writes, “The better way to go about it is to pretend that those books already exist, and offer a summary, a commentary on them” (pg 67).
The human imagination is a very powerful thing. It sets humanity apart from the rest of the creatures that roam the planet by giving them the ability to make creative choices. The imaginary world is unavoidably intertwined with the real world and there are many ways by which to illustrate this through literature, either realistically or exaggerated. Almost everything people surround themselves with is based on the unreal. Everything from the food we eat to the books we read had to have been thought of by someone and their imagination. The imagination empowers humans.^1 It allows people to speculate or to see into the future. It allows artists to create, inventors to invent, and even scientists and mathematicians to solve problems. J.R. Tolken wrote “Lord of the Rings” by sitting in his backyard and imagining everything coming to life.^2 He thought about all the “what if” possibilities. But this method of storytelling can be used in much more subtle and/or sophisticated ways than in science fiction or fantasy novels. Through such works as the short story Dreams and the novel “Headhunter” by Timothy Findley, the film “the Matrix”, and the short story the Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, one can see how a writer can use the concept of the imaginary invading reality to write their story.
When we read any work of fiction, no matter how realistic or fabulous, as readers, we undergo a "suspension of disbelief". The fictional world creates a new set of boundaries, making possible or credible events and reactions that might not commonly occur in the "real world", but which have a logic or a plausibility to them in that fictional world. In order for this to be convincing, we trust the narrator. We take on his perspective, if not totally, then substantially. He becomes our eyes and ears in this world and we have to see him as reliable if we are to proceed with the story's development.
The theme of Appearance versus Reality comes in the form of lies, deception and disguise. From this essay, I realised that people’s characters are affected by events that appear in a way that is untrue.