Five Books that Are Still Relevant Today and Why...
Not So Well Read…
Hang out with bookish types long enough and the conversation will eventually turn towards comparing notes about the things that each of you has read. Each of you will have your preferred genre, but there will always be certain books that come up. Among these are titles classics like Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, and anything by Charles Dickens. A good deal of these books have their merits, but have people actually read them, or did they just read the Cliff Notes? It is a good bet that for these particular titles the answer might be yes, these books were actually read. There are, however, a few books that everyone likes to discuss even though they have never read more than a few sentences of each if that. These books teach moral lessons and give us glimpses into the past or a possible future. They also hold a mirror up to the reader’s face and force them to ask if they are okay living in a world that condones the behavior presented in the narrative, and if not what are they willing to do to prevent it. Without further ado then, here they are the five books that are as relevant today as the day that they were published (in no particular ranking order).
Number One: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852, this classic piece of literature may seem to have little to no relevance in the modern world. Dig a little deeper though and you can see just why it is so important that people actually read it. Inspired by the memoirs of Josiah Hensen, Uncle Tom’s Cabin centers around the life and struggles of a slave known as Tom. It also touches on the life of another slave named Eliza. Both Tom and Eliza are sold at the beginning of the book to pay down some of their enslaver’s debts, and the journey that they take both physically and intellectually is what drives the narrative.
While Uncle Tom, as he is known, accepts his fate quietly and tries to make the best of his new situation, Eliza is resistant. Her opposition will see her make a daring attempt at gaining her freedom; risking everything she holds dearest in the process. In contrast, Uncle Tom’s quiet compliance will eventually cost him dearly, but not before he redeems himself. It is in this change that the reader discovers the true lesson of Stowe’s work. That lesson is that no matter what race you are, to be quietly compliant with injustice is to be complicit. You cannot sit idly by and wait for a divine figure, such as God, to change your circumstances or the circumstances of others. In this way, Uncle Tom’s Cabinteaches us that we must be the change we want to see in the world, and for that reason alone this book is worth the read.
Number Two: 1984
Surrounded by tech devices that magically have ads placed in your feed regarding things that you have only talked about, it is hard not to feel like big brother is always watching. That is one of the reasons why this 1949 classic written by George Orwell is one of the most talked about books in recent days. The story revolves around the protagonist Winston Smith who struggles to fit into a society that discourages individuality. Big Brother uses hate, division, surveillance, and suspicion to maintain power in the fictional setting of Oceania. Big Brother also demands blind loyalty from all of the citizens as a means of maintaining order. If this sounds familiar it is because the dystopian future that Orwell predicted seems to be unfolding in a lot of ways within many countries around the world.
In Orwell’s fictional society, the Party also limits language as a means of control. This is similar to how when an authoritarian government seeks to gain control the first thing they do is ban books. After all, anyone who controls the narrative controls both the past and the future. Certain words in Oceania become trigger words that bring about punishment as well (just like saying Voldemort could in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Once again, modern things such as cancel culture and censorship spring to mind.
Orwell’s book 1984 teaches anyone who reads it just how important it is to ensure that not just books, but a truthful telling of history remain at the center of any civilized culture that wishes to progress. Orwell also makes it clear that thought policing, book banning, and removing individuality from society never ends well. He would know firsthand too given that he lived through the Second World War and saw the horrors of the Holocaust play out in his lifetime. Maybe it would behoove us to heed his warnings before it is too late.
Number Three: To Kill a Mockingbird
Published in 1960, Harper Lee’s classic tale of a black man falsely accused of rape focuses a spotlight on the issues of race, prejudice, and groupthink. Open any social media app nowadays and you are presented with all three. This is why it is so critical to read books like To Kill a Mockingbird. It is also why this book, and many like it, have ended up on banned book lists across the United States. Most people have a hard time confronting the things that Lee presents in her book. Two of the hardest are racism and rape. Looking beyond both of these very troubling plot points though, there is a deeper lesson in Lee’s work. That lesson is that both good and evil can cohabitate within both individuals and societies.
If the lesson that Lee is teaching sounds familiar it is probably because most of us discovered it for ourselves at the Thanksgiving dinner table after the 2016 presidential election cycle. We all knew that we had that one family member that often said some off-color things, but he or she was relatively tempered by the rest of the family until dinner tables around the United States became free for all of the political and social discourse. When this happened, the weird uncle who hoarded guns and cans in the basement seemed to let it all fly only to be met with resistance from the loudmouth cousin who thinks that her views are the only ones that will produce social justice. To Kill a Mockingbird shows us that both sides are within us though and that all they are waiting for is just the right nudge to have us running up whatever hill we choose to die on.
Number Four: The Handmaid’s Tale
By now, most people have seen the Hulu adaptation of this 1985 novel written by Margaret Atwood, but have most of them actually read the book? My guess is that they didn’t or a lot more Americans would be speaking up against the blurred lines between church and state in recent days. These same Americans would also be more alarmed at the current attempt to restrict female reproductive rights and women’s rights in general. Why? Because The Handmaid’s Tale teaches us just how easy it is to let our religious convictions stampede over the rights of others.
Written in the form of a memoir or journal of sorts, The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of a woman living in a dystopian society called The Republic of Gilead. Run by Christian extremists, the government has subjugated women and categorized them by their ability to breed. This type of patriarchal white supremacist society might sound familiar to you because it is the one that a lot of contemporary Christian nationalist groups that have surfaced in recent days dream of. Their thought processes and tactics are not new though. These groups, and the ideologies that they espouse date back further than I care to discuss, but particularly to the Puritan movement in colonial America for the purposes of discussing this book.
History has taught us several times that Frank Herbert was right: “When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late” (Dune). That is not to say that it isn’t perfectly okay to have religious convictions and to live your life by them. The trouble begins when you start to believe that everyone else should believe the way you do. Problems also arise when you start to use your religion to control the lives of others as well. The Handmaid’s Tale goes a long way toward hammering that message home.
Number 5: Fahrenheit 451
Okay, so I said I wouldn‘t rank these but here I am saving the best for last. Without a doubt, Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 is the most relevant book today given all of the attempts to ban books across the United States in recent days. The story is set in a possible future where there is a complete and total ban on books. Guy Montag, the story’s protagonist, is a firefighter. Unlike modern-day firefighters though, the ones in Montag’s society set fires rather than put them out. What are they burning? Books.
In Montag’s society, books are the real threat to peace and happiness. They cause people to think and dream. They give people ideas and complicate peace. For the government in Montag’s world, it is best to just keep the citizens plugged into their TVs, to keep them doped up on anti-depressants when that fails to work, and to flush the human body and revive it if the conditions that humans are living in cause them to attempt suicide by “accidental overdose.” Sound familiar?
How many times have you felt sad or lonely and turned to social media, movies, or TV to feel better only to find that you feel more disconnected than you did before? How many commercials have you seen for drugs to make you feel better? How many times have you seen the message that says that mental illness is some sort of moral failing? The stark reality is that social media, TV, and movies all profit from ad revenue. They have a vested interest in having you spend more time plugged into them. After all, the more ads you see the more money they make. The more ads you see the more stuff you buy as well so it is a win-win for them and their retail partners.
To read books is to play with fire and not get burned. Books force you to step away from the happiness of others and to look inside yourself to find it. They forge connections between you and the fictional characters and allow you to be somewhere else without feeling the need to compare yourself to the people and places within the pages you are turning. That is the lesson that Bradbury teaches you in Fahrenheit 451: that happiness is inside you. Bradbury also makes it clear that if books were not dangerous then they would not be under attack all of the time. If you really want to fight the man and change society then read!
SIDEBAR: I have never had a stronger opinion regarding a book versus its film adaptation than I do right now. STAY AWAY FROM THE HBO FILM VERSION OF THIS NOVEL!! It perverts the narrative and almost completely misses the point. Perhaps I feel this way because Ray Bradbury is my favorite author. Perhaps it is because, within the first five minutes, I was throwing the book at the TV. Who knows? All I know is that Bradbury wrote this book as a cautionary tale about what happens when people tune into TV etc. and turn away from books, so I am pretty sure he would agree with me.
Heavy Topics Worth the Heavy Lifting…
The point of today’s blog post is not to get political. Instead, it is to make you think, and more importantly, to get you to read. Books are life tucked into neat little pages that you get to carry around and experience whenever you want. They are living, breathing entities that can change the world. If they weren’t then why do so many people fear them? Why are they the first things to get attacked when a group is looking to shift the culture in their favor or to change the narrative of history? Books are precious and should be protected at all costs. You may not like a certain book and that is okay. You may not want your children to read a certain book, and that is okay too. You should never tell another person or parent what they can or cannot read though because we are all looking for a connection to something in this world, and books provide that connection to many people who might otherwise feel completely isolated on this big blue planet.
Given today’s political and social climate books like A Handmaid’s Tale and Fahrenheit 451 are more relevant than ever. They teach us about who we are and shine a light on who we could be if we aren’t careful. This alone makes them relevant no matter what time period they were written in. If for no other reason then, books like the ones on this list should be made available to anyone who wants to read them. Humanity does itself a great disservice otherwise. That said, perhaps the next time you are considering what books should or should not be banned because the contents offend you should try to keep in mind that your rights only extend so far as they begin to infringe upon the rights of another.
To Agree or Disagree?
Do you agree with my list? Why or Why not? Are there books that you think should have made the list? Grace Slick and I would love to hear from you. You can leave a comment or drop us a message on Instagram by clicking any of the pictures in this blog post which will link you to our Instagram account. I have also tried to link free online copies of any of the books that I recommended when I could by attaching a hyperlink to the titles. If there are books or authors that you would like me to read and discuss I am open to that too. For now, I am working on a list of Best Disney Classics and the books that inspired them and an in-depth look at Oscar Wilde and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Until next time then, seek joy and go read!
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