The story “On the Danger of Reading Fiction”, Thomas Jefferson clearly shows his dislike for the world of fiction novels. Jefferson has stated that fiction novels are “time lost in that reading” and thinks it should be instructively employed. It’s apparent that anyone who is a fiction novel enthusiast could indeed become offended by the comments made by Jefferson, but at the same time need to understand that he made those comments in an entirely different era than today’s modern way of thinking.There are several comments made by Jefferson besides the ones stated that need to be addressed and understood to be only opinions from a traditional past-minded person.
Jefferson’s take on fiction novels takes a very negative and closed-minded approach. At first I thought he was a little bias towards fiction,
...but later understood that he just did not like it at all, period. There could be many reasons for this that were not discussed, but nonetheless were clearly expressed in the text.I personally do not agree with the negative approach he took simply because he never attempted to find a positive point to say about fiction and its qualities.
But that also led me to think that it could have been in Jefferson’s era that fiction had not yet boomed into the giant it is today. In today’s era, fiction novels and material can be found almost everywhere you look. Tabloids, news, movies, and many other media and novels alike thrive on fiction and the imagination it brings.Each person has their preferences on type of entertainment they like. Some enjoy strictly fiction while others like only factual novels and such, and some ma
enjoy reading both. But the thing to understand is why they do so.
People from all around read fiction novels because it creates imagination and helps ones to escape into a “fantasy world”, or maybe just to amuse themselves to lower some stress and increase positivity.Jefferson’s comments about fiction novels where he stated, “Some few modeling their narratives, although fictitious, on the incidents of real life, have been able to make them interesting and useful vehicles of a sound morality. ” That tells me that Jefferson thinks novels can be somewhat interesting and worth reading if they are only about real life experiences. Now you can argue whether or not it was because of his dislike for fiction, or if it was because of the times back in his era.
Back in Jefferson’s day, it seemed that there were less attention on media magazines and headlines about celebrities.It seemed that the age of living back then was “strictly business” type mentalities. I don’t want to say that the people from that era did not have a sense of humor, I think that many subjects talked about today and said in magazines and on television were just not accepted back then and almost seemed wrong to say at that time. All of this may have been a reason why Jefferson looked at fiction novels as a waste of time and thought that it inflates the imagination with mindless information and garbage.In conclusion, although Jefferson has a dislike for fiction novels and has personal opinions about it, it’s important to understand that it’s only an opinion and should not be taken to heart. It could be that
the use of imagination through novels were not accepted back in his day and not approved by many, so that could be why many think , along with myself why Jefferson has a closed-minded approach to fiction novels.
Today though, fiction is accepted and embraced by millions of people everyday.
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