Literary purpose

Why is literature important?
One of the chief purposes of literature is a means of exploring what it is to be human. It is also a way of communicating with others about a huge range of ideas and concerns. Put simply, Literature helps us to understand people, societies, events, culture. Many students struggle when it comes to analyzing English literature. It can be difficult to identify and understand the underlying themes behind a text. Here, are some tips to help you improve your English lit analysis.
Did the writer actually intend all the meaning that our teachers make us think about?
There can sometimes be a discrepancy between the writer's intention and what the teacher or students actually reads into a novel or piece of literature however the writer does intend to convey certain meanings and will be aware of audience interpretation, the rest of the interpretation will be up to us as readers. Once the piece of literature is out in the world, it is open to the reader to try to understand it with the information available to us. There are many examples where it is easy to see that writers do in fact create layers of meaning in their texts (the colour red used alongside Curley’s Wife in ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a perfect example of this). This is something that becomes more and more obvious the more you study literature. However, it is completely down to the reader to decide if they should read into a piece of literature or not, that is the beauty of literature, it can have a completely different meaning from one reader to the next, but both readings are equally valid. It is also sometimes the case that authors had to use symbolism to get across their meaning rather than simply saying it.