Sources vs. Experience

     

       Are literary works a valuable and reliable source in examining other cultures?

     Ask yourself this question first: If you were thrown into the middle of Russia would you really know all that much on what's going around you, what time it is, where you should be going? Would you have read enough articles, taken enough classes, watched enough movies to truly know and understand a completely new environment? The answer is simply no, you would not. Literary works do not provide enough insight into a culture. A lot of the time articles/books/essays stress one idea, thought, or opinion on a culture, but this idea does not cover each and every element in a culture. Each evidence will provide the reader/watcher with completely different insights into the country. Let's face it, no matter what kind of education you have on this culture you will never truly experience it until you put yourself into the culture itself. 

This is seen in our recent class novel "The Kite Runner" through many different ideas. One of these being the cruelty of the Taliban. We may have a considerable understanding of how brutal the Taliban was in that time but do we actually consider the effects the Taliban had on Afghanistan's culture? How different peoples' social status changed, the neglecting of women, the constant stress of 'who will be taken next' or 'what will happen next' are all contributing factors to the inside opinion on the Taliban. None of us truly understand this because we were simply not there to experience it.