Question

"That's what literature is. It's the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them! "
–Passage,
Connie Willis


Read the quotation. Then, write two to three sentences interpreting the quotation. Explain both the meaning of the quotation and the author’s viewpoint.

Answer 1

Answer: In this passage, Willis is expressing that literature is a message from the past telling us about the lives of those before us. We are told that these messages are trying to tell us how we live and how we die based on others experiences. Willis tries to explain this through a concerned, yet passionate tone that urges us, the readers, to learn from the mistakes and the fortunes of the lives of people before us. We can only do this through literature, as it is the gateway to seeing how the world works.

Explanation:

Answer 2

Willis states that the authors of the past wrote their thoughts according to their feelings and creativities, in order to communicate with people and teach great lessons about life and death. Even the people who lived before us and were part of the enriching literature can teach us a lot through their books. This is because literature is highly adaptable to many different spheres of society, so we must listen to all these lessons that the authors teach us.