Is Non-fiction really Better than Fiction?
Is non-fiction better than fiction? Many parents believe that their children would benefit more from reading non-fiction rather than fiction. In my opinion, though, that it not true; fiction is in many ways equal and even better than non-fiction. It is true that non-fiction might provide more facts than fiction, but fiction has many more experiences and lessons to teach, and, in essence, fiction could even be considered more practical in real life than non-fiction. Fiction is, in a sense, a story of somebody else’s experience, or maybe even a made-up one. That experience may seem trivial and insignificant, but there is always something we can learn from it.
In a more different form, that lesson is called the moral. For example, in the fable “The tortoise and the hare”, we learn that arrogance has severe consequences that could cost you a lot more than just a game. Larger fictions such as “The Count of Monte Cristo” have even deeper philosophies behind the storyline, such as integrity, vengeance, and loneliness. Unlike non-fiction, which only provides cold, hard facts, fiction novels take those facts and blend it in with reality, creating a story we not only read but also experience. In this aspect, reading fiction teaches more valuable lessons than non-fiction can ever achieve.
Fiction novels also surpass non-fiction in the sense that they nourish the reader’s imagination. The more fiction one read’s, the more creative he will seem to be. Some may argue that creativity is not practical in reality; what is the use of ideas if they cannot help us survive? Well, that is a mistaken thought, because imagination can actually improve life in many ways. In the novel “20,000 Leagues under the Sea”, written by Jules Verne, there appears the concept of an underwater ship or airplane, what we now identify as a submarine. Although the novel was written in 1870, decent submarines did not actually appear until sometime around the early 20th century.
Obviously, some scientific genius had taken the idea from Verne’s story and produced it in real life. This exemplifies how fiction novels can inspire ideas that in turn contribute greatly to advances in technology. Of course, the introduction of submarines would not have been possible without all those non-fiction books teaching us how to create it. However, if the idea hadn’t originated from Verne’s novel, the invention would not have taken place. Therefore, it is ultimately fiction that inspires the remarkable events in reality, and not non-fiction. It could even be said that the knowledge non-fiction incorporates is so massive that absorbing all that knowledge would be impractical.
Because non-fiction incorporates studies such as science, math, and history, there is a vast amount of knowledge that one can gain. Especially in science and math, the possibilities are endless, and children are left thinking that anything is possible. This is a falsehood, because many things are beyond the achievement of mankind, and attempts to conquer such challenges would only cause frustration. One such difficulty was a formula discovered in 1637 by Pierre de Fermat, named “Fermat’s Last Theorem”, which stated that an + bn = cn. From the date it was introduced, 1637, all the way to the late 20th century, in 1995, mathematicians have tried and failed to create a proof for this theorem. In the span of three hundred years, no one successfully proved Fermat’s Last Theorem.
As you can see, it can most probably be stated that the failures of non-fictional studies greatly outweigh the successes, and in truth, it might actually be non-fiction which has no practical effect on life. Fiction, on the other hand, helps children mature faster, and, consequently, has greater impacts on society and reality. In novels such as “Black Boy” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, readers become aware of social issues such as racial discrimination and segregation. Additionally, they also learn lessons from the mistakes the characters in the story make. Such stories, which we call bildungsroman, describe the “coming of age” or maturity of the main character. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Scout, the main character, matures to the needs of life and society.
By the end of a story, she is not just a girl anymore; in fact, she has grown up to actually be capable of making an impact on other lives as well as her own. While it is widely thought that non-fiction books benefit children more than fiction, there are actually many standards in which the values of fiction greatly outweigh those of non-fiction. As I have stated before, fiction novels not only develop one’s imagination and creativity, but also increase his/her awareness of social injustices and can oftentimes expedite the process of maturity. Therefore, I strongly encourage everyone to think twice whenever anyone states that fiction is not practical in real life, because in truth, fiction may have a remarkable impact on our life. As French philosopher Simone Weil once said, “Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.”
