People always get this surprised look on their face when I tell them I am studying English literature. Inevitably, this now infamous question soon follows after my “shocking” revelation: “What are you going to do with an English degree?”. My answer to this question is never the same as I haven’t yet chosen the career path I want to take. And unlike most people’s perception of this program, there are actually quite a few possibilities after getting a diploma, but I will talk more about it in another blog post. However, one thing that has never changed over the years is the reason why I chose English literature. And that reason is simply because I love books and I love to read.

Books are powerful tools in a good and a bad way. After watching Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk from 2009 called “The Danger of a Single Story”, I better understand the need for diversity in literature. I read a lot of young adult fiction and diversity has been a very popular subject over the last few years. While I think I understood the basic argument for it, I don’t think I ever fully realized the bad influence generated from the lack of diversity in books. Adichie’s story about her arrival in America and the way her roomate first treated her like a poor African child hit me unexpectedly. I suddenly realized I too would have acted the same way. I had bought into the bad influence of western literature and believed its false portrayal of an entire continent. How many times had I read books with common stereotypes about different nations around the world? How many times had I read books about strict Chinese parents or poor Mexican immigrants? The answer is too many times. I now know the lack of diversity in literature is real and must be explained to young readers because books truly are powerful tools.

Below is a link to Adichie’s eye-opening TED talk: