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/lit/ - Literature

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2207279 No.2207279 [Reply] [Original]

Should every story have a moral or overall message?

>> No.2207285

No. But you should have something to say. Otherwise you just look like a jerkoff condeming the world to his prose exercises.

>> No.2207295

>>2207279
Yes, just like in the Disney movies. My favorite is Ice Age where they teach you it's okay to betray your own species.

>> No.2207296

>>2207295
...That wasn't a Disney movie.

>> No.2207315
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2207315

My dad is an English teacher and he gave me this book when I was young, I still have it in my room but never read it.
Why do people always mention it, is it really that good?

>> No.2207316

>>2207315

Mostly nostalgia, there's much better dystopians out there you could be reading instead.

>> No.2207318

>>2207315

I don't remember it being too bad, but I read it when I was in fifth grade, so I don't know how good I'd consider it now.

>> No.2207319

Not necessairly.

>> No.2207359

While is shouldn't be as obvious as say, kids shows, most story's should strive to make a statement. Otherwise you got yourself a big shaggy dog story.
>>2207279
It is decent. I consider it 1984 lite.

>> No.2207514

No.

Fiction isn't necessarily a horrible tool to get a message across, but the bottom line behind reading a novel is entertainment. It doesn't need to have any sort of ulterior motive in order to be interesting, fun, etc.

One of the dumbest arguments that I've ever heard is that its not worth your time if its not trying to get a message across.

>> No.2207521

Not really a question of "should." They all do, even if it's only some low-level implicit repetition of some culturally received attitude. A five-sentence, no-plot piece about a man wanting to get in from the cold says that cold is bad and warmth is good, or at least echoes the common attitude it is.

>> No.2207533

>>2207521
Even more than that is that if your story is written, regardless of how much effort you put into it not having a message it will be assigned one.
That's that nature of people.