Literature as Mirrors and Windows

Journalist Sydney J. Harris wrote, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” Education provides the opportunities, or windows, for students to expand their understanding of themselves and the world around them. Reading good literature can help with this transformation and initiate a journey of lifelong discoveries.
Think about when you were young and about to start school for the first time. When you stood in front of the mirror, your view was focused on your own reflection and limited by your own experience. Then the windows of learning began to open your mind to new ideas and new experiences, broadening both your awareness and your curiosity.
As you discovered reading and the power of words, you learned to connect to what you read and to examine your own ideas and experiences. And the more you read, the more you learned to connect to the ideas and experiences of other people from other times and other places. Great literature provides mirrors that help you reflect on your own world and windows that lead you into new worlds.
EMC’s literature program, Mirrors and Windows: Connecting with Literature, does just that. We hope that as you read the selections in this book, you will see yourself in the characters, stories, and themes—and that you will discover that we are all citizens of the world and part of the collective human experience.