A Higher Purpose for Literature

“What’s produced the aeroplane is not so much a desire to fly as a rebellion against the tyranny of time and space.”

From a first glance my initial interpretation of this quote was that; mankind did not invent planes just for the sake of flying. The plane was created for a higher purpose not simply just "to get somewhere else faster" (pg.14) but to benefit from the extra time and opportunities flight offered. He recognized the power flight brought to mankind, labeling it as a "rebellion" to the limitations that existed before flight. However I also realized that this line was actually referring to literature in the sense that literature has a higher purpose than just providing information , instead it helps people to think on a larger scale i.e. 'outside the box'. With this interpretation in mind I found a direct relation to McCullough's speech, 'The Love of Learning'. Specifically the quotes "If information were learning, you could memorize the World Almanac and call yourself educated" as well as "One can have all the facts and miss the truth." In these quotes McCullough appears to be stressing the huge difference between information and learning, using the argument that memorizing facts is not learning at all. Instead it is actually the process of interpreting and applying knowledge. To conclude the importance of having a higher purpose, I would agree with Northrop Frye's approach whether it be in literature, learning, or even flying. In addition I also thought that this quote highlighted the control of time and space and so the desire to break free. This challenge to existing rules could also be seen as an anti-authority view similar to those discussed in class. Stemming from the events such as WWII concerning the Nazi Regime that shocked the world, I thought that the "rebellion against the tyranny of time and space" expressed mankind's current tendency to question and challenge existing authority and control.