by Judy Joyce

Created on: September 11, 2008

ROLE PLAYING DOES NOT PROVIDE VALUE TO LITERATURE.

This question has been posed upside down. Literature provides value to role playing and not the other way around. For something to add value, it requires that which is receiving that value to change, to increase, to add on. Literature embodies the encapsulated creative mind of the author. No amount of role playing will change what the author wrote into something else. It is the unique view of life that an author has contributed to the world. Literature remains unchanged. It is a point of view.

When reading literature, the reader is often at a loss. This is understandable in that for a piece of writing to acquire such universal acceptance as to be designated a piece of literature requires: study of what the author wrote; knowledge of the time period in which the piece was written; understanding of the culture and mores of the society influencing the author at the time and a analysis of the author's plot and theme that is consistent with this knowledge throughout. It is not sufficient to read the author's words or to revise the meaning of those words to reflect the era of the reader.

The nature of role playing is an excercise intended to step encourage the individual playing the role to step outside onesself. Role playing inspires the role player to take on a different persona. To explore the possibilities of other experiences. It has value in and of itself for those it is intended to enlighten and to help.

Using a literary character for the purpose of a role playing exercise would not likely be preceeded by the study of the character intended to promote a consistent point of view generated by an author. Quite the contrary. Role playing is intended to switch points of view, not from that of any author but rather to switch the point of view of the role player. In most instances, the intention is to illicit in the role player an understanding of another party within the role players circle of experience: a boss, a friend, a significant other, a police officer, a defendant or a victim of a crime. In the case of children, the use of role playing using characters from something like "Tales of the Brother's Grimm", would elicit fantasy as an experence. Role playing is intended to get real results.

Role playing needs to be distinguished from acting. Acting is a craft honed by a performer to evoke an audience response. Role Playing is used to change the actor him\herself. In this way, it is possible for literature to aid role playing. This is understandable when considering that someone invited to role play is also presumed to be being initiated into a new experience.

A character from literature that is familiar to all in a role playing exercise, may be assumed to present an issue. An example of this might be if a role play is about a theft in a neighborhood between two teenagers. It is possible to set out to have both the victim and the accused assume the role of the character in Robert Frost's poetic quote referring to "fences make good neighbors". That outside source from a poetic reference can make us laugh, lessen tension in a room, and teach a lesson as well. In such a case, literature is contributing to role playing and not the other way around.

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