Sample Issue Essays for AWA - 35 | Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) for GRE PDF Download

"Imaginative works such as novels, plays, films, fairy tales, and legends present a more accurate and meaningful picture of human experience than do factual accounts. Because the creators of fiction shape and focus reality rather than report on it literally, their creations have a more lasting significance."

Sample Answer:

• Creative work calls for imagination, which knows no bounds. The inherent quality of imagination is to explore all aspects of a situation, both possible and not possible. Imaginative work is more appealing because it covers the details of an event like the why(s), if(s), but(s) and consequences relevant to various human experiences, unlike the factual accounts that objectively report the facts and happenings as they occur.
• In works of imagination, like novels, plays, and films, an ideal situation can be well exemplified without actually waiting for it to occur. For instance, a character in a novel can possess all the desirable qualities to be imbibed in children. Similarly, tales of fairies and demons can help in clearly distinguishing between good and evil. Further, literature definitely has a more powerful impact on the minds of readers. No doubt, factual accounts of past familiarize us with history, but adventurous expeditions, horrors of wars and natural calamities expressed through poetry, plays and stories, makes a potent influence. In the same way, novels dwell upon the characters involved and reveal much more about human psychology and its scope. They include details of the circumstances and their effects, as how one is pushed towards a certain crime or what goes into the mind of the culprit during and after the crime.
• Though, we all strive to be a part of society in general, but it is a well known fact that every individual is unique and is bound to react differently to the same set of given situations. These are the very aspects discovered through films, novels and plays. Thus a work of fiction which is partly imaginative and partly unreal, gives real insight into human experiences. In other words, fiction is an art of expressing facts with a human touch. It is not just an innovative and imaginary piece of art, but it is reality presented without any binding of political, social, religious or economical class.
• If fictional description were not inspired by reality, people would not have related to it and literature, films, novels, etc. would not have been so popular. To quote examples from films, most of the depictions are already known to us through real life experiences, but their presentation is such that they can make us happy, sad, and empathetic. Such an approach surely enlightens us more meaningfully.
• Equivalently, if one goes merely by the factual accounts, all virtues and values in today's world seems to be doomed by greed violence and corruption. Although the legends in epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata appear as fictional creations, there is something so real and ideal about them that till date people look up to them for guidance of the inner self. The heroic deeds, the sacrifices, the wisdom exhibited, and hardships undertaken to follow their principles via the path of righteousness, sets high standards for all.
• To summarize, it is established that compared to facts, creative and imaginative work focuses more on details of reality and shapes up the human experiences more influentially, thereby creating an impact that lasts longer.