left out, so that they will feel that they are part of the whole system. And the beauty of this strategy is seen in the effect and impact it will have in controlling and incorporating the working class into the whole system. So the middle class had the task of moulding and assimilating the masses, who are directly below them, and should win the masses' sympathy or guide them their direction, because if they can't and fail, society then is in danger of falling into chaos, mayhem, and rebellion. The task of literature then, is to somehow convince and persuade the masses to acknowledge that more than one viewpoint, other than theirs existed - namely, that of their masters. This means that literature is trying to make the masses see and realize that there is more than one course of action for them to take, that a bloody revolution is not the only answer. There was a need at that time, according to Eagleton, to communicate in the masses the moral riches of bourgeois civilization and impress upon them a reverence for middle-class achievements. And since reading is an essentially solitary, contemplative activity, literature then would restrain the masses into entering any disruptive tendency to collective political action. In this sense, literature now was starting to be seen as a suitable candidate for an ideological enterprise because of its liberal and humanizing pursuit, which could provide a potent antidote to political bigotry and ideological extremism. And also to some extent, literature was also seen as a religion because they both work primarily by emotion and experience. Bottomline here is that literature was used to hold the society together so it would not fall apart and break down into pieces. Literature was used as some kind of a diversionary tactic used to distract the masses from their immediate commitments, nurturing in them a spirit of tolerance and generosity. Basically, this was all about avoiding any political ins...
