The idea that you need a story written by(or about) someone of your race&gender&orientation in order to connect to it is just wrong.
Do I need to be an 81 year old farmer or a playwright in order to understand Giles Cory's plight?
Do I need to be a woman, a puritan or a novelist in order to understand the trials of Hester Prynne?
Nor do I need to be a Frenchman to understand that people can change and that we should not hound them to the ends of the earth because they once committed crimes?
These stories and more are read to lay a foundation of understanding about the society that we live in and why/how we have the laws and morals that we do.
They also show how close we are to our past and how things would be if we regressed as well as letting us look at how we may want to extend these lessons into the laws and culture we create in the future.
Do I need to be an 81 year old farmer or a playwright in order to understand Giles Cory's plight?
Do I need to be a woman, a puritan or a novelist in order to understand the trials of Hester Prynne?
Nor do I need to be a Frenchman to understand that people can change and that we should not hound them to the ends of the earth because they once committed crimes?
These stories and more are read to lay a foundation of understanding about the society that we live in and why/how we have the laws and morals that we do.
They also show how close we are to our past and how things would be if we regressed as well as letting us look at how we may want to extend these lessons into the laws and culture we create in the future.