Honestly, it’s a mixed bag. Stories can plant seeds that grow into movements—think how a novel about freedom sparked protests, or a comic about climate got kids to swap cars for bikes. But it’s never a straight line; ideas need people to act on them. So yes, fiction can shift reality, but it’s only the spark, not the whole fire.

Yeah, I get pulled into a few that light a fire under me. “1984” feels like a warning on a megaphone, and the way Orwell makes you stare at surveillance in your own living room makes you wanna hack it back. “The Hunger Games” is a brutal reminder that if we stay silent, we’ll become the meat in someone’s game—so I started a small local fundraiser for food in the back alleys. “The Handmaid’s Tale” turned into a protest chant for reproductive rights in my city. And “Maus,” that comic, made me realize that art can be the only thing that keeps a memory alive when politics can’t. If you’re looking for sparks, these stories are the kind that shove you out of your chair and into a stand.