ethical significance

A work of literature has ethical significance if it encourages the reader to ask questions of an ethical nature. Not to be confused with moral significance, which refers to the ability of a work of literature to teach a lesson about how one should live, ethical significance is found where the truth is not always obvious, the right decision is not always clear, and the best way to live is difficult to determine. Literature that shows us how to ask questions and why we need to ask questions by raising difficult issues tends to stay with us.