Loss at the Center of Literature

I've been exploring the idea of making your work, any writing you do, more literary.  Have you noticed that much of literature is about loss?  So many storylines start with the memory of past loss.  Main characters flash back to losses of children, parents, spouses, etc.  Alexandre Dumas's Count of Monte Cristo begins with and centers on a plot by his friends to take everything from him, and the rest of the story deals with what he does as a reaction to loss.  Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre, Taran Wanderer and so many other stories start with an orphan who is forced to find his/her way in the world because of the death of both parents.  Most novels or series of novels, such as Harry Potter, based on Joseph Cambell's hero's journey pattern feature a father's (or father figure's) death as does Shakespeare's Hamlet.  To Kill a Mockingbird, Emma, "Cinderella," and other tales have a single father making mistakes as he tries to raise children alone.  The evil stepmother is such a common trope in fairy tales and other literature because loss of spouses has been such a common experience.

If literature doesn't start with loss, it often centers around characters trying to avoid loss of some sort, whether it be through death or some other means.  Shakespearean tragedies are built on the theme of impending loss.  Adventure stories have main characters grappling with the risk of death on a regular basis.  Pride and Prejudice centers on fear of loss of home and livelihood. Jane Eyre's central theme of loss extends not just to her loss of parents and childhood friend but also to her loss of home after home, hope for the future after hope for the future.   Loss is at the center of what makes literature powerful because loss is at the center of human experience.  Past loss can also make a character more understandable.  If a character cares about or has cared about someone and has experienced or experiences a broken heart, we often feel for that character because we, too, have been through loss.  We see some piece of ourselves in those characters.

So it's time to consider your own characters.  What loss have they experienced before your novel begins?  How does that make her/him more understandable and empathetic to readers?  Remember that any presentation of loss should feel like it could have happened.  It should feel real to the reader, whether they've experienced that kind of loss or not.  If you simply say a person has lost a child, but yet that character doesn't behave as would someone who has lost a child, those readers who have lost a child will not like your story or character at all.  It will feel wrong, contrived.  Loss should have an impact on the character and, thereby, on the story.  

Is your character in danger of loss?  What is at stake through the story?  How does that play into or echo loss they've already experienced?  If nothing feels like it's at stake for your character, why should the reader care?  Look at loss as it is handled in your favorite literary works.  How can you handle this theme likewise?   Best of luck.