What is the nature of literature?

The nature of literature is quite an open one.  It does many things and accomplishes many purposes.  One such end is that it helps to articulate conditions within human beings that can find relation in the lives of others.  It seeks to relay such narratives so that bonds can be formed with characters, predicaments, and ideas in the hopes of sensing more about our own senses of self.  Literature's nature can take on many forms in the accomplishment of these purposes.  Yet, the idea present is that within all literature there is some level of articulation of a predicament that can be appreciated by many and help more to understand more of themselves, their worlds and settings.  Sometimes, the nature of literature can have a moral purpose, yet other times it might not.  However, its primary nature is to "simply connect" with others in its attempt to detail more of ourselves and our world.