What is a common theme of both gabriel garcía márquez' and mo yan's speeches? a. they are unhappy with europeans' treatment of other countries b. they are unhappy with westerners' perception of non-westerners c. literature has the power to change lives d. the nobel board should be more political

C. Literature has the power to change lives.

The Nobel Prize speech is an opportunity for authors to discuss the topics that they are interested in, or the topics that they have addressed in their books. Gabriel Garcia Marquez won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, while Mo Yan received it in 2012. In his speech, Garcia Marquez addresses political issues, while Mo Yan avoids them in his. However, both speeches send the message that literature has the power to change lives.

The correct answer is C, Literature has the power to change lives. It could be said of both authors that the profound love they feel towards Literature owes largely to the key role it played in their lives by enabling them to rise to international fame through their works.

In the case of Garcia Marquez, his college studies came to an abrupt and untimely end because of the political turmoil in his country, Colombia. He was forced to get a job as a journalist and in time he would begin his literary writings, inspired by the convoluted events he witnessed since he was forced to drop out from college.

Guan Moye, best known as "Mo Yan " (meaning: don't speak) had a life full of hardships because of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution in China. His pen name was inspired by an order not to speak he would get from his parents when he was a child in order to avoid saying something deemed as inappropriate by the  authorities and get the family into serious trouble. Just like Garcia Marquez, Mo Yan (an admirer of Garcia Marquez's himself) rose to fame due to his literary works changing his life forever.