Social and historical criticism insists that literature is a reflection of social life. One of the basic conditions for the success of a work is whether it truly reflects social life. The so-called authenticity refers to the degree of conformity between the social life picture displayed in literary works and the artistic image shaped by literary works and the actual situation of social life. It is the true unity of author's true feelings, reader's true feelings and artistic image. Therefore, in social and historical criticism, authenticity is a necessary condition to judge the value of a work. The investigation of authenticity mainly focuses on the following aspects:

First, examine the authenticity of the background of the work to see whether the work reflects and embodies the progressive tendency and trend of the times.

Secondly, examine the authenticity of the characters to see whether the characters conform to their identities, whether the development of their personalities is logical and whether their emotions are authentic.

Third, examine the authenticity of the details to see if it will produce realistic effects. Social and historical criticism attaches great importance to the social benefits of literature, and requires literature to enrich people's knowledge and influence people's thoughts, feelings and world outlook by shaping literary images with aesthetic significance, thus maintaining or destroying an ideology. It requires:

1. Social and historical criticism requires literary works to truly reflect social life, and specifically describe the political, economic, cultural life and social customs of various historical periods, so that readers can acquire rich and vivid social and historical knowledge and life knowledge, and improve their ability to observe and understand life.

Second, social and historical criticism also requires literary works to tell readers what is good, what is commendable and what is evil through artistic images, thus affecting readers' ideological morality and world outlook, helping readers to better understand themselves, enhancing their courage and strength in transforming the world, and stimulating readers' desire for truth.

Third, social and historical criticism requires "entertaining through education", and literary works should have the entertainment nature of cultivating temperament and pleasing body and mind. However, this aesthetic function of literary works is only as a medium, and the ultimate goal is to educate readers.