INTRODUCTION. This article aims to show how literature offers a valid alternative to work on citizen values with Higher Education students, making possible the connection of reason with emotion in order to overcome the motivational deficit of the cognitive ethics, which are repeatedly referred by specialists in moral philosophy. The analysis is carried out from a classroom experience within the framework of a research project at a Colombian university. METHOD. The sample is made up of a group of students from both genders of the field of Industrial Technology in their fifth semester at a Colombian university. They were given an open-ended questionnaire at two separate times, before and after the reading of a novel, with the purpose of evaluating the incorporation of ethical and citizen values. RESULTS. The results show that there was a change in the way in which the students expressed their judgments and that a transformation was made in their imaginary regarding the phenomena of drug trafficking, corruption and the Colombian armed conflict. DISCUSSION. From the research, significant achievements are derived for the training in ethical and citizen values in these students and can serve as a basis for future research in the pedagogical field. Literature proves to be an ideal medium to connect reason with emotion and contribute to overcome the motivational deficit in students when the training in ethical and citizen values are undertaken and a historical awareness is sought.