How Do We Use Stories - Essay Example

How do we use stories? Story telling has been, and continues to be the most powerful way of putting ideas into the world. Since time immemorial, people have used stories to pass on information from one generation to the next. The content of this information varies from cultural aspect that solely aims at preserving cultural background of people, to tales that are meant to educate the society about various issues such as morals, among others. Additionally, stories also form the platform through which societies entertain themselves, educate the children, as well as test the creativity and memory retention capability of its people. Stories are also powerful. They enchant, delight, recall, touch, teach, motivate, inspire and challenge us. They help us understand certain things by creating pictures in our minds. Our lives revolve around stories, and as such, they move us and make us feel alive. Our appetite for stories is a demonstration of our insatiable desire to understand life patterns, an understanding that in addition to providing an ideal intellectual exercise also provides a personal emotional experience. Thus stories offers a platform through which we can reach out to people, and connect with them emotionally. It is therefore imperative that we understand the various forms and occasions that we use stories, the objectives we want to achieve, and the means we employ in our quest for achieving the said objective. The primary motive of a story is to capture a moment or event and then immortalize it. This is how information regarding various cultures and occurrences that took place way before the advent of writing passed down through generations, until this day we are able to either read them in books, or listen to people narrate them. These stories, whether we hear them or read them, have several aspects that tend to remain unchanged over time. For instance, a good number of stories we hear or read focus on human beings, the people. Be it ancient tales or modern stories delivered in a setting such as in an organization, or a story focusing on the environment or of the times before humans came to be, the central focus remains the people, in the form of characters at play, and by extension, the audience. All stories maintain this focus on the people in order to remain relevant, attract the listener or the readers’ attention, and thus pass the information, which as aforementioned, could be to educate, or just to preserve facts and ideas about the community. Stories also stir up emotions. The preservation of an event or occurrence through a story, and later telling it to an audience in a given setting, more often than not stir emotions that could be related to personal reflection, or enabling a better understanding of the prevailing circumstance, in relation to the one being presented in the story. Spaulding (2011, 101-113) notes that the stirring of emotions aims to align the mind to the fact the story is worth paying attention to, thus breaking the white noise of information that continually inundates us. However, there are instances when stories are used to manipulate people, so that they can support a given course, either through participation, or through any other form of support that may be worthwhile. For instance, a story used to be told of an individual who never wanted to participate in any resourceful activity, but was a hearty eater. The society decided to make the individual to overeat to his demise, as a way of warning similar minded people that dependence on free things can be used as a bait to poison one, while on the other hand encouraging people to work hard. When told to young people, the story inflicts fear in them, while at the same time encourages them to work hard, a blend of manipulation with a tinge of melodramatic effect. Stories also help in explaining and aid in unraveling the meaning of certain words, events, situations or even circumstances, and which reveal truthful facts about the situation. Once the narrator says the last word, or once you get to read the last word of the story, you should be capable of deciphering the intended lesson that the narrator or the writer wanted to bring to the audience. While the story answers the question of what it was about, it should also reveal to the reader the hidden meaning. Additionally, the reader should be able to relate this discovery to the real world around him. A story should thus be set in a manner that the audience finds something that gives them the satisfaction that investing their time as the audience has at least benefited them. Cooper (2009, 52-58) observes that even though entertainment is one of the benefits of listening to or reading a story, it is never the ultimate goal of the story. Rather, Cooper notes that this is just one of the tactics employed by the narrator to keep the audience glued to the story, but who in the end should have a rational judgment based on the story, and which ought to be concerning one particular lesson or idea that the narrator wanted to communicate. In addition, Cooper also notes that in addition to this learning objective, stories also enhance the cognitive abilities of children. The fundamental objective of a story, in light of Cooper’s thought, is thus to help the audience make meaning out of the story, and relate to the prevailing circumstances in the environment in which the story is told. We also use stories to communicate the relevance of certain events or occurrences, and to a deeper extent, explain their relation to the narrator, the audience, or even the prevailing circumstances, aspects of which are key components of the society. According to Karatsu (2012, 41-48) this relevance is not just assumed, but is proven by the content of the story. The story has to achieve this through enabling the reader to establish the importance of the story, both at personal level and at societal level. To achieve this, most narrators often find it necessary to adopt illustrative or comparative approach. For instance, the narrator can assume that the specific reader is part of a large audience. This approach, however, suffers a setback in that while it sets the foundation for relevance, treating the reader as being part of the large group may not be sufficient to demonstrate that the issue is of personal interest to the reader. Nevertheless, the anecdote of the story may be used effectively to fill this gap. The narration can be set such that it addresses specific opinions, facts or experiences of the reader or listener, which the he can then use to make comparison with his own knowledge, belief and experiences. Additionally, the anecdote can also focus on a person or a situation that the audience can easily identify with. The narrator can reinforce the details of the anecdote so that the reader is able to extract facts from the story. He can then use these facts to make comparisons with his own experiences. The story becomes relevant on an emotional and intellectual sense in the event that a connection is realized. It is worth noting that good stories in addition to identifying with the current situation should also be engaging and compelling. An engaging story is easy to follow, keeps the reader entertained, even as he remains focused as every turn of the story creates a suspense that he finds irresistible to let go without understanding, and hence the identification element. Once these aspects are interwoven into the story, the reader will not only get entertained, but will also be able to pick a handful of lessons, which is the core objective of achieving relevance in a story. The use of factual figures is also vital to achieving relevance of a story, especially when relaying stories relating to such fields as economy, population, etc. For instance, in a story about the recently witnessed global economic recession, one can give examples of nations such as Greece that were affected the most, and could then cite specific statistics relating to the recent bailout attempts by other nations. The statistics help establish the conciseness of the example given, the credibility of the source since it is what exists in the real world presently, and fosters the readers’ ability to acknowledge the effort of the narrator. Furthermore, for a story whose relevance is unquestionable, researchers have shown that the use of data can be employed as an exclamation point. For instance, one can choose to present the statistics of individuals who have met catastrophes in their attempts to ascend Mount Everest under harsh weather conditions. The exclamation warns the readers of the potential impacts a similar course may have, and thus enables them to take precautionary measures to avoid similar situation. Finally, when a story is told, the ownership transfers to the narrator. However, when a good story is courageously presented, the presenter makes it relevant. Some of the best presentations of stories do not come merely due to the desire of the presenter to be relevant, but from a blend of innate talent that gives the presenter the necessary courage to face adversities that may come his way during the presentation. Great art not only reflects the tastes of the modern society in relation to the ancient one, but also plays a vital role in the formation of such tastes. However, it is worth noting that while taste is dynamic, the content of the stories tend to remain unchanged. The reason behind this is that stories are pieces of information put together for a specific purpose- the purposes of which include, though not limited to preserving and passing over an event recording, entertainment, etc. This therefore implies that even though we tend to make stories up to date when we present in our current situations, the apparent transfer of ownership only guarantees presentation rights, as opposed to the content. Since the content often remain unaffected, the message too does not change, hence the preservation that is the core aim of storytelling. We use stories for a myriad of purposes, of which capturing an event and making it available for ages to come is one of them. The event once captured, can later be presented in different ways, which could be to educate, warn, stir a given response, whether emotional or physical, among others. Apart from invoking certain responses, we also use stories to explain the meaning of specific occurrences, by delving into their causes and the probable results, based on well-choreographed analogous stories. Through this, the audience can be able to decipher the hidden meanings of specific signs, even when the narrator does not explicitly present such meanings. Furthermore, stories are also used to bring out the relevance of certain aspects of life. While it is clear that stories set their own relevance, other aspects such as the use of factual figures and reinforcing the anecdote of a story are crucial to strengthening this objective. Such reinforcement and incorporation of statistics help in establishing the conciseness of the story, which in turn elevates the chances of the audience connecting with the story. Courageous presentation of a good story is also another aspect that is central to the relevance of the story. It is therefore imperative that a story meets these criteria of analysis in order to achieve its objective(s). Works Cited Cooper, Patricia M. The Classrooms All Young Children Need: Lessons in Teaching from Vivian Paley. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Internet resource. Karatsu, Mariko. Conversational Storytelling Among Japanese Women: Conversational Circumstances, Social Circumstances and Tellability of Stories. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co, 2012. Print. Spaulding, Amy E. The Art of Storytelling: Telling Truths Through Telling Stories. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2011. Internet resource. Read More