Why Do Stories Matter

Stories incorporate the ability to change the decisions of humans. In “The Truth About Stories”, by Thomas King, and, Alternatives, by Drew Hayden Taylor, stories can stay with someone, as long as one lives. Despite this, certain stories can impact one’s life positively or negatively, while stories can also make one’s work invalid. However, stories can also act as common ground. Human behaviour is controlled by stories.

Stories are surrounding us. Whether you're in school or at work or simply listening to somebody let you know about their day. We learn through stories. As humans we all share experiences through stories. We learn from ones experiences while they tell us the story of what happen to them. We learn about a 12 year old girl named Lisa Chavez. She tells us her story about the first time she has experienced racism. We also learn about a woman named Chimamanda Adiche's and she tells us about the dangers of a single story. While Chimamanda Adiche's tells us her story she explains to us why people have racist thoughts and it’s because of storytelling. Then we learn about Hampl’s piece about memoirs. He tells us what he thinks a memoir is and how true can a memoir be. Stories affect our everyday life, they affect how we see people and how we learn about things.

Most stories serve as a form of entertainment or education purpose, allowing ones to learn from the story. Storytelling is the conveying of experiences and thoughts storytellers puts into words. Most narratives contain a moral that the author wants people to learn about and connect to the story more vitally. Perhaps, storytelling allows people to learn things more vividly. Readers are not present to encounter the experience the author had gone through, therefore, it causes difficulty for readers to

The structure of the film Stories We Tell is a documentary, but not in a traditional style or sense. A traditional documentary is a film that generally provides a factual record or report. National Geographic documentaries are a popular example of this. What makes Stories We Tell different, yet still a documentary, is that it uses the individual’s perspective instead of an omniscient observer’s perspective. The interviews were evidence of the film being a documentary, as it asks for specific people for their view, their “report” on the topic that is being discussed in the film. Factual evidence is included, yet is slightly different due to different people’s perspective on the stories, memories of Diane and the whole mystery behind Sarah’s biological father. Near the ending of the film, Sarah states that she would like Harry to hold off from publishing their story, and instead publish it as a documentary. What makes this film a documentary is not that it displays facts and reports of realism, but a message of some sort, from the director. This film begins with a story to tell, eventually ending with discussion on

We Tell Stories is talks about stories of our ancestors and our traditions. The book “Borderlands” by Anzaldua shows that traditions can be easily broken in order to fight for one’s future. If no one is supporting that decision, it is essential that people continue with their gut feeling. In the book “borderlands”, Anzaldua stated that if breaking traditions is the correct decision, then people should follow that decision. At the end of the day, the correct decision is going to be yours and it is your future. When people are forced to do certain things, they end up hating that decision and resent the person that forced them to take that decision. Traditions are very old and sometimes old does not mix well with modern

In “The Truth about Stories”, Thomas King, demonstrate connection between the Native storytelling and the authentic world. He examines various themes in the stories such as; oppression, racism, identity and discrimination. He uses the creational stories and implies in to the world today and points out the racism and identity issues the Native people went through and are going through. The surroundings shape individuals’ life and a story plays vital roles. How one tells a story has huge impact on the listeners and readers. King uses sarcastic tone as he tells the current stories of Native people and his experiences. He points out to the events and incidents such as the government apologizing for the colonialism, however, words remains as

All books are the same. Each has its own cast of characters and a few select differences, but they still follow the same general plot lines and have similar endings. This is the basis of Christopher Booker’s work, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. Booker separates literature and movies of all sorts into seven basic categories, each with its own skeleton plot line. These categories include overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy, and rebirth.

Stories are powerful. They teach us lessons and shape our values. Think back to Martin Luther King Jr.’ speech, a freedom-seeker that toppling the Berlin Wall, or Nelson Mandela emerging from prison to end South Africa’s era of apartheid. These stories inspired people around the world to think, to start conversations, to take action.

“Young as I was, I knew that I wanted the story to be true, true in the way fiction can be true” (Achebe) .

Do you think stories have the power to change the world? I think stories can change a person’s perspective on things or life. If we find the deeper meaning of a story, we can relate the story to our lives easier. Once we relate the stories to our lives, we would be able to reflect on it better and understand how the people in the story feel which would cause us to see people differently. Stories have the power to change the world because they usually have deeper meaning that we can relate to our lives which help us understand why this world is what it is today.

The power of storytelling can create connections between people and allow individuals to find their inner

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales from the view of a pilgrim journeying with many other travelers who all had tales to tell. I believe that the stories told by the characters in Chaucer's book gives us insight into the individual spinning the tale as well as Chaucer as the inventor of these characters and author of their stories. There are three main characters whose stories I will be using as examples: The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, and The Wife of Bath's Tale.

Brandon Sanderson, one of my favourite science fiction authors once said, ““The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” (Sanderson, 2010). This was a saying that stuck with me throughout my love and passion not just for storytelling but art in general. The beautiful thing about art is that it creates a sense of emotion that you can interpret the meaning for yourself; there is no right or wrong answer. Whenever I am reading poetry or a novel, what I love most is that it makes my imagination go wild. I create an idea of what their voices sound like, what the characters look like, the setting, etc. Whenever I’m reading or listening to someone telling me a story I get to create my own art piece in my mind which I think as humans is one thing that makes us so unique is our abstract mind and the use of an conscious imagination.

How does the writer use language and structure to convey her opinions about The Danger of a Single Story?

Many people tell stories to inform others about themselves. Throughout my life people in my family have told me many stories, and behind each story there is a purpose. The stories I was told growing up were about experiences that people in my family have had or things that I have done. These stories mean a lot to me because through these stories different family members reveal many things about themselves. They want me to understand their ideas, beliefs, or feelings about a certain subject. They want people to praise or admire what they have done or accomplished. Funny stories are told to humor or embarrass someone, usually me. Other stories express that we are not alone in the world, and there are other people,