Telling a Story About Storytelling

*I feel my paper is not completely finished (is anything ever really finished?)because there is so much to say and explore when it come to the subject of storytelling and I suppose I could have written a book on the subject. Had I more time I would have included the following topics for discussion: Storytelling visual images in memory and pumbing the depths of memory. Also hoe kids/people in general who have already heard a story want to hear it over and over. Also: What is most effective is the story rather than what is said about the story. What I have to say in my paper is not as important as the stories I talk about. Which leads me to what Dr. Sexson said, "The moral of the story is the story." The story we create is more important than what is said about our story. It is how we live and create our stories that is the nourishing substance. All that out of the way, here is my paper:

Telling a Story About Storytelling

To be a person is to have a story to tell. -Isak Dinesen


Lyra is famous for her storytelling in His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. She lies to manipulate Iofur, the false bear king and lies whenever she thinks she needs to manipulate a situation. So does her mother Mrs. Coulter at the very end when she lies with every fiber of her being to manipulate Metatron. Lyra tries to lie on page 292 of The Amber Spyglass Lyra and Will have to get through the door to get to the ghosts on the other side. All of these lies are stories, but what matters are the “real” stories. The narratives and myths that permeate our lives become true by becoming part of our own story. There is no truth, only versions of it, and our lives are infused the archetypes and myths.

They meet a harpy called No-Name, who Lyra later names Gracious Wings. The harpy, for the Athenians, was a sorrowful death angel. Although the harpies in The Amber Spyglass are not death angels, they are door keepers and they inspire sadness and fear, but that later changes. The harpy in Greek mythology was a winged death-spirit best known for stealing all food from Phineas. Like the harpies in The Amber Spyglass steal all the happiness and comfort from the ghosts by reminding the ghosts of all the bad things they committed in their lives.
No-Name would not let Will and Lyra pass through the door and says, "What can you give me?" so Lyra offers to tell a story, but as usual she weaves a tale in her mind about things that are not true, and when she begins storytelling No-Name rejects the story knowing it to be a lie. All we have to give when we have nothing else is our own story, which would be all No-Name could fairly ask for from Lyra. We cannot take things like material possessions, relationships, or our five senses we enjoy of the body to our death when we die. Medieval drama, Everyman illustrates that the only thing people could take with them to the grave was their good deeds, or in the case of His Dark Materials, their good story. The only thing a person has to their name or to their life is the story they lived.

This reminded me of Baz Luhrmann's recent film, Australia, near the beginning, Lady Sarah Ashley is talking with the drover and they are discussing how much luggage the Lady has. The drover tells Lady Sarah Ashley that he doesn't have many possessions because they are no good to him. He says all he has is his story and he's trying to make it a good one. The drover was very close to the Aboriginal people of Australia and that culture values storytelling as a way to teach, remember, and entertain. So the drover would agree when Tialys from, The Amber Spyglass strikes a deal with the harpies on page 317 and says, "Every one of the ghosts has a story; every single one that comes down in the future will have true things to tell you about the world."

The harpies have the right to hear the stories and the ghosts will have to tell their story, then the harpies will guide the ghosts to the opening into the world. The harpies can ask for nothing else because the stories of our lives are all we have to give when we die. No-Name says on page 318, "We have the right to refuse to guide them if they lie, or if they hold anything back, or if they have nothing to tell us. If they live in the world, they should see and touch and hear and learn things." The harpy is saying that we need to gain knowledge and experience life. A person who watched TV all day, slept and did nothing else would not have much of a story at all. My dad always told me that the purpose of life was to love everyone, gain knowledge, and serve others. I suppose if I do all three I will live a pretty good story.

Our stories are all connected through at the most six degrees of separation. My story includes other stories that are not entirely mine. This is meant in the way of intertextuality where my story’s meaning would be shaped by other stories, but also by framing, one story inside of another, like in Brian Talbot’s book or in everyday life, for example: Thanksgiving was a lovely time for my family. We enjoyed a delicious meal, good company, and good conversation. My mom, dad, and I were joined by my mom’s mom, my mom’s brother, and his son Andy. My cousin Andy was adopted by my Uncle Woody and Aunt Kristi from Bolivia and he is now 10-years-old. My Aunt Kristi had a sudden and tragic stroke this year and did not survive. Andy, who has had certain developmental issues has obviously had a very hard time coping. He has been the hot topic of family discussions for almost a decade now. At the Thanksgiving table he said that he was thankful that our Grandma still had her teeth, to which she agreed. He picked at his food and had little interest in the “adult” conversation. However, for some reason my dad was telling a story and Andy was captivated. It was the longest I’ve seen him sit still and listen. My dad’s story went like this:

“My dad [My dad’s dad; my grandpa] was about 12 years old I think when he was
sent to Grants Pass, Oregon area to spend the summer with his Uncle Jake. Uncle
Jake had a peg leg and he couldn’t hear very well so he used one of those horns
you stick in your ear as a hearing aid. The reason he had a peg leg and couldn’t
hear very well is because he used dynamite to blow stumps out of the ground for
clearing farm ground. Some of the dynamite got wet one day so he put it in the
oven of the woodstove to dry it out. When he opened the over door to check on
it, it blew up. It blew off one leg and made him deaf. He and a neighbor farmer
used to feud over the water that came down from the streams and the neighbor had
dammed it up, so Uncle Jake took my dad and some dynamite and they snuck over
and blew up the dam. And then they used some branches to wipe out their tracks.
When they got back to Jake’s cabin Uncle Jake gave my dad a big pistol and told
him to stand in the window and Jake took a shot gun and went out a set in a
chair leaned up against the front porch and he told my dad that the neighbor and
his boys would probably be coming to complain that their dam had been blown up.
Uncle Jake said there might be trouble so that is why they were holding their
guns and sure enough in a little while the neighbor and his boys came up the
path carrying their pitchforks. And they complained to Jake about the dam being
blown up and Jake said ‘somebody blew up your dam?’ And they said ‘You must have heard it’ and Jake said ‘you know I can’t hear a damn thing.’ He had his horn in
his ear all through the conversation. The neighbors seeing the guns decided to
turn and head back down the trail. Uncle Jake was a rough old guy and one time
when my dad was riding a horse in the pasture it ran under a low hanging tree
branch and my dad bent over and the tree branch scratched the skin off of his
back so Uncle Jake doctored it by pouring turpentine on it. And when Jake
demonstrated the pistol he had my dad hold it shot a hold through the apple
tree.”

Philip Pullman says "Lyra and Will and the other characters are meant to be human beings like us, and the story is about a universal human experience, namely growing up," in response to his own claim of His Dark Materials being stark realism. Pullman is telling us the story of ourselves, the reoccurring myth of the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Fall of Man when they finally know themselves. By growing up we create the stories of our lives and we recreate the “original Fall” by gaining wisdom and knowledge which moves us from innocence into experience, creating a better story for ourselves. Everyday we gain knowledge and encounter new things we are recreating and living the myth, we become Eve. This is what makes stories so special and effective; we recreate stories in our live as we are creating our own.

What does all this have to do with children's literature? As a child, which is the embodiment of innocence, most people are told stories or read to by their parents or family members. My Book and Heart Shall Never Part ruminated on the idea of didacticism in children's literature. The didacticism of storytelling is essential because we use stories to teach, remember, and delight. So by being told stories children are being encouraged to gain knowledge, remember, and have joy which fosters the child away from innocence and into experience. Stories teach children to create their own stories, so they have something to tell. Like on page 433 of The Amber Spyglass when Mary Malone decides to "Tell them [Lyra and Will] stories" where she performs the role of the temptress by telling them of her 'Fall' tasting like marzipan when she was twelve years old. This stirs up sensations in Lyra which leads to Lyra's fall. It is interesting how it is not Will who is tempted and falls, but Lyra. And her fall is essential, but Lyra doesn't really fall, does she, she gains knowledge and experience. She is growing and learning. This is how we create our own life story, unknowingly through the archetypes and myths, because it is the change and the metamorphosis we go through to advance from innocence and reach the realm of experience. We must all eat the apple.

If you don't know the trees you may be lost in the forest, but if you don't know the stories you may be lost in life. -Siberian Elder