Stories: How do they last?
What we read sticks with us. I will never forget how I felt reading Atlas Shrugged. I sat in bed watching as this world unfolded itself in front of me and invited me to enter. The first time I met John Galt, I fell. All others were spoiled for me. We engaged in an intimate conversation about the world, beliefs, and ideas. When I read The Known World, I placed the book on my lap and sat quietly, sad. When I read Dandelion Wine, I saw the future dragon eating the swan. I was reminded of how fleeting life is, but the story remains.
So, I want us too look at the power and longevity of stories. Read through this piece from Brain Pickings. If you have time, listen to Neil Gaiman's seminar. His seminar is lovely.
What makes a story stay? What is said here that resonates with you? Explain why. Once you have explained what resonates with you, tell us what stories have resonated with you and why you think stories last. For this blog you can explain yourself in one of three ways: through a story, a straight up explanation, or you may relay your ideas through poetry.
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ReplyDeleteStories and novels are those mysterious gateways into a character’s life and even your own. The emotion the author intends for the reader to experience influences the need to have a story as a means to look back on for knowledge. I was resonated by Neil Gaiman’s point about the symbiotic relationship humans share with a story. As they both develop, creative thought is established, and there is a sense of imagination that leads the reader go on an adventure, an escape from the world he/she already knows; an invitation to engage in a well thought out conversation.
ReplyDeleteI resonate most with the science fiction novels and the works of Stephen King, as I previously stated in the last blog. In science fiction, I was amazed by the devices, inventions, or crazy ideas that would be presented and try to figure out how to replicate them in real life. These were the Magic Tree House series and Goosebumps. I loved reading them and still do to this day. Under King, I resonated with The Shining. King wrote the novel in a way that made the reader keep reading, although he added his twisted horror view to it. Besides that, I appreciated the imagery he made, almost as if you were right there in a scene, especially with the party Jack starts to see. The emotion blows me away; all that suspense and anger building and building and building. A story lasts because it has such a changing and innovative way of viewing the world. They are read and reinterpreted by many people who go and share their knowledge, then it passed around like memories would, saved for generations and hardships.
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ReplyDeleteStories stay because people are afraid to live life. The fear of living, is however, juxtaposed with a greater fear of not living. We as humans bridge these bizarre conflicts with stories. Stories enable a reader to have a life, one thousand different lives, within the safe tranquility of tea and comfortable clothing. Naturally humans want the best lives possible so the best stories last the longest as a result of people living those lives over and over again. Kurt Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions" resonates with me for this reason. He open's up the readers eyes to a series of average but extraordinarily unique characters going about their lives in absurd yet real ways. His exploration of how the author controls the lives of his creations and the power complex he has with his characters is reminiscent of the relationship portrayed within the "Brian pickings" article. They cannot and will not exist with out each other.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of stories emanating from the same source or being unoriginal is usually a concept discussed with malice or disdain due to an inability to cope with not being unique. It resonates with me that, in this context, the growing and evolving story is seen as a a positive entity used to help humanity grow and evolve in a symbiotic relationship. It's refreshing to see someone take this approach to the topic.
Neil Gaiman has a beautiful understanding on how stories last. He explains how stories live and strive to be read. They are beating hearts and intelligent minds. What resonated with me is how he explained the connection between stories and us as human beings, we are the ones who write the stories and we are the ones that must continue them, they rely on us as much as we rely on them, “Really, it’s the stories that are the life-form — they are older than us, they are smarter than us, they keep going but they need human beings to reproduce”, so stories will live on because they have for centuries. Some will die and some with create new stories to be told later on. Much like poetry, stories are an endless form of writing. Stories are used as a way to communicate and spread information. Stories can be manipulated and used as a way tell things to people of all different ages and cultures for a better understanding.
ReplyDeleteThe story Gaiman told about his cousin and how she read Gone With the Wind to the children so they could escape their lives of the ghetto even for a short amount of time. Stories give comfort and provide the ideas that there are worlds of lives and stories to be read. Stories are universal. I believe that stories last because they teach life lessons. Fiction or nonfiction, stories are teachers and preachers. Stories put a child to bed every night, they can fade the border between what is real or not. Stories are our elders, they can hold worlds of information from experience or they can hold humor and joy.
Stories are the key to opening up the mind and traveling to different worlds with the characters. In the brain pickings piece, Gainman beautifully describes how stories last though generations to generations. One part that really opened my eyes was his story about the Polish Holocaust survivor, Helen. How she risked her life and read Gone With the Wind, every night and retold the story to the girls gave them hope. It allowed the girls to disappear for a little and live within the story with the characters and experience what the characters were experiencing. Although most of the girls did not make it through the war, what Helen did for them let the girls escape from reality with is what stories should do.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved to read. Learning about the characters and the worlds they lived in and escaping my life was what I loved the most. All the books I’ve read have stuck with me in some way: whether they are good or bad. Every story teaches me something that helps me come back from that story with a different view on life and how to live it. One series that I read when I was little that I love and cherish its lessons is The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalles Wilder. The challenges, encounters, and moments that the characters encountered in those books helped me grow as a child. What got me into those books was my dad and I watching “Little House on the Prairie” the television series every night at 8:00. Not only did I love spending it with my dad, but each episode had a new story. I loved reading the books and even more because Wilder’s account on the stories and how she writes make the stories come to life.
Stories are essentially time machines. I think that the ability of books to transport us to different times are what makes them last. Books offer a solution to many of the world’s problems, whether this solution is an escape from life as we know it, or information that we can use in real life. As Neil Gaiman states, “The most important thing that I think fiction does [is that] it lets us look out through other eyes … but it also gives us empathy.” This resonated with me because I recognize that empathy is an essential characteristic for humans to have. We must learn to relate to one another by seeing things through one another’s eyes. Another quality of stories is that they have the power to evolve in order to relate to humans in any time. Whether this be through e-books or the internet, stories still reach as many people are possible. I am also struck by the story Gaiman told about his cousin Helen in the Nazi concentration camps. Stories are a source of hope, and I personally think that is the most important role they play. Hope is the most powerful weapon a human can have, it gives us the power to win battles, and face each day with vitality. Hope and books are synonymous, and they are the most powerful weapon of all.
ReplyDeleteA book series that has resonated with me is The Missing Series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I read the first one when I was 12 years old. I read the books over the years as they were released until the last one this year. It’s funny, because when I first read them, I saw myself as the narrator’s sister, Katherine, who was also 12. As I read the last one, I still saw myself as Katherine, even though she was still 12 and I was 16. It transported me back in time (and not only because the books are about time travel). I was once again in my own 12-year-old mindset. Once I finished the series I felt kind of empty. It was something I had been carrying around with me for four years. I made my little sister read them so she could carry them with her as well. A story lasts because we can learn something from it, and put ourselves inside of it. A story lasts because it changes us, and we’re different when we end it than we were when we began.
Stores last for the simple reason that people continue to read them. The lure of adventure, exploration and discovery; tales of heroism and bravery are timeless. These elements are enticing to us as humans, because we wish to see these within ourselves. The idea from Neil Gaiman that stories are alive, is something that really stuck with me. Just the thought that even the oldest stories are continually evolving and expanding is exciting. As the story changes with the times, so does the message it sends, meaning the two are the same.
ReplyDeleteOne novel that really stuck with me was Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The story itself I found to be captivating. Elements of science fiction intertwined with a modern dystopia i found irresistible. However, it was the message behind the novel that gives it staying power. Like so many other dystopian works, the novel served as a warning to society and emphasized the importance of free thought. What truly separates this novel for me, was the protagonist Guy Montag. Guy Montag is the generic, cookie cutter man, right down to the name. Guy is just like all of the readers, which provides for a unique perspective in a world Bradbury warns us about. This relatability, to a character, the plot or a message is imperative for a novel to have staying power. Without it, the novel cannot and will not grow with the times.
Stories explain the world in which we live and have the ability to be conveyed in any style. An author can configure our language and place words in the order of their choice, defining what will be taken away from the story. Stories are passed on from generation to generation, not only as a means of communication, but also as a learning tool. Each story gains new details and important pieces that define the person or event being described. Our reliance on the sharing of stories is what allows them to stay. Neil Gaiman refers to stories as key life tools in which humans have formed a symbiotic relationship with: “Really, it’s the stories that are the life-form — they are older than us, they are smarter than us, they keep going. But they need human beings to reproduce, much as we need food… we need things to keep ourselves alive. Maybe stories really are like viruses… Functionally, they are symbiotic — they give and give back…” This particular quote has stuck with me in that I believe our advancement as a society is based on stories of the past. We choose to make positive decisions in the future based on the analysis of mistakes and successes, growing as a entire group of people. We rely on stories just as much as they rely on us.
ReplyDeleteA story that has resonated with me most recently is one I so vividly replay in my mind. This past spring my uncle Mark passed away 3 years after his diagnosis with ALS. He was always a continual supporter of my academics and athletics. He especially loved to come out and watch me compete in cross country. One year following his diagnoses, he came to watch me run at the State meet for cross country in a wheelchair. Although the nerves in his leg muscles were weakening day by day, he gathered the strength to stand and cheer as I passed by. Little did I know this would be the last time he would see me run. When I initially heard the story I was overwhelmed with sadness as I knew the state of my uncle’s health was deteriorating. Now that he is at rest, I continue to find strength in myself to carry on the legacy of my uncle. I know that through a personal connection with a story a reader can find inspiration. As a reader, I feel empowered by stories that are relatable. I hope to pass on the story of my uncle’s life and the positivity that he faced every day with.
I liked Gaiman’s idea that stories are alive. I have always thought that not only our conceptual understanding of life, but also the technical definition of life are so flexible that they can be applied to many things, including things such as salt lattices, machines, and ideas. All those things have growth, reproduction, and change, especially with a human catalyst as Gaiman describes for stories. The ability to define a wide variety of things as living shapes our conceptual understanding of life, introducing to us new ideas and possibilities in creating life and in the extraterrestrial search for life.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the story of Gaiman’s cousin, Helen. The fact that she risked death to read and teach stories reminds me of Mr. Keating’s words in Dead Poets Society: “Poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for.” There was already little chance of surviving in the concentration camps; beauty in stories, the pursuit of knowledge, the love of sharing, and the emotions of humanity were worth far more to Helen and the children than a slight detriment to the already slim chance of survival. With these fond memories, the emotional debilitation of the camp is reduced, perhaps significantly enough that not only did it help them stay sane and alleviate psychological scarring, but it also helped them to see their brutal experience differently, to gain more from it.
Stories only last if they are told. And to be told, they must be enjoyable to tell and hear. And to be enjoyable to tell and hear, they must explore feelings, concepts, ideas which are important to us, which we want to explore as well. One of the few novels I’ve taken an interest to is Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Hatchet explores the hopelessness and helplessness of being thrown into a foreign environment, the extremely risky trial-and-error process of adapting to it, the choice between survival and death, and the subtle, yet insurmountably important role that luck plays in life. All of this is wrapped in the universally relatable skin of a wilderness survival story, but the underlying concepts apply well to everyday life: immigrants in a foreign country attempting to survive financially and socially, homeschooled students attempting to survive and adapt to high school social interaction, people who get jobs which throw them into an unforgiving, impersonalized, and punishing business environment, etc. All of the story’s themes resonate with my personal story and has helped shape my philosophy, my outlook on life. And I believe I’m not alone; I believe the universal applicability of these themes will allow Hatchet to survive for a long time.
In the piece brain pickings it mentions how stories are timeless and we are the ones that pass them down through the generations. We are the people that help these stories reproduce and carry on through the ages. We latch onto these stories and make connections with them throughout our own lives. I found it interesting when the piece mentioned how the modern world makes it harder to find the actual flowers in the field because our fields are full of flowers and that makes it harder for us to find that one flower in the field that resonates with us. Instead of back when there wasn't this internet so in a way it was easier to find the stories we resonate with because they would be in the middle of the desert and therefore make it more rewarding when we find them. This was just the one thing that resonated the most with me. How stories carry on but sometimes they can become somewhat muddled in this new era of technology.
ReplyDeleteAs far as what stories have resonated with me I have found that it partially depends on when I read these books and what stages of my life that I'm at while reading these books. In 8th grade I found the book Hero by
S.L. Rottman powerful because it made a strong emotional connection with me connecting me to this delinquent boy who had to serve community service time for his crimes and ending up finding a father figure that changed him. In sophomore year I found The Running Man by Stephen King a particularly engrossing suspenseful novel but it hooked me emotionally by giving the main character an emotional connection to fight for through his family being in danger. Then, of course there are might favorite books to this point Harry Potter. These books are books that just grow up with you. You start reading it while it is young and you then watch the characters grow up and mature throughout their lives while dealing with many life-threatening suspenseful situations. Harry Potter was an excellent series driven by the characters. I was able to connect with every character and they are what made the story come alive. That is why Harry Potter will probably end up being a timeless book series.
In life, one of humanity’s greatest struggles is determining (a) the things in which we believe and (b) the extent to which we will fight for these beliefs. Stories are the dictation of humanity’s struggle with these concepts, and chronicle the individual as well as society’s attempts to make sense of all of the terrible, wonderful, beautiful, horrible things which are part of their human experience. Discerning what things are constant, and which things must remain stagnant and never-changing in our hearts, is imperative not only for individual stability and sanity but also the good of society and culture as a whole. Nonetheless, despite how mechanical and robotic that may sound, human passion and intangible emotions play an intrinsically huge part in the choosing of these beliefs; religion and wars surrounding it have terrorized the earth for millennia, dynasties have been ruled with the ultimate goal of glory and the reputation of greatness, individual angst (or lack thereof) has been the root of rebellion and/or conformity in many different situations big and small, all changing the course of history forever. These examples (and more) epitomize Gaiman’s belief that “A lot of stories do appear to begin as intrinsic to religions and belief systems — a lot of the ones we have have gods or goddesses in them; they teach us how the world exists; they teach us the rules of living in the world. But they also have to come in an attractive enough package that we take pleasure from them and we want to help them propagate.” Although people may attempt to doctor history and make things appear to be black-and-white, nothing is; all things throughout the whole of time on this planet are rooted in the frailty of human emotion. While that fact is extraordinarily terrifying, it is also validating, proving not only that those stories which have been passed on have enough merit to satisfy our wants and desires but also verifying that one’s own emotions and passions are not insignificant in the grand scheme of it all. Stories play a role in sorting through human emotion because they make it easy for one to validate what they feel through the eyes of others, giving a piece of themselves in exchange for the emotional support of others, evoking a sense of wonder and allowing a catharsis of the soul in a way no other medium can.
ReplyDeleteOne story that has always resonated with me is a picture book called Chrysanthemum, as well as many other children’s picture books. When we were young, my mom would sit with my sisters and I on the couch at the end of every day, and we took turns getting to pick which book we wanted for her to read to us before we prayed and went to bed. Chrysanthemum - in addition to other works, like Harold and the Purple Crayon, Where the Wild Things Are, Frederick, and many, many more - always inspired me to feel free to be myself, using my imagination to transport me to wherever I needed to go not only to escape the difficult things in life, but also to bring back new ideas and inspiration upon my return to make my existence better, stronger, and happier. I believe that this is exactly what Gaiman was speaking to - the written word’s power not only to allow one to take a hiatus from life and bring back beautiful things upon one’s return, but also to unite generations in love and in memories by means of their emotional and psychological strength.
Storytelling
ReplyDeletewe take in and we give out
we’re told and we tell
we’re taught and we teach
we escape, we endure
billions of humans are here now
billions of humans came before
through stories we are connected
through stories we learn
we remember what was
we escape what is
and we imagine what will be
The Good Book tells me of heroes
the unselfish devotion of Naomi and Ruth
the mess-ups of mighty King David
these stories tell me that redemption is there
unshakeable love is there
Little Women tells me of four sisters
a testament of the bond of a family
of love, joy and the darkest sadness
The characters have names
we look into their lives
and see our own lives
we look into their struggles
and see our own
our emotions typed out for us
laid out on page
sitting on a shelf
ready at any time for us to pick up
leaf through and feel again
I love that you did the poem.
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DeleteThank you! I'm sorry I am just seeing this now two months later!
DeleteStories stay when people can continue relating to them. Emotions connect people in ways nothing else and people search for these connections. People enjoy stories because they see themselves in the characters. If new readers can find themselves in an old story, the story will live on. The statement, "But stories aren’t books — books are just one of the many storage mechanisms in which stories can be kept. And, obviously, people are one of the other storage mechanisms" really resonated with me. It was very interesting because I had always equated books with stories and that was basically it. This statement gives a new perspective on books and stories that, as I think about it more, makes a lot of sense. Stories are everywhere - in books, other people, art, music, and anything through which people express emotion. In stories, what really resonates with me is finding myself and my ideals in the characters. The Percy Jackson series, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, and Catcher in the Rye are stories that I think about a lot. I related to the characters and lived temporarily in their world, through them. These are the books I reread when I want to curl up with a book I know I love. I think stories last because people want to see themselves in different worlds and to get away from their own worlds. Stories offer an escape and for many people that helps them get through the day. I read and play music to tell my stories and to experience others'. Human emotion transcends time and language and it is through emotion that people relate. These relationships are what allow us to grow and develop as people, and give us our own stories to pass on to others.
ReplyDeleteWe are powered by neurons, beating hearts, breathing lungs. We are heavy, stuck to the earth, our bodies pull us down. But our words are free. Free to run, dance, sing. It is not our bodies making us strong, but our words. Stories may not be capable of stopping the weather, but they do help us weather it.
ReplyDeleteOnce you learn to listen, everything is a story. Stories have little to do with pen and ink, but the sounds that immortalize the journey. Sometimes words weigh 100 lbs and leave dents anywhere you leave them. But sometimes we are left to play roulette with our words, just hoping one of them hits the mark.
Stories are personal. Each journey is meaningless if it is unrelated to. Some stories bloat, while others starve. If an author is unable to tell a tale of the scars I find on my skin, it does not stick with me.
Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter series is one story that is so deeply engraved into my childhood that I will never let it go. She created a world where I felt safe, where I was able to escape to; a world where I could envision myself a part of. Truthfully, if I go too long without reading or watching their adventures, I feel like something is missing. It is as if Rowling had casted Defigo or Colloportus on my heart, because it is a story that will never leave.
Stories are a mechanism through which humans can escape the problems that are troubling them in their daily lives and instead solve exotic complications that are burdening the characters in another universe. While some stories remain popular for only a short period of time, others have persevered through multiple generations. It is the ability of the story to teach its audience that determines how long it will last; and this ability is dictated by how well the story introduces its audience to foreign issues and then how well the audience is taught to deal with these obstacles. If a story presents a fresh viewpoint with a pivotal lesson that is taught, then it is likely that those who learned from the story will share the story with others in hopes that they too will learn from it. After all, if one did not learn anything from a story or take anything away from it then it must not have had a great impact on them, causing that story to fade away since it failed to resonate with its audience. What resonated with me from the piece on Brain Pickings was how Gaiman brought to my attention that humans and stories are codependent. Although I knew that there could not be stories without there being people, I had never truly thought about it the other way around. Yet, as I began to think over what Gaiman stated, the dependence of humans on stories became clear to me; stories act as teachers for humans and implement lessons in ways that captivate and entertain their audience (allowing the lesson to resonate further).
ReplyDeleteHonestly, fairytales have resonated with me the most when it comes to stories. I feel as if fairytales have always been present in my life, whether it be as a bedtime story or a Disney movie. Fairytales have lived through generations dating back to the eighteenth century with the Brothers Grimm. Stories such as Snow White have been resurfacing every few years as a renovated version of the original tale. An example of this would be four years ago when I stumbled upon a TV show on ABC titled Once Upon A Time (which is still a story even though it is not a book). Once Upon A Time is a fairytale drama series in which various fairytale characters have been magically transported to our world. While the show portrayed numerous characters, the main focus of the show was on Snow White and Prince Charming, elaborating on what led up to their famous true love’s kiss and then also going on to tell their story after their “happily ever after”. On a typical episode of this show, the audience would be shown a given fairytale character dealing with an obstacle in our world, and then there would be a secondary storyline integrated with this where the audience would see a the same character dealing with a similar issue back in their fairytale world. By working through these similar issues the audience would be taught how to approach obstacles from different viewpoints, but what has resonated the most in me from this series of stories is the idea of hope, and how you should always have hope. When I look at fairytales, I think that they last because they teach a lesson while still offering an escape. I believe that people look to stories for an escape from their world, a way to ignore their problems by imagining dealing with someone else’s. If a story offers a good escape, then it will captivate their audience by allowing them to take a break from their own world, and it is while the audience is captivated that the lesson taught by the story will be best received. The aspect of a story teaching a lesson is crucial to it resonating, because when a story teaches a lesson, it then resonates with the audience not only because it offered entertainment, but also because the audience was able to take knowledge away from the story that could be applied to problems back in their real lives.
Neil Gaiman has such an interesting perspective on stories- he claims that they are alive. In this piece from Brain Pickings, Gaiman states that based on the scientific definition of the word “life,” stories are in fact alive because the process of storytelling “includes the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death..that they [stories] can, and do, outlive even the world’s oldest living trees...” This concept interested me because it made me realize that stories really are alive and Gaiman even used scientific evidence to support this idea. Therefore, stories stay because they are alive: they help communicate important things, they let us look out through somebody else’s eyes, and they are used as an escape from reality for years and years.
ReplyDeleteOne book that resonates with me is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This book is in my top favorites because the characterization of Lenny is remarkable. The book had me in tears at the end because Steinbeck developed Lennie into a sweet and innocent character whom I fell in love with. Of Mice and Men resonates with me because I was able to look through the eye’s of George and I felt so sorry for both men. If a book is able to make me that emotional, then the author must have produced something special. Therefore, I can conclude that stories last when they give the reader an emotional response.
A story is a wonderful depiction of events that follow the same outline. What stuck out the most from Brian Pickings' peace was was how if a story would not change, it would die. Even though some books have been deemed timeless, they still will eventually become outdated and loose their impact. What carries on from these timeless pieces is an intertextuality, and a way for the same messages and ideas to be presented to appeal to new tastes and perspectives. If a story does not have that longevity, it will die.
ReplyDeleteI like Greek myths, with the myth of Icarus to be my favorite. It stands as a constant reminder to not bite off more than you can chew, and youth's naive craving for freedom. The myth lasts, and lives on today, because the message is universal. It is a story glorified with its symbolism of the child's wings and the direct plummet to death, and in the future the wings and fall have come to be symbolized as completely different things. Even if the connection was unintentional, it is still a connection; that proves how stories live on.
Douglas Adams is my favorite author, and I will admit that I perked up when he was mentioned in the Brain Pickings entry. I found it interesting that Adams would hold the view that a physical book is better at being a book than an eBook is, because I know he also said that “lovers of print are simply confusing the plate for the food”. I am inclined to agree on both points, however contradictory they may seem. I prefer physical books even though substance-wise, they and eBooks are identical. In this way, the article helped me find another similarity between myself and my favorite author in addition to love of science, playing an instrument, environmental beliefs, and views on religion. I guess that’s how the article “resonated” with me, in a literary rather than literal sense (physics definitions ftw), since we’re not talking about synchronous oscillations or planetary orbits. Or high-energy particle physics.
ReplyDeleteMemories are strongest when associated with an emotion. For me, humor is one of the biggest reasons I will remember a story years after reading it. I need look no further than J.R.R. Tolkien and Douglas Adams to illustrate my point. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (henceforth LOTR) and Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (henceforth H2G2) are both masterpieces. LOTR is an epic fantasy featuring extremely diverse characters, set in a world with an elaborately thought-out history and new languages complete with their own grammar rules and writing systems. H2G2 is a sci-fi series that has diverse characters and encompasses a universe whose history is given through time travel and anecdotes (which are invariably hilarious). Which do I remember better? H2G2. Yes, LOTR is amazingly crafted, there’s no denying that. However, the science jokes and general hilarity, along with idiosyncratic characters (my favorite being Marvin, a chronically depressed robot) that define H2G2 makes the Guide much more memorable. Others may find stories “resonant” when they connect on a more sentimental level, but I prefer humor. Another factor that affects whether a story stays with me is whether that story led me to learn more...about a subject I am passionate about (i.e. math and science, period). I credit Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency for introducing me to chaos theory, as well as Schrӧdinger’s Cat and how it relates to the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.
A Poetic Response to When Mrs. Perrin asks, “What Makes a Story Stay?”
ReplyDeleteStories, like fire,
Can grow when they're fed,
Or shrivel and die
When they never are spread.
“Escapist fiction”
Are what stories can be,
And they help me be better prepared
For me to be me.
Novels “keep us alive”
And soothe aching souls,
“Good stories can change you,”
And warm hearts that are cold.
Stories “give and give back,”
Humans reap what they sow,
They teach us innumerable life lessons,
And make our brains (and hearts) grow.
One special story
That still sticks with me
Is a Dr. Seuss picture book
I got when I was three.
“Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”
Is the name of my treasure
And it gives comfort to me
In ways that are hard to measure.
With college decisions
Looming on us all,
This book makes me not worry so much
About where I’ll be next fall.
As a kid this book made me want
To explore the world more,
And as a young adult has made me realize
That life should be an adventure--not a bore!
Stories all last
Because they help us escape,
Or give us new thoughts,
Or to dull days, a shape.
Books have given great meaning to my life,
And as an ending note to you all I say...
“Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!”
(Quotes in stanzas 2-4 are from Neil Gaiman. Quote in last stanza from “Oh The Places You’ll Go!”)
I love how you used this poem. Nice!
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DeleteThank you, Mrs. Perrin!
DeleteGood Art Makes You Uncomfortable
ReplyDeleteDim
and the faux paws of
grandmother’s stuffed cub
perched on the mantle
seem to curl over the rim
and now we are wanting
more.
Imagine if we wanted more
than grandmother’s bed sores
a half pack of smokes
and buttered popcorn.
Now
rating and availability
are determinants of what exactly
ends up in front of children’s eyes.
Grandmother swelters into puddles,
because she cannot afford diapers
on the couch there is a rag
four by six feet to soak her up and
we ring her out into a cooking kettle
that she keeps warm.
She whistles from the kitchen
change the station to her scaries
her cherished horror films
where Brundlefly and Pennywise
host game nights in the sewers on Elm street
somewhere between the twilight zone and the outer limits
Mole People are invited
when she lights a cigarette,
dims the lights.
I wake in a flourish of cotton and perspire
against the will of several chemicals and reach
across my chest for the plastic watering can
to recall
is to relive
and the living dead stumble through the rear projection
of the television screen
I remember most what makes me scream.
I love how you used this genre.
DeleteStories create a sense of timelessness that can make people forget the world that they live in and go to a new one. These stories live on for many generations because of this. People yearn for a different life and stories provide this for them. As long as people continue their want to escape the world books will live on. The stories are passed from generation to generation so that many more people can experience what the book has to offer. People turn to books to remove themselves from their daily lives whether it is to find happiness, adventure, romance, or anything else they yearn for. Through books people look for better lives than what they have. In Neil Gaiman’s on How Stories Last, the main thing that resonates with me is the story about Helen and the girls she taught. It really shows the power of books and how they can help people cope with and mentally leave a situation they are in. The fact that the girls were able to forget about the fact that they were in a ghetto and put themselves into the life of Gone with the Wind is really astonishing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read a book, I read to leave this world behind and find a new one. With that being said one of the series that is my personal favorites for escaping the world is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. These books from a literary standpoint are not perfect, however to their ability to transport you into a different life makes them a story that will forever stay with me. The books themselves include stories of greek mythology that have withstood the test of time. By adding these stories the books themselves gain a sense of timelessness. Everyone can relate to mythology and know at least one greek story, this makes the Percy Jackson books more relatable.Once you start reading the book you are immersed into a world of mythology and adventure.
Stories provide an escape of everyday life. They allow for a break from reality; time to put your entire self into a character, plotline, or setting. “How Stories Last,” by Neil Galman captivates these ideas and reasons why we read. Galman states, “Stories should change you - good stories should change you.” While reading, the reader devotes themselves to the piece, causing each word to leave an impact on their lives. A piece that resonates with you after reading is what makes a good story great; a piece on the bookshelf a piece of you.
ReplyDeleteOne story that has become a piece of me is The Fault in our Stars by John Green. Although this is a widely popular book and movie, I will always feel a part of myself in the pages. My copy of the book is stained with tears and full of folded down pages and notes, because each time I read, I find myself taking away more than I did the last read. Although I have often found myself cursing John Green while reading, I feel a sense of comfort in turning those worn pages. His words resonate with me because I believe anyone can relate to his two love-struck teenagers with the odds stacked against them.
Stories provide an escape of everyday life. They allow for a break from reality; time to put your entire self into a character, plotline, or setting. “How Stories Last,” by Neil Galman captivates these ideas and reasons why we read. Galman states, “Stories should change you - good stories should change you.” While reading, the reader devotes themselves to the piece, causing each word to leave an impact on their lives. A piece that resonates with you after reading is what makes a good story great; a piece on the bookshelf a piece of you.
ReplyDeleteOne story that has become a piece of me is The Fault in our Stars by John Green. Although this is a widely popular book and movie, I will always feel a part of myself in the pages. My copy of the book is stained with tears and full of folded down pages and notes, because each time I read, I find myself taking away more than I did the last read. Although I have often found myself cursing John Green while reading, I feel a sense of comfort in turning those worn pages. His words resonate with me because I believe anyone can relate to his two love-struck teenagers with the odds stacked against them.
A story lasts because of an author’s capability to make a story resonate with a reader on an emotional level, and as long as human beings are still emotionally-driven and interested in achieving that felt motion the text will survive. Gaiman’s very first argument of why stories are alive was so stirring and something I never would have thought before. I understood through study how a story could grow-at least in the mind of a reader-to fit the time period or make a connection. I never really equivalated this to “change”, per say, but that is how it should be called. It makes so much sense that these stories can be alive, because they follow our same process (and are sometimes doing better at it too!). Our bodies die and give out when we can no longer make the necessary chemical changes to fit into our environment. Although not organic, a story that has run its course into a stagnant piece becomes irrelevant to the times and, in effect, dead. This similarity is astounding and very well justified by Gaiman to be the reason books should be considered alive.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved the book Walk Two Moons and the Harry Potter series. both being published within the last five decades, I don’t think it’s fair yet to say they have withstood the test of time, but I have faith. Harry Potter exploded for youth everywhere with such tenacity and I would really hate to believe it was just a fad. J.K. Rowling captured an essence of learning that will always be relevant, and a world of fantasy that can never be destroyed. This will be new to us for the next thousands of years because it is fictional and we aren’t capable of exploring it more, and thus will survive. I have high hopes for you, Harry Potter.
While reading Pickings’ piece right off the bat I found myself relating to something he said in the first few lines, “stories have shapes, as Vonnegut believed, and they in turn give shape to our lives.” I personally find that a story will stick with me longer or resonate more with me if I can even remotely relate it to my life. Sometimes I feel myself purposely searching for these words or themes just to try and make a connection to the book on a deeper, more personal level. I also very much enjoyed the concept of how books grow. Life is always changing, whether we like it or not. I think that the idea that stories are able to evolve and adapt to new time periods or be related to multiple topics is so incredible. Stories last because people continue to read and relate to them. Maybe it’s seeing a bit of the character in themselves, or only being able to escape their lives and travel through the written word rather than on the open road. I think a good story’s message should be universal and have an adaptable message for not only the time period it was written in, but the for years to comes as well.
ReplyDeleteA story that has resonated with me is Looking For Alaska, by John Green. Even though the last time I picked up this book was more than three years ago, I still think about it everyday. I think this story has been stuck in my brain so long for two simple reasons. The first reason being that I find the main character’s personality to be so relatable and actually accurate to that of a teenager in today’s society. He is so unapologetically honest with himself and his emotions that it’s easy to become sympathetic and take on his feelings throughout the ups and downs of the book. The second reason I believe this book has stayed with me so long is because it taught me one of the most important lessons I have ever learned. That lesson being that you may never get closure on some things that happen in your life and how you can still find a way to be content when that time comes. I feel like I spend so much time worrying about whether I said the right thing in the moment or If i could’ve done something more, when in reality sometimes all you can do is take things at face value and move on from there. This story helped me become more sure of myself and my choices, while teaching me how to make peace with all of the not so good choices.
Why stories persist
ReplyDeleteStories validate
Perhaps our existence
Perhaps our beliefs
That we act unaltered by circumstance
That we are unbound from any fief
The gnawing questions
Of what matters?
Of what is real?
If life is all sunshine and flowers?
Or painted black by humanity’s zeal?
Stories console
The uncertainty is halted
The atrocities are surmounted
Providing something exalted
Until it becomes hounded
Even the most impoverished
Are given an escape
A notion to enjoy
Even under the Nazi’s grate
Those like Helen bypassed their ploy
Stories teach
Of the men who came before
The "Flags of our Fathers"
Of tragedy forevermore
Upon the shores of Iwo Jima
So that Humanity
Is left better prepared
For concepts unimpaired
To be accommodated
With all that has been consecrated
In our collective lives
Notes:
(Heavily inspired by both Amber’s as well as Logan’s responses)
"Flags of Our Fathers" is a book by James Bradley about his father's experiences at the Battle of Iwo Jima during the pacific campaign of the Second World War.
I love that you picked poem to answer.
DeleteWhat makes stories stay is our connection to them. The quote that resonated with me was “The most important thing that I think fiction does [is that] it lets us look out through other eyes … but it also gives us empathy.” Gaiman was talking about fiction and how the reader’s relationship with the characters was of utmost importance. The best stories are always the ones that we can relate to, the ones that we connect to. Readers respond to the messages sent by the author. We want to understand why the story was written, what was it written for, etc. We want to learn the inspiration, we want to learn about the author, we want to find the similarities in our lives. I always felt the strongest ties to the books that empowered me, the ones that inspired me to fight. I always would go back and reread the passages that showed the main character finally realizing their full potential.
ReplyDeleteA story that really resonates with me is the 39 clues book/ series. It follows Amy and Dan as they work to uncover their family secrets to keep it safe after their parents died. The reason why it resonates is because it is all about family secrets and how to accept what others did to protect your life. The reader would never be bored reading these books because there is always a mystery and something else to figure out. In my life, family has never really been my number one, although I have wanted it to be at certain points. Sometimes I wonder if what my family says or does has my best interests at heart. These books remind us that things happen for a reason and even when some actions do not make sense to you, they might make complete sense to someone else. What makes stories stick around is enthusiasm. If someone has their favorite book, they want to share it with others who may appreciate it. For example, after Chardon’s unfortunate school shooting, I read the book entitled “The Hate List”. It was about school shootings. I felt like I understood the shooter’s point of view a lot more through this story. I shared this book with my best friend because we wanted to exchange an impactful book for our birthdays. I think I would probably loan this book to future classmates and co-workers because it challenges us to see things from a different perspective and it is an issue that all of my peers and I have grown up learning about. This is how stories last, people connect and then share them, and in this day and age, sharing is all people do.
Stories resonate because they connect people and ideas to one another. The only way I can read through a book is to find some sort of connection with it, and the ones I connect to most strongly are the ones I remember the best, the ones that last. Connection is necessary in a story, and in human nature: “As individuals, we are cut off from humanity; as individuals, we are naked — we do not even know which plants will kill us”.
ReplyDeleteStories are who we are. With over seven billion people on the planet, there is bound to be someone with the same materials and experiences as me. The thing that makes me human is the manner in which I tell my story. What I live through doesn’t matter if it doesn’t change the way I go about living and narrating my story.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is memorable to me because it told the tale of a girl, Melanie Sordino, who struggled to tell her story. My freshmen year, I followed her as she was raped at a party and then called the police because she didn’t know what else to do. Even her best friend hated her after that day because she ruined a fun night of sex and alcohol for everyone else. Melanie only speaks when the guy who raped her starts pining after her ex-best friend. As a result of Melanie’s suffering in her silence, I told anyone who paid attention to my what I was experiencing. Looking back now, I’m embarrassed at the way I begged for someone/something great enough to validate what I was feeling. But that’s why I remember Speak- because of my interaction and take away from it.