Week 4 Lab: Stories and Storytelling

The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had a deeply meaningful message about the stories we consume every day. She shared her story about how she grew up reading books that described characters that were nothing like her. In result, she wrote stories about these people and did not stop to consider that she could write stories that were about people like her. How she put it, she was stuck reading a single story. A single narrative that had not been changed by the different people all over the world. This changed when she finally read an African book that was more about her experience in life that showed her she could write stories anyway that she decided upon. This opened her to realize the influence she could provide. I think this is a powerful lesson for most people. Each individual has an unique story to tell, and if they do not share their life's experience with the world, then the world is deprived of that person's journey. This message has made me realize that I should try to immerse myself more in a people's culture before I make any assumptions based off of what could be a single story.

Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences: Parasocial Relationships by Jennifer Barnes was as deeply intriguing as the first video. In this video, she explains the relationships between real life people and fictional characters in movies, books, etc. The relationship she found was not entirely shocking, but still somewhat hard to digest when said aloud. In her studies, she found that most people have a much stronger connection with fictional characters than they do with people that they actually know in person. When asked how they would react when their favorite fictional character and a real acquaintance died, most respondents replied that they would be more upset about their favorite character's death. This shows how much people can bond with characters that are not actually real. Even though they are not real, they can mean more to readers than someone that they just know of in person. I have personally made strong connections with fictional characters, and I can understand why this is the response they received in their study. This has made me evaluate how I can use this energy for positive change in real life.

Bibliography

The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences: Parasocial Relationships by Jennifer Barnes

Image Information: Old books, Pixabay

Reading Notes: Saints and Animals, Part B

The story I chose from this part of the Saints and Animals unit from the Un-Textnook was the The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe. This story had a very nicely rounded out introduction, middle, and conclusion. The story wrapped up nicely as there was a parallel between the beginning and the end of the story. I enjoy when a story comes full circle. Great writers often use this technique. If they use this strategy well, once they have written half of the story, the plot of the next half is already mapped out for them.

This story reminds me a bit of the Jungle Book with how Saint Ailbe was raised by a wolf in the wild. The main difference here of course is that Ailbe was found by a Prince and civilized. This came to be useful for the wolves later in the story as Saint Ailbe was able to save his wolf family from being killed and hunted once he recognized his wolf-mother. This is a great growth and development story for Ailbe as he was initially cast out by a family that did not love or care for him. Shortly after though, he was taken in by two quite different families that grew to care for and adore him. Even though his first real family was a family of wolves, they cared for him more than his own biological parents ever did. To drive the story forward, the part where Ailbe was taken by the Prince was a double edged sword. This was both good for Ailbe because this is how he learned to be human and became a member of society with great influence. Of course, the downside is where he was taken away from his wolf family that had protected and cared for him since he was a baby abandoned in the wilderness. I appreciate the aspect of acceptance and willingness to save those that are different from oneself. 

Bibliography

The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe, The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900)

Image Information: Wolf, Pixabay

Reading Notes: Saints and Animals, Part A

For this week's reading, I chose to read about saints and their encounters with animals. I am fond of animals myself, and I was curious to see the story of saints interacting with animals as I have not heard many types of stories about animals with saints. From the Saints and Animals unit from the Un-Textbook, I enjoyed the story of Saint Kentigern and the Robin. I have not heard many stories of saints in general, so this was the most exposure I have had to saints in one sitting. This was interesting to me because I got to see the "powers" of saints given to them by their God. Most stories that I have heard or read before about people with powers are about heroes or people with magic. The unit about Saints and Animals was a refreshing twist on the hero story where people with religious powers are being used for good and not displayed in an unfavorable light.

The story of Kentigern showed the nature of jealousy in the boys in the story. They wanted to be loved and adored as Kentigern was in the eyes of Saint Servan. This was an important part of this story to help drive the plot forward. In result, this want drove them to make unwise choices to try to get Kentigern in trouble. Kentigern was smart, patient, and tolerant when it came to dealing with the meddling of the other boys. First, the unruly boys put out the great fire and the next time, they killed an innocent robin to do their best attempt at getting Kentigern blamed for these happenings. Luckily for Kentigern, he had already been blessed with some abilities like being able to light a fire and bringing the robin back to life by the grace of his God. This saved Kentigern both times from the spiteful boys that were trying to ruin his life.

Bibliography

Saint Kentigern and the Robin, The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900)

Image Information: Robin, Wikimedia Commons