I’m going to start this blog post with a little bit of narrative time travel. We are back in week two of this semester. We have all just gotten our first glimpses of narrative theory through the five assigned readings. Some of us were a little frustrated, some of us thought we understood more than we actually did, and some of us sat back and thought, “Holy crap, what have I gotten myself into?”
Then we logged into Canvas and posted on the discussion board. It was the most active discussion board I have ever been a part of but, as I look back at it now, I realize just how little I knew at the beginning of the semester and how much I’ve learned over the past ten weeks.
I was very adamant that not all narratives provided counsel. I focused on Walter Benjamin’s “The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov.” I argued, “Not every story is told to give advice or produce a hidden allegory. Sometimes the storyteller is really just telling her audience about a visit to the mall without any hidden agenda.”
Now I am being asked if I agree with H. Porter Abbot’s claim that “All fiction can be profitably regarded as argument,” and, since I have a few more weeks of narrative theory under my belt, I do agree with this statement. I might even go a little further and say that nonfiction narratives can and should be regarded as argument as well.
There are many similarities between someone constructing an argument and someone who is telling a story. Both arguer and storyteller need to create purpose and meaning for her audience. Both must create ethos for herself to prove to her audience that she is trustworthy. And both need to stay organized and relevant for their audience.
There are more similarities between argument and narrative other than the similarities between the storyteller (whether that be the narrator or implied author) and the arguer. For example, there is usually a moral to the story for both fiction and nonfiction narratives. This is what the narrative is arguing for or against. The author (or implied author) wants to teach or persuade his or her readers into doing something. It can be in a do what my characters do or learn from these characters’ mistakes kind of ways.
I don’t think I can pinpoint exactly when my belief that there is a motivation behind fiction narratives changed; however, I’ve always thought about the moral of a story. Even when I write I acknowledge what my readers might learn from my stories. I value that idea of knowledge sharing, perhaps now I just realize that I’m also arguing for a specific kind of behavior. In my fictional narratives, I construct a happier, safer world and highlight things people can do to make such a world possible. I do something similar when writing nonfiction narratives, too.
Well, to sum up this blog post, I agree with Abbot’s statement and I believe narrative and rhetoric have a lot more in common than I originally thought. The argument in this narrative? There is always room to learn.
Then we logged into Canvas and posted on the discussion board. It was the most active discussion board I have ever been a part of but, as I look back at it now, I realize just how little I knew at the beginning of the semester and how much I’ve learned over the past ten weeks.
I was very adamant that not all narratives provided counsel. I focused on Walter Benjamin’s “The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov.” I argued, “Not every story is told to give advice or produce a hidden allegory. Sometimes the storyteller is really just telling her audience about a visit to the mall without any hidden agenda.”
Now I am being asked if I agree with H. Porter Abbot’s claim that “All fiction can be profitably regarded as argument,” and, since I have a few more weeks of narrative theory under my belt, I do agree with this statement. I might even go a little further and say that nonfiction narratives can and should be regarded as argument as well.
There are many similarities between someone constructing an argument and someone who is telling a story. Both arguer and storyteller need to create purpose and meaning for her audience. Both must create ethos for herself to prove to her audience that she is trustworthy. And both need to stay organized and relevant for their audience.
There are more similarities between argument and narrative other than the similarities between the storyteller (whether that be the narrator or implied author) and the arguer. For example, there is usually a moral to the story for both fiction and nonfiction narratives. This is what the narrative is arguing for or against. The author (or implied author) wants to teach or persuade his or her readers into doing something. It can be in a do what my characters do or learn from these characters’ mistakes kind of ways.
I don’t think I can pinpoint exactly when my belief that there is a motivation behind fiction narratives changed; however, I’ve always thought about the moral of a story. Even when I write I acknowledge what my readers might learn from my stories. I value that idea of knowledge sharing, perhaps now I just realize that I’m also arguing for a specific kind of behavior. In my fictional narratives, I construct a happier, safer world and highlight things people can do to make such a world possible. I do something similar when writing nonfiction narratives, too.
Well, to sum up this blog post, I agree with Abbot’s statement and I believe narrative and rhetoric have a lot more in common than I originally thought. The argument in this narrative? There is always room to learn.
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