“Storytelling, then — fictional or nonfictional, realistic, or embellished with dragons — is a way of making sense of the world around us.” I believe that it is the life experiences that we have that affect how we see ourselves and our beliefs. This would make sense as it is literally the experiences we have that shape us. I do agree that made up stories can influence us in the same way, but I think this concept is harder to grasp. Due to the fact that the story is not real, it could be hard to believe that someone would be able to learn a life lesson from it. Though I think it is possible if the story is well written and the audience is able to relate with the characters. I don’t think the lessons/traits we take from fiction necessarily have to have a huge impact, it just has to affect a person a little.
“They stigmatize anyone who doesn’t follow them to a T, and provide unrealistic expectations of happiness for those who do.” This quote is from the part where the author talks about how there are certain parts of life that are written out as blueprints. One example used was, “go to school, graduate, get a job, get married, have kids.” I think it’s interesting to think about our lives written out like this. I can also see how this can be both helpful and dangerous. It is helpful because it gives children a simple template that allows them to begin understanding how life works, and later begin making predictions about the future. The dangerous part of these blueprints is that they are so installed in our culture that people believe that that is the order things are done in. I feel like a lot of people could relate to this pressure to life exactly has it has been planned out is kind of like peer pressure.
“I think the act of framing our lives as a narrative is neither positive nor negative, it just is.” I wholeheartedly agree with this quote. I hate to think of something as either good or bad, or only seeing things from one perspective. I think the reason why seeing our lives as a narrative is neither positive or negative is because the experiences that we have are both good and bad. Everything that makes up a person’s identity is based on the experiences that they have had, it is not like a person as only lived a completely negative life, without any positive moments, that is literally not possible, and the same can be said for the opposite. Living our lives as, just is, works because our identities come with both negatives and positives.
I do agree with you and I really liked how you explain the quotes and make the reader understand them. and I liked when you used examples from the Life Stories to support your idea. on the next homework I should use the best quotes just like how you did I think you helped me a lot to be looking for good quotes.