Storytelling

Clearly C.S. Lewis valued the art of storytelling, as this is a prominent theme throughout the Narnia novels.  In fact, even his characters uphold this tradition of understanding background stories of those whom they encounter. 

This is largely evident in The Horse and His Boy, as Bree (the talking horse) responds to Hwin’s chatter with “Hush, Ma’am, hush” as he was thoroughly enjoying the story.  “She’s telling it in the grand Calormene manner and no story-teller in a Tisroc’s court could do it better.”

Later when Shasta asks a question during Aravis’s story, Bree snarls back, “Be quiet, youngster… you’re spoiling the story.  She’ll tell us all about the letter in the right place.”

In the right place.

This means, then, that there is a right and wrong way to tell a story. Things need to fall according to their place.  Eustace had a hard time explaining how he turned into a dragon in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because he "had no idea how to tell a story straight." Imagine what would happen to your favorite story if there was no climax in the plot.  Think of what would happen if there was no build up of certain parts or no connection was made with any characters.

But above and beyond telling a story in the right order is the danger of telling a single-sided story.  After all, this is how rumors begin.  This is how people are categorized into stereotypes.  This is how we as readers and hearers of stories can fall victim to racism and bigotry.

The following clip delves more into the danger of a single story.  Chimamanda Adichie (whom I became quite a fan of because of my prof. Dr. Allan Bevere) does an amazing job and articulating this topic.

Lucy says (in Prince Caspian), "we love stories!" so be mindful of how you tell your tale.

A Grumpy Girl and her Dufflepuds

While my ever-so-supportive husband tells me constantly to not let my circumstances affect my mood, it happens. Especially this weekend.

My circumstances totally affect my mood.  I get scared when there are gunshots outside my house (like Saturday night), I get angry when my neighbors scream at 2 am (also, Sat. night), I'm annoyed when neighborhood kids climb my fence (Sun. afternoon), and I'm dumbfounded when I watch someone rob my neighbors (Sunday night).  These things affect me.

So when I woke up this morning, and things were looking brighter (literally..the sun was actually shining and I didn't stay up all night hoping the cops would wrangle up every single neighbor causing problems), I was excited.  It was going to be a better day. I was even inspired to wake up early to work on some writing before heading into work for the day.

BUT, of course things don't work out the way we think they will in our half-dream state, do they? My husband (who is sick so there is at least an excuse built in there) wanted me to sleep in a little longer with him. Then I lost some things I needed to work on my Etsy site (ZwytePaperDesign). Then I left - an hour later than I wanted - and got to Starbucks WITHOUT my wallet! Ugh.

Back home I headed, grumpier than ever as my free morning slowly dwindled away.  By the time I got back I barely had 20 minutes before I had to go to work.  So I figured I may as well not totally waste the morning and read a little bit to calm my frazzled nerves.

Of course I am still in the midst of the Narnia books, so I began my reading in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with a grande white mocha americano in hand and the sun beaming down on me.

Yes, this was going to help.

I came upon the section about Dufflepuds. How could I not cheer up reading about these little guys?  While quite frightening in their invisible state, their silliness in demeanor and stature brought a smile to my face as they became visible when the spell was broken.

They are described as "one-footed men [who] got about by jumping, like fleas or frogs" with a single, large foot in which they sought protection under as they slept upside down.  Their stupidity is evident as the magician describes them "planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up" and "moving all the milk out [of the dairy]" when a cat got in instead of simply "moving the cat."  I laughed aloud as they showed their simplicity and bounced about the chapter.  I felt like I was beside Lucy as she watched this scene unfold.

And just like that, I was cured of my grumpiness.  The dufflepuds - along with a little sunshine and coffee - brought me back to an unfrazzled state and it was time to head to work with a better mood and a hilarious scene of dufflepuds fresh in my mind.