Employing Dichotomies for Persuasion
Creation stories have similarities in that they tell us how the world was created. Creation stories also require audiences to take a leap of faith, and to have imagination. With the issue of believability, King “says, he purposefully tells us the “Genesis” story with an authoritative voice, and “The Earth Diver” story with a storyteller’s voice” (Paterson). The epic and authoritative voice of “Genesis” does not make the story more believable than the playful voice of “The Earth Diver” since both story is equally un-scientific and unrealistic. In fact, the absurdity of “Genesis” is strengthened with God’s contradiction of being all loving and all-powerful.
This is a contradiction as there is an abundance of poverty and evil in this world. If God was all loving, and all-powerful, there should be no human suffering on Earth. John Milton’s Paradise Lost illustrates this point very well. God in Milton’s work is perfect, something humans are not. This makes God hard to relate to, and practically boring, when compared to the more dynamic character Lucifer. Lucifer has ambition, goes through struggles, makes mistakes, and has weak moments just as humans do. God on the other hand is a perfect being; God is an entity humans cannot truly understand fully. Although I agree that the First story being co-operation and collaboration, I disagree that Genesis is about competition, since God will not reject a soul into heaven because there is a better soul out there. However, the sheer fact that God has this sort of power over humans is proof enough that there exists a dichotomy.
Thomas King creates dichotomies for readers to examine the two creation stories of “Genesis” and “The Earth Diver” in order to educate readers. Essentially, King is doing social work in this chapter of The Truth about Stories. Society will not benefit by having readers believe every part in either creation story but society can benefit by appreciating the values King preaches through “The Earth Diver.” By choosing the “sacred” story with the flawed, “crazy, nosy, curious” Charm, the audience can learn to become more accepting and open-minded. The characteristics of this creation story is flexible and will not lead to religious wars the way the Bible or the Quran does. Theoretically, each individual can only believe in one sacred creation story. If it came down to only two available creation stories, Thomas King would prefer society to believe in “Earth The Diver,” that is his main purpose of illustrating the dichotomies.
King, The Truth About Stories, Chapter One: You’ll Never Believe What Happened Is Always a Great Way to Start.
Milton, John. “Paradise Lost.” Milton: Paradise Lost. N.p., n.d. Web. Jan.-Feb. 2014.
Woodlock, Rachel, Antony Loewenstein, Jane Caro, and Simon Smart. “Doesn’t Religion Cause Most of the Conflict in the World?” Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 01 July 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.