You’ll never believe what happened. A long time ago there was nothing but sunshine and the whole world was happy. The skies were blue, the grass was green, and the white puffy clouds danced in the sunlight. Now, when I say the whole world, I mean the whole world. North to South, East to West, every person and everything was love.
What was left unknown was the fact that as the sun followed its course it cast a shadow on the far side of the trees, the buildings, and the houses. And in these shadows lived a very unsavory character, an evil character to say the least. This character was full of darkness and hate toward all those who lived and loved in the sunshine. For many years this character tried to figure out a way to create the same sadness and fear that was felt in the shadows but the power of the sun was much too strong. Until one day the character decided to appear in front of all the happy people of the world. When they approached, the character would share the story of the shadows. The story spoke of darkness, fear and malice, disease and destruction. It chilled the happy people to the core and it began to grow within them. When they begged the unsavory character to take the story back they realized it couldn’t be done. The evil character had finally succeeded in spreading his darkness because, “of course, it was too late. For once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world.” (King 10).
I really enjoyed this weeks assignment even though I am not much of a story teller. I think I appreciate the lesson the short story conveys. Words are a powerful thing and if we look back in history they have done much damage by spreading like a disease causing hate and war around the world. A great example of this is found in the novel The Book Thief. It’s a great read and I recommend it to all of you.
What I found most interesting when telling my story to people is that it really made them think about the power of stories. I guess we all grow up hearing stories but few of us realize how much weight they carry. It was fun to share this new found knowledge with those who are close to me. Especially my children, as I hope they become young critical thinkers, a skill I wish I had learned at a much younger age.
Works Cited
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Peterbough:Anansi Press. 2003. Print.
Price-Mitchell, Marilyn. “Critical Thinking: How to Grow Your Childs Mind.” Roots of Action: Visualscope, 6 June 2011. Web. 1 February 2016.
“The Book Thief Official Trailer #1 (2013) – Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson Movie HD.” Youtube. Youtube, 21 August 2013. Web. 1 February 2016.
Hey Danielle,
I really enjoyed your story and the way in which you described how evil permeated throughout the world. You shine light (no pun intended) on the issue of masking negatives beneath positives— specifically, in your story you divulge how the sun’s rays emanated happiness and enjoyment, though in turn, the resulting darkness harboured malice and destruction. The polarities you present are immensely thought provoking, in that it suggests that happiness can be seen as a double-edged sword; that while there is endless contentment, some where else there is endless destruction. While we all strive to and long for a utopian society in which “every person and everything was love”, the world is far more tainted and complex to ever attain this state of endless sunshine and permeation of love and positivity. Was there anything in particular that influenced you to emphasize the distinctions between light and dark, moral and evil?
Awesome post! I’m glad your children enjoyed your unique take on this story as much as I did.
Neia 🙂
HI Neia,
I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that “while there is endless contentment, some where else there is endless destruction”. We often forget that when we get what we want, someone else is going without. I think of this in terms of the consumer society we live in. It seems everyone wants more and we are often judged on our economical success. Most people strive to be a part of that 1% that is super well off but as more people get there we are seeing a much larger gap between upper class and lower class. In fact, the middle class appears to be disappearing all together. I used the idea of the shadow as we often forget about those we can’t see and in some cases we might even tuck them away for our own reasons. An example may be the downtown Eastside during the Olympics. It’s kind of a if we can’t see them, the problem isn’t there type of situation.
Hi Danielle,
I just wanted to comment on your story’s great opening! When reading King’s claim that “you’ll never believe what happened” is always a great way to start a story, I’ll admit that I mostly dismissed it. Sure, it seemed like a great way to start a story you’re telling rather than writing, but I was focusing on writing stories rather than telling them, so I didn’t think much of it. Now, a few weeks later, I came across your blog post and the first things I felt when I read your opening sentence were excitement and intrigue. I had to keep reading. While I really enjoyed your whole story, it was this simple introduction that drew me in. Thanks for such a great post!
Emma