When trying to understand contact stories it is important to acknowledge that unless we go back in time and are able to listen to every story from every storyteller, can never truly derive the full meaning of them. As discussed in class this is primarily due to two main reasons.

The first reason is that social interaction is critical to this process of story telling. While one may be able to rewrite and collect these stories in printed or audio form they will never be able to perfectly replicate the story that would be told. This is because storytellers don’t just recite what they hear, but change or alter their storytelling in subtle ways depending on the social context they are in.

The second reason is due to the effects of the Indian Act which outlawed the telling of stories in the potlatch. This not only prevented story tellers from recording their knowledge through writing, but also prevented removed the social interaction that is required for these stories to be told properly.

While these two reasons are important reasons for the lack of meaningfulness we may find in these first stories, Harry Robinson, a storyteller who was “a member of the Lower Similkameen Band of the Interior Salish people” (“Harry Robinson”) gives as a third reason, which is death. Through death not only is the social process of storytelling removed, but also the storyteller him/herself. This means that the storyteller’s decades of accumulated knowledge regarding these first stories can never truly be passed on by writing, or even through the use of oral tradition. According to his bio Robinson had learned “hundreds of stories that he had learned in childhood.” (“Harry Robinson”) While individual stories can be meaningful on their own, it is even more so when more than one are included. This because each stories impacts each other, Robinson’s individual interpretation of each story like influenced the stories he told, also by current events that happened through his lifetime such as “his interpretation of the landing on the moon of the American astronaut Neil Armstrong.” (Twigg) This is because stories don’t exist in a vacuum, the context of an individual story will forever be altered once one has another story, or event, to compare it to. Thus certain adjustments to one’s storytelling will be altered depending on what stories or experiences he/she has had over his/her lifetime. Thus it is very like the Robinson was able to choose what events are meaningful to him as well, and is able to incorporate that into his stories.

Furthermore each storyteller has his/her own specific way of telling their story, that cannot just be adopted by another person no matter how many times they are presented with the story. This is because each storyteller uses unique mannerisms, pronunciations, and emphasis, based certain aspects of the story they are telling. Unfortunately, while these specifics are extremely essential in understanding these contact stories, they are subtleties that can not be passed on through text or audio. Thus, in order for one to be told this specific tale as accurate as possible, it still must be experienced within the physical space of the storyteller.

Works Cited:
“TALON HOME.” Harry Robinson » Authors » Talonbooks. Talonbooks, 23 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Oct. 2016.

Twigg, Alan. “ABCBookWorld.” ABCBookWorld. ABCBookWorld, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2016.