The Truth About Stories
The Broken Heart
I have a story to tell. “I’ve heard this story many times, and each time someone tells the story, it changes. Sometimes the change is simply in the voice of the storyteller. Sometimes the change is in the details. Sometimes in the order of events. Other times it’s the dialogue or the response of the audience.” (pg.1) It’s the story of the first act of evil, perhaps not what you think it to be. The first act of evil was not murder or stealing or an act which we might now refer to as “illegal”, no this was an act of betrayal. Alas, not one of world-shattering betrayal, or war starting betrayal, but rather betrayal of the heart.
For you see, many many years ago, in the very first village on earth there lived many happy people. There was no pollution, or machinery or even money. No one fought and everyone loved. Of course, as humans since the beginning of time did, there were spats and disagreements but before every moonrise this village would make amends with each other to insure peaceful sleep.
Humanity would not be humanity without love, and this community was no exception. This village loved wholly and married for life. There was utmost faith put in soulmates and from birth every person was taught to love unconditionally above all else. The elders of the village would conduct ritual ceremonies to bind the hearts of two loves, to join them in union and holy matrimony. There was no ceremony of greater importance to the village, not one person was left out from attending and not one person ever interrupted, disagreed or stopped this ancient marital ceremony.
Since love was placed as the highest value of this village, soulmates loved forever, through life and through death. The bonds were so strong that if one soulmate was hurting the other could physically feel it from any distance. This balance was never interrupted, and everyone was inherently and deeply happy.
Until one day, right as the sun began to rise, the village seemed silent, upset, but no one knew why. In the outskirts of the village a pair of soulmates, who had been betrothed not one year were arguing. The man turned to his wife and said, “You are not my soulmate, I do not love you the way that they said I would, I wish to separate so I can find my real soulmate.”
Such words had never been spoken in this village. When there were spats, they were worked out before nightfall, soulmates never separated and were meant to love unconditionally through to the afterlife. The woman was shocked. Water began to fall from her eyes, something neither of the soulmates had ever seen, and then a pain began in the woman’s chest.
The man was shocked at these sensations, claiming she must not be human and must be something else, which is why he could not love her as he was instructed. He ran out of the shelter to the elders to tell them of this claim, that his soulmate was indeed not human and that he demanded a new soulmate. When he got to the den of the elders, water began to fall from their eyes too. The man was shocked, he asked “, Why are you doing that? My soulmate did that too! What is going on?”
The elders continued to emote in this unknown way, and they said to the man “, you have done it child, you have brought evil to our world, you betrayed and broke a heart.”
The man turned white, “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, I will fix it, I don’t know what evil is, but it doesn’t sound good! I take it back, I will love her, I can love her!” “But, 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”. (pg.11)
______________________________________________________________________________
Reflection
Through this assignment I learned about the evolution of storytelling. I knew immediately that I wanted my story of evil to be something to do with human connection and emotion, because I believe that this truly is how “evil” came to be. I didn’t know what avenue I wanted my story to take, but I knew I wanted to word it sort of like a legend. I also wanted my story to be engaging, so before sharing my story with my three family members and four friends I wanted to learn how to tell a story and found this to be a useful resource!
I found through the different telling’s, my story evolved and shifted to suit the person I was telling it to. To my younger brother, the more fantastical elements came in – such as the afterlife and soul bonds, but when I first told it to my mom it was much more straightforward and to the point. This helped me to hone my story to be a combination of intrigue and information, yet still while keeping the crucial moral that once you tell a story it can never be taken back, as well as the common theme of how evil came into the world.
Since our course is also focused around First Nations culture, and Thomas King is a Aboriginal author, I turned to YouTube for some more live storytelling and found this simple but engaging cartoon adaptation of the well-known First Nations story of how the Raven stole the light, which also made me reflect on how I could cut down and make my story more simple for easier continuation of telling.
Overall this assignment really got me thinking about the importance of storytelling and the role it plays in carrying on tradition and culture. I had a great time being creative with this assignment and who knows? Maybe you will be hearing the story of The Broken Heart somewhere down the line!
_______________________________________________________________________________
Citations
Fraser, Nick. “The Raven Steals the Light.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Jan. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB3SgMP9QW8.
Goins, Jeff. “How to Tell Your Story without Boring Your Audience to Tears.” Goins, Writer, 21 Mar. 2018, goinswriter.com/tell-story/.
King, Thomas. “The Truth About Stories.” Weebly.com, Massey Lecture Series, 2003, cislit.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/1/1/26116552/the_truth_about_stories_by_thomas_king.pdf.
EmilyHomuth
January 23, 2020 — 8:25 pm
Hi Grace,
That is a great story!
I found it very interesting that the source of your evil was a person. In Thomas King’s example it’s a witch that brings evil into the world which (stereotypically) seems fitting. She also doesn’t express remorse for what she did, she simply accepts that she told her story and it cannot be undone. Not only was he a person but once he tells his story he wishes he could undo it. This was very eye opening because it brought up an interesting question for me. If your character is truly speaking from his heart and what he said was true i.e. that he did not love the person he was with, it almost seems as though their world is better with evil in it? Clearly if this man truly feels as though he is not with the correct soul mate then it is possible that others could feel that was as well. His speaking out may provide others with relief that they are not alone. His story also has a horrible effect because the reliance that the people but on their soul mate system and happiness is now questionable. They will always wonder if they have the correct soul mate, if their soul mate truly loves them, etc. Its interesting to think that even stories that unleash evil should still be told.
Do you think your world is better now that the man has unleashed this evil or worse?
Thanks,
Emily
grace owens
January 24, 2020 — 11:44 am
Hi Emily,
Thank you for taking the time to read my story and leave a comment! I think though arguably posthuman, a witch is evidently human as well, just human with a supernatural twist! That’s how I see a witch anyway, which is why I chose to delve further into the human aspect of having a person bring evil into the world. I have to admit that I am a hopeless romantic and also have a lot of faith in humanity, so I think truly the root of evil comes from mis-human connection. Do you not think a world where everyone loved each other wholly would not be one that had no evil? I think the the “my” world is now worse because of this and I think him having remorse makes it almost more evil. That he has taken this decision so lightly that he is willing to go back on it just because he doesn’t want to get in trouble. This definitely wasn’t an interpretation I had thought about so thank you for bringing it up! Made me rethink and examine my own story.
SidneyScharf
January 26, 2020 — 12:59 am
I really like your story not only was it creative but it was also clear, concise, and easy to follow. When I was writing my story I had to research a bit and learn how to write a short story. I looked at this website https://jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-short-stories/ and I learned that it is the best to write stories that relate to similar events in your life so that you can create authentic emotion in the story. I don’t know if this was something that you did (and I feel like asking if you did would be too personal so I won’t), but what is also interesting is that you created a story that many people can relate to on a personal level as most people have had a heartbreak in their life. From reading your short story I feel like I learned the importance of making sure that your audience relates to the story and I will take this into consideration when writing short stories in the future.
Jenkins, Jerry B. “How to Write a Short Story: 9 Steps from a Best Selling Author.” Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips, Jerry Jenkins, 12 Nov. 2019, jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-short-stories/.
grace owens
January 27, 2020 — 1:42 pm
Hi Sidney,
Great to hear you took something away from this assignment. I have taken a few creative writing classes at UBC so perhaps that helped me in writing this story. I think by university we have all experienced some form of heartbreak, whether it be of the romantic variety or of something else such as a loss of friend, parents or disappointment. I am glad that you found my story relatable and thanks for commenting!
All the best,
Grace
JosephUm
January 26, 2020 — 8:34 pm
Hi Grace!!
It is a really interesting story! I loved how you said that soulmates would feel physical pain in the other was hurting. We almost seem to feel that too when our loved ones are hurting!
Do you think that if the man lived on with his dissatisfaction of his wife unexposed, he would have been able to live a life of love? Because the way I see it is that there would not be a way for the man to be happy.
Looking forward to hear your thoughts
grace owens
January 27, 2020 — 1:45 pm
Hi Joseph,
I think what I was trying to capture with the “evil” of my story is that it had been a very short time that the man and woman had been together, and with any love it takes work. He was willing to just give it all away after such a short time with no work and I think that is the true nature of the evil, the heartbreak just an a further upset to injury. I think if you truly believe that you had your soulmate, as this world did, you would want to fight and work for it, or at least I would! Thanks for your perspective and comment!
Grace 🙂
Chase Thomson
January 26, 2020 — 10:34 pm
Hi Grace! Nice to connect with you again.
I really loved how creative your story was. You made some simple changes to context, but kept the idea of unleashing evil into the world which I loved. Linking it to something related to love was really a stroke of genius. I enjoyed this concept a lot and felt it fit the already built theme of the original story.
I just finished watching the link you shared about the Raven stealing the light, and man do I wish I watched that before telling my story! It has such a great visual, but beyond that the voice work is fantastic! The storyteller really embodies the characters as they tell the story and that is something I probably could have used work on in my telling of my own tale.
You mention changing the way you told the story to different people close to you. My question for you is, what is your personal favourite way that you told the story? What elements speak the most to you or what elements are you most proud of?
Great work!
grace owens
January 27, 2020 — 1:51 pm
Hi Chase!
Thanks for coming back for another week, I really love our discussions! I think for sure this perfected, written version of the story if my favourite version. Of course its the smoothest, most eloquent and grammatically correct version, which are all things I value. I would have to say that my favourite oral version was probably to my younger brother, George, who is 11. It was quite funny to make him sit and listen to me try and tell him this story and because kids tend to be the most blunt he told me exactly what didn’t make sense and what he did not like, which helped me to overall shape the story more.I really like the opening of my story and think that it is quite captivating, I liked how it turned out more fairy-taleish.
Have a great week, maybe chat with you again next week!
Grace