“Riddles and charms brings words and the world together” (Chamberlin 239). In If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? J. Edward Chamberlin argues that riddles and charms help us understand the world while blurring the lines between imagination and reality. By making little sense, riddles make sense of the world; they challenge people to forfeit logic and think beyond their beliefs. Charms allow us to believe in the “unreal,” and challenge us to accept both fantasy and objectivity as inseparable. Riddles and charms are the essence of ceremony because they challenge us to let our guard down to what is rational and relatable, and without these aspects story could not function.

At the end of the novel, Chamberlin quotes Confucius’ rectification of names. Confucius argues that without honouring the proper names given to each thing, society will collapse; Chamberlin adds: “We teach correct names […] and we try to show how everything follows from that” (224). Chamberlin bridges the gap by explaining how all cultures must honour the correctness of names to maintain all societal facets from art to science to religion. Without honouring names ceremony does not work, and without ceremony there is no understanding. Once proper names are established, riddles and charms can go into effect and ceremony can occur.

Beyond sanctifying given names, one of the most significant aspects of words that Chamberlin argues is their essential aspect towards the foundation of a functional society. Words propel ceremony, connect people to their own culture, and create common ground across humanity. Without words people would not be able to tell their stories, therefore we would not be able to relate to one another. By using words members of society can convey histories, legends, and traditions that transform one’s personal truth into a generally understandable truth, and by Chamberlin’s standards this works to remove the gap between Them and Us. People use words to tell their stories, and by telling their stories they are preserving their history; words hold the power to maintain and defend not only aspects of culture, but entire societies. Without this ability to tell stories, we would never be able to find the common ground. Words make people feel closer to the world they are apart of because they connect them to their culture, from the stories told through generations to the treaties signed to protect rightful land. Words “bring comfort and build community” (182).

The first moment in J. Edward Chamberlin’s book that struck me was when he challenged the dichotomy of “written cultures” and “oral cultures.” Starting on page 19, Chamberlin begins explaining how Them versus Us can be seen when denoting certain cultures as “written” (more literate ones) and “oral” (more primitive ones), and how the denotation leads to an egotism by othering the “less advanced” culture. Chamberlin quashes this perception by highlighting how not only do “written cultures” have a multitude of oral traditions, but “oral cultures” have non-alphabetic forms of writing such as woven blankets, coloured strings, and masks (19-20). Chamberlin shows that writing can come in many forms, and not all of it ends up on paper. The removal of the line dividing orality and literacy is contrary to the work of Walter Ong. Ong defines what makes a culture “oral” or “literate” while, unlike Chamberlin, in many instances challenges us to see any overlap and how the two cultures differ.

Works Cited

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Random House of Canada Limited, 2004.

“Dr Chiu Wai-wai: Mencius and the rectification of names.” Youtube, uploaded by SDCF Sinological Development Charitable Foundation, 19 Aug 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB0FyscNNLI&t=8s.

Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy. Routledge, 1982, https://monoskop.org/images/d/db/Ong_Walter_J_Orality_and_Literacy_2nd_ed.pdf. PDF.