Assignment1:5
Your task is to take the story about how evil comes into the world, the story King tells about the Witches’ convention in Chapter One of The Truth about Stories, and change it any way you want, except the ending. You can change to place, the people, the time – anything you want. But, your story must have the same moral – it must tell us how evil came into the world and how once a story is told, it cannot be taken back.
First, learn your story by heart, and then tell the story to your friends and family.
After you have told the story a few times, post a blog with your version of the story and some commentary on what you discovered about story telling.
“It was witch people. Not Whites or Indians or Blacks or Asians or Hispanics. Witch people. Witch people from all over the world, way back when, and they all came together for a witches’ conference. In a cave. Having a good time. A contest, actually. To see who could come up with the scariest thing. Some of them brewed up potions in pots. Some of them jumped in and out of animal skins. Some of them thought up charms and spells. It must have been fun to watch. Until finally there was only one witch left who hadn’t done anything. No one knew where this witch came from or if the witch was male or female. And all this witch had was a story. Unfortunately the story this witch told was that human beings were created. Unfortunately the story this witch told was that human beings were created. As a result, the faith in God(s) as being the creator(s) would be perpetually doubted whilst the witches being imprisoned in oral tales and written literature And when the telling was done, the other witches quickly agreed that this witch had won the prize. “Okay you win,” they said. “[B]ut what you said just now — it isn’t so funny. It doesn’t sound so good. We are doing okay without it. We can get along without that kind of thing. Take it back. Call that story back.” 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 (italic and underlines mine, King, 10).”
I admit that I thought it was a crazy idea to make up a Creation story of my own when I came across the assignment of rewriting Thomas King’s story about the Witches’s convention in Chapter One The Truth about Stories. It is not only because I had never thought of the origin of the world beyond the terrain of science but it feels kind of transgressing a sort of divine law or offending a divine providence. I mean it is a subject that is too deep for an ordinary person like me to consider or a job that is too “sublime” to do as stories may contribute to creating the world and in this sense the imagination might become reality (“Lesson 1:3”). In fact, I found myself ending up with futility when I tried to reproduce a story about how evil came into the world that is completely different than King’s version, no matter how hard I pushed myself to. Then I began to blame the Chinese Creation tales which provide only simplistic roles of evil, comparing to for example the characterisation as much distinctive and complex as that of Satan in its Western counterparts. The under-portrayal of the evil presence in the Chinese culture did not seem helpful when it came to conceptualise how evil is brought to this world with a story.
However, as soon as I managed to rewrite the story by making some minor alteration of the original text, I found that I could have felt less uneasy if I was aware that actually the story “is all we are” and that “we are the stories we tell ourselves” (King 153). It implies, in the case of writing or re-writing a kind of Creation story, we are actually and symbolically demonstrating how we make sense of how the world works, or simply using the story to parody the reality; rather than offering an explanation of what we believe has exactly happened. So rewriting King’s story offers an opportunity to communicating my values and beliefs. For example, when I had the witches all to agree that the creation of human being is the scariest thing in the world, I was suggesting that I personally think that humans themselves are actually the cause of evil, which is in a way illustrated by the conflict between the desire for profit and the Aboriginal resistance as shown in the news posted by the course instructor (“Canadian”). Having said that, the alteration also demonstrates my critical thoughts on the “evilness” of mankind by having the witch to say that the reason human beings are scary is they are capable of critical thinking about such as the conceptions of God(s) and witches. By linking human beings’ “flaw” of losing the faith in providence with their abilities of being critical, I intend to leave the readers of this altered story contemplating the complex relationships between stories, values, beliefs and humankind.
In addition to the story-rewriting experience, the experience of preparing myself for telling a story also struck me as interesting. I was aware that telling a story could be found more challenging than writing or rewriting a story when I was preparing to tell the above story. Although I have not got the chance of telling someone else the story in question yet, I came to realise that whereas the text of the story could be kept to the writer him/herself and edited in whatever way one wants before it is made available to the readers; “once a story is told, it cannot be called back” (King 10). So you as a story-teller would better off being careful with the story you are going to tell and subsequently lose control of. This, I guess, tells a lot about the fascinating power of stories as manifested during the process of my seeking to rewrite and tell King’s story.
Works Cited,
“Canadian First Nations, U.S. tribes form alliance to stop oil pipelines.” 23 Sep. 2016. YouTube. Web. 22 Sep. 2016.
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Peterbough:Anansi Press. 2003. Print.
Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 1:3 Introduction To Thomas King and Story”. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres Sept 2016. University of British Columbia Blogs. 2016. Web. 22 September 2016. https://blogs.ubc.ca/courseblogsis_ubc_engl_470a_99c_2014wc_44216-sis_ubc_engl_470a_99c_2014wc_44216_2517104_1/unit-1/lesson-13/
Hi Patrick
I found your posting very interesting, and that fact that you changed the story only so slightly gave it almost more power that re-writing the story completely. As you say, you depicted humans as the cause of evil, as the beginnings of evil – I think this is an extremely powerful concept. Thinking critically, other living organisms did not bring evil into the world in which we live, it was human reasoning and human thought that brought the various concepts into the world. In nature there is the food chain, a natural order to life – prior to human interaction “evil” was not viewed within life. Humans created the term to describe their own actions and in hopes of deterring others from performing “evil” acts within the world. There are countless uses of evil within various stories, in hopes of portraying the bad thoughts and acts which humans contemplate as against nature, however the problem isn’t “evil” but rather that humans have the tendency to create evil. This idea was really intriguing to me, I had never thought about “evil” that way.
In your story you describe humans’ flaw as being their loss of faith in providence and that their critical thinking is the root of evil. Do you think this is a similar was in which the Church officials maintained their dominance in Europe throughout history? The theme that science and critical thinking leads to badness? I’m am just curious as to if this is where you got your inspiration?
Hello Hannah,
Thanks for bringing up the origin of my ideas of re-writing King’s story. As far as my version of King’s story is concerned, a parody to the Church particularly in the Middle Ages is certainly one of the major considerations involved in the process of the re-writing. I have the witch to argue that human beings are born evils, which seems to parallel the Christian doctrine that charges human beings with Original sin. This claim in a way seems valid when it comes to explaining what humans have done to the world and to each other, which has been perfectly outlined by you above. However, the reason that why humans are sinful, according to the witch, is they might not believe in such a debatable faith invented by God, or rather, the Church. With the storyline eliciting this problematic conception, I mean to prompt the contemporary readers of my version of the story to consider the complexity of the nature of humanity from a critically different perspective than what we were told by the Church. In this sense, the contradiction of “human beings are evil and not” is really worth exploring further.
In addition to the underlying Western ethos, on the other hand, the rewritten story in question is inevitable informed by the Chinese ideologies given my cultural identity. I guess my idea is very likely to be influenced by Chan Buddhism, the origin of Japanese Zen, which was developed from around 6th century by a Cantonese monk called Huineng who promoted the awareness of one’s inner self. Building on this school of thought, human “evilness” in my story is attributed to their ways of thinking, which implies that such issues could be addressed by observing one’s own minds. This is characteristic of Chinese traditional beliefs which argue that one’s moral wickedness should be rectified by the “inner force”, such as one’s awareness of moral ethics, rather than the “outer force” such as laws and regulations.
Thanks Hannah again for your thought-provoking questions that contribute to my reflection on the ideas embedded in the way I rewrote King’s story.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi,
I really enjoyed your alteration to King’s story, and the way in which, afterwards, you explain your reasons for the changes you made, as reflections of your own personal beliefs. I wonder if King’s decision to originate evil in a story vs in mankind and human reason is, in turn, equally reflective of his own beliefs about the world. He tells his story as though it’s simply one he has heard elsewhere and is reiterating to us, the readers. But perhaps that isn’t the case. Perhaps King very intentionally contructed THIS particular version, this perspective on evil in relation to the medium of story-telling.
I was also extremely intrigued by the brief mention you made of Chinese creation stories and their impact on your personal approach to rewriting King’s story. In what ways, more specifically, do you feel that the Chinese tradition of simplified evil has shaped your thinking about yourself and the world? I wonder if the traditional Chinese view of evil has created for you a different outlook from that of someone accustomed to the Christian portrayal of evil and, if so, why, and in what ways?
Best,
Anne
Hi Anne,
Thanks for your questions with such a fascinating complexity that it has taken me so long to consider what you have brought up and reply to you. In reference to your question as regards the influence that evil is simplified in the Chinese Creation myths might have on the Chinese individuals’ ways of thinking, in my opinion, it might contribute to the lack of awareness of moral wrongs for Chinese in general. As evilness is generally understudied in Chinese culture as shown in the Chinese Creation stories, the definitions of moral wrongs might remain ambiguous in the Chinese culture. The general avoidance of discussing what is right and wrong might make it harder for people especially young children to identify wickedness and the best ways to deal with it. The Cultural Revolution might serve as a perfect example of the collective wrong-doing due to insufficient understanding of what evilness is and how to contain it. It is argued that one of the reasons why the Cultural Revolution has not got reviewed in an official and thorough manner to date is it is a crime that a significant number of people are held responsible for. It is not simply a bunch of people’s fault; it is a large proportion of the then population that participated in the destructive and violent movement to various degrees. One of the most regrettable things about this group violence is that what stood at the frontline of Culture Revolution are young students who beat their teachers to death and quit schools only to visit Mao in Beijing. They did not know at all, as they recall now, what they were doing was totally wrong. This dark period of the Chinese history, I argue, might be one of the consequences of the inadequate presence of evilness in the Chinese Creation stories. Hope this answers your question.
Regards,
Patrick