Why We Tell Stories

Why We Tell Stories

As many will probably tell you stories have existed even before humans created language. It seems every day as humans we learn, discover, or create a new story, whether small or epic. Stories have existed in society for millions of years, even before there was society. They range anywhere from Harry Potter to something funny that happened at school, from the Bible to the daily news. Stories are everywhere, whether factual or fictional, whether long or short, English or Greek; there is no limit to the way in which stories can be told. In stories we explore many things, we explain phenomena, things we can 't comprehend. We search for meaning and truth. We search for comedy or drama. We crave for action or horror. The entire spectrum of why we tell stories cannot be covered in a 2-3 page paper, thus I will condense it to the reasons that I declare are the most important.
To begin, stories teach us how to deal with suffering, loss, and death. It is most likely that at some point in our lives we will encounter any of the three tragedies mentioned above. Stories which contain similar occurrences will instantly appeal to us. We learn from other 's experiences how to better deal with a sorrowing event that has occurred in our own lives. According to Scott Russell Sanders, "Those who have walked through the valley of the shadow of death tell stories as a way of fending off despair." (Sanders 54) Thus stories can be a form of therapy for both the storytellers and the listeners. Certain aspects of this brand of stories can give us comfort and hope; such as when a characters pulls through his/her conflict. For example, "… and they lived happily ever after.", this classic ending, "expresses a deep longing not only for happiness, but also for ever-afterness, for an assure that life as well as happiness will endure, that it will survive all challenges, perhaps even the grave." (Sanders 54). The feeling that life will end well is comforting and hopeful to the reader, as well as the teller. Stories can also put our problems into perspective. When we think of how agonizing it is to be shot and continue through a mission, a hangnail can sound pretty ludicrous. In my case, whenever I 've lost someone, or am being pushed to the physical limit, I remember the struggles contained in Band of Brothers. The true story of those soldiers and what they went through is truly inspiring to me. They were bombed, shot at, frozen to near death, and fought in the most devastating world in history. The friends they lost, and their suffering reminds me that a hard practice or a long day of school or a parents ' divorce is nothing compared to what they 've been through.
Moving on, stories help us find our place in the world, and why the world acts the way it does. Philosophers have pondered over this problematic human predicament for centuries. We as human beings have always wondered about our true purpose. Are we just a product of nature and the natural evolution of a species? Or are we something more? "The perennial philosophy expresses our innate sense that there is more to human beings and to the material world that meets the eye." (Armstrong 6-7) Many of our great 'myths ' and 'legends ' originated from pre-modern times, "they were more concerned with what an event had meant" (Armstrong 7). Humans are very different from animals. An animal will look at a plant and think, what can this plant do for me? Can I eat it? Humans look at the same plant and think the same thing subconsciously, but we think more along the lines of why is that there? How does it live? We want to know why and how. This is very unique from most organisms. Before we started resolving these questions with scientific explanations around the nineteenth century, humans told legends and myths. "The gods helped explain the experience of transcendence." (Armstrong 6).
In all, humanity tells stories to make it easier to survive and endure, and to satisfy our meaningful questions. Stories have become a large necessity of human life. One could only imagine the horror if there were no stories in existence. Some of the longest living stories have survived 3,000 years, and they continue to inspire and provoke thought today, and they will for more many millennia to come.

Works Cited
Armstrong, Karen. A Short History of Myth. n.d.
Sanders, Scott Russell. "Ten Reasons Why We 'll Always Need A Good Story." Georgia Review (n.d.): 54-56.

Cited: Armstrong, Karen. A Short History of Myth. n.d. Sanders, Scott Russell. "Ten Reasons Why We 'll Always Need A Good Story." Georgia Review (n.d.): 54-56.