Julie Beck’s article on narratives, and how our lives stories can have such an impact on us and everyone surrounding us opened my eyes to a whole other side of telling stories. I found this article, her opinions, and quotes she included very fascinating. To my surprise, I was able to connect some of her words to outside sources, and help myself understand it all better.
The first interesting anecdote I came across was on page 4, when she spoke about our cultural expectations of a perfect life. I never really thought about it before, but I 100% agree with all she says on this topic. The whole perfect successful family is on everyone’s mind, enforced from a young age, like in kids books or television shows. We are taught that one image is what we should all seek out, that should be our life goal if we want to be happy. Yet, as someone she quotes says, the long lasting impact of these goals and expectations just lead to sadness and disappointment if and when people don’t reach it.
Another interesting point that Beck brings up is the point that not everyone has the possibility for a redemption or happy ending. We live in a world where we say everyone is equal, but we truly aren’t. Not everyone has the same resources to make their redemption story come true. Neither does everyone want or view their redemption the same way. As she says, there are things that happen to people that cannot be redeemed. Therefore a fairytale narrative of redemption and a happy ending in their lives is not possible for everyone. I believe things can always get better, but true happy endings, or resolved stories are not always possible. It is an unfair expectation.
The last part in the author’s article which caught my eye was on page 16. She briefly touches on the connotation that phrases and words often have, explaining how people are uncomfortable with the uncertainty or unknown of the future. It is familiar but still interesting to me how people have the tendency to need to know the future, or at least think they know. The fact remains that loss of control often makes people anxious. When they do not know the future, or even any possibilities of what may happen to them, they do not have control of the situation. Therefore, the fear of the unknown makes people nervous. The way we view and live our lives is very interesting, especially when it comes to the outside impacts.
