Family Story: Story Retelling, Analysis
Throughout your childhood, you may have heard and shared stories, but you may never have thought about them as verbal artifacts to be analyzed. Family stories are narratives, usually about family members, both living and deceased-like the time your cousin Sean was left at the alter or your uncle Michael came drunk, or when cousin Katherine won the state lottery and spent the money in a month. Sometimes, they are stories of heroics, of sadness, or of comedy. Identify a story in your own family that is told over and over again. It doesn't have to be an "important" story-it can seem silly-as long as it is told. The assignment this week is to your family member to retell the story to see if it has changed or is different from what you remember, and then you will think more deeply about its purpose and function. 1. Does it work to create shared memories across generations? 2. To give a moral to children? 3. To model doing the right thing? 4. To tell you what "our family" believes in? 5. What values or messages does it convey? Report Format Divide the report into the following five sections using Arabic numerals: i. Introduction ii. Story Retelling -Pick a family story that is told over and over again, and share the story in your report (When writing out the story, make up names or use only a first initial so that you are not violating the privacy of anyone in your family). If you would like to interview a family member, please feel free to do so. ii. Story Analysis - Analyze the story. The stories families pick to tell and retell are important. Think about why your family tells this particular story. Who tells it? Does your family tell other similar stories? What values or messages do you think it means to communicate? What role does it play in family communication? What does it communicate to you? [Are the intended messages and how you react(ed) to the story the same?] iii. Connections - At this point in your life, how do you relate to the values or messages the story sends? Do you agree with or reject those messages or something in between? Do those values or messages affect your life right now? Would YOU retell this story? What do the answers to these questions tell you about your family and its values? iv. Conclusion
Family Story
Name:
Institution
Introduction
Family stories are critical tales or narratives told at different occasion, for instance, during gatherings of family members, holidays or when sharing a meal. They are usually told by the parents to the children to impart in them particular virtues that will see them nature and grow into desirable human beings. Research indicates that 95% of parents share family stories across the globe because they are vital and only 5% do not share them due to lack of parental maturity and knowledge of the merits accrued by the stories. It is evident that family stories enhance distinction between families in that certain behaviors installed to the children is evident through the stories that creates these differences. It enhances the placement of a person into a community in accordance with its practices. Most importantly, the stories enable the integration of members of a family since they exhibit similar ideas that should be adhered by every offspring in its linage creating peaceful relation. This research seeks to analyze a story told over generations in my family and its implication to our generation.
Story Retelling
My father and mother always sound remorseful when they recall and reminisce on what happened to their parent’s lives as well as theirs in the past few years. They always narrate to my brother, sister, and I the difficult time they encountered when their parents were engaged in the search of freedom for their ancestral land in order to relive themselves from the feeling of bondage. The story arouses sympathy and it is purposely narrated to us to convey some meaningful information that helps us bond through empathy and pass it to the next generation. The story telling takes place at the dining room when taking our lunch or supper. At the start of the story, my father says, “the butterflies were annoying since they highly cost our parents great bloodshed in the search of freedom. The story is imbued with human sacrifice under limited time and resources culminating in gore which eventually led to the death of our parents and ancestors”. The story continues that our great grandparents used all weapons and tactics to fight back the colonialists. They were audacious enough to confront them one on one even though the disparities in arms was vast. Fortunately, most of them had gone to missionary schools and had learnt the colonialist’s language and their ways. Generally, the ancestors utilized all they had to seek for freedom with no fear to lose their lives but importantly to attain their goal to root out the dictatorial life imposed on them.
My mother talks of the role that women played in the struggle, narrating how it cost them days and nights travelling to reach their men so as to feed them and keep them healthy in order to continue with the battle. She goes on that they could leave their fragile unattended children behind, travel to their husbands, and leak any information they gathered concerning the enemy’s whereabouts or activities. Emotional, mother continues that the ancestors had stayed under dictatorship for so long and were determined to chase the colonies from their country and regain their peace and freedom under which could enjoy God’s given benefits of the land. They could go to pinnacle of the mountains in a symbolic closeness to their god to pray to Him to free them from the agony because they had felt no option in their life than to surrender to God and struggle for freedom. She stresses that they believed that through prayer they could attain what they sought. Moreover, she tells us that they were unfazed by threats against lying to the white men since they did it often to secure their husbands from any entrapment. Finally, she emphasizes on embracing the spirit of unity like the one that existed among our ancestors. She says that it enhanced consensus between the men and women since they passionately worked together to reach their obligation. However many resources and human life had to be sacrificed in the scramble to attain their rights.
Story Analysis
Both of my parents’ are usually fond of telling the story mostly during our difficulties times in our lives. It is a tale that touches everyone’s heart because it conveys particular virtues, which hardens our heart during challenging situations. In the first place, my father emphasizes the significance of education as a decisive instrument for us to succeed in the competitive world. He clarifies that education can vary any exigent situation into ...