Storytelling

It is the oldest art that humans know and use daily. Its purpose has changed over the centuries, but it still fulfills basic societal and individual needs. Telling tales provides a means to communicate and express feelings to others. This essay on Storytelling has touched me and made me to know many things about it. Storytelling is self-nurturing and articulates human hope, fears and dreams, so it is an important function in life for all people because they help create a foundation on which we build an understanding of the world as well as provide a filter through which we experience life.

The purpose of a story is to describe how people make sense of the events of their lives, experiences, and actions. The constructs involved in the division of stories are culture, social interaction, race, and class. Every story that we tell or hear has a purpose and helps keep our lives knitted together. "Stories show how humans actors do things in the world, how their actions shape events and instigate in other actors, thus changing the world and often the actors themselves in some way. Stories also reveal the way events and other actors act upon others, shaping possibilities and the way we view ourselves and our world." (Storytelling as a Light of Hope 123)

Mothers traditionally use stories to teach children about life and nature, who they are, and  where they came from. The practice of storytelling creates a record of African-American customs and culture. Some of them are related to the church and religious customs, while other stories are related to lessons and traditions.   From this chapter, I have learned that storytelling is a bi-product of African American life and the stories that have been created contain themes that reflect the varied experiences of African American people in America. It has also been used as a means to learn more about factors contributing to the events that affected African American women’s lives.