A Sea of Narratives and Their Functions

I will try to take an approach to the study of the functions of storytelling,

focusing around two of the texts studied this semester, basing my
statements on personal opinions, bibliographycal sources, and quotes
suitable for the subject.
When we are to put a modest definition for the story, or, as we prefer to
reffer to it, a narrative, we could simply and with no further statement define
it as a series of events. In consequence, storytelling is no more than relating
a series of events. Nevertheless, giving this transparent definition withholds
us from having a more profound insight on what stories are actually created
for. Stories and narratives have been shared around for years with abundant
purposes, such as entertaining, preserving cultural aspects, educating all
masses and instilling moral values. In addition to these aspects concerned in
universal matters, the narrative also tends to touch more insightful and
personal pursuits for the reader, for one can feel connected to the story line
by empathizing with the characters and the situations given, and as a mean
of getting the readers attention efficiently. Certainly, there is a major
contrast between all narrative and the written one. Robert McKee says that
when we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we
want meaningful emotional experience we go to the storyteller. This being
said, having the advantage of possesing the means for an emotional impact
on the elocutionist, the written story has a more considerable influence on
the object of persuassion, on the spectator of its parade.

One of the narratives functions is to give elements of ones own self,

experience, and life. In The Secret Sharer the story deals with the internal
conflict between personal and professional authority, using the protagonist
as a tool of self examination for the reader to reflect upon. The protagonist,
which is also the narrator, is a young officer who has been given the
responsability of his first command as a captain on a merchant sailling ship
on its mission. In the beginning, the novice captain feels like a stranger to
the ship, but also to himself. Once Leggatt, a refugee from another ship
appears from the depths of the sea, the Captain's personality begins to
change under the influence of the intriguing visitor. Simbolically, Leggatt
represents the Captains alter-ego, the one who captures the protagonists
lacks in personality. Leggatt represents the failed leader who has been
arrested by his own captain for killing his insubordinate collegue. He seems
indifferent to the others judgements and this strikes the narrator, as he
solely depends on peoples approval and positive opinions on him. The title is
ambiguous in view of interpretation, considering that it can be apprehended
in two different ways, depending on the word we choose to put the stress on.
The first meaning, which we get from centralizing our attention on the
second word, points directly to the fact that Leggatts visit was kept as a
secret to all members of the crew from his point of arrival and all through his
visit on the ship. However, if we focus on the first word, we assume that
there is a secret essential to be shared by Leggard, in order to reveal the
Captains true self and potential. As a result of his interactions with Leggatt,
the captain starts to see into the lacks of his own personality. Under
Leggards influence, the Captain discovers his true self. This gives the reader
the opportunity for introspection, self examination into his own mental and
emotional processes. Storytelling offers time to reflect.
There appear images of doubleness, in this case Leggatt being the captains
double. The protagonist calls him my double and his own gray gost and
affirms that it was in the night as though I had been faced by my own
reflection in the depths of a somber and immense mirror. Doubles abound

in modernist literature, from Dostoyevsky through Faulkner and they function

predominantly to stress certain tendencies and predisposition of the
protagonist. By accessing such a theme, the narrative offers the reader the
uncalled for, but almost inevitable quest to question himself about his own
duality all through the reading of the story, and gives ontological questions
that require an answer which can most presumably be found by lingering on
the reading of the story. Pursuing this, the reader forgets himself, gets
involved, is capable to relate to the characters inner sensations and
struggles.
The author manages by his own artistic means to engage the reader into a
more insightful reading, resulting in the reader finding resolutions to personal
dilemmas and ontological worriments.
Epics are long stories featuring heroes and their adventures as they travel
from one end of the land to the other. The texts that fit this type of gender
tend to be encyclopedic, serving as comprehensive picture displaying many
aspects of a culture. With the existence of the epic genre occurs another
objective of storytelling, which is, the preservation of cultural values and
education of the masses.
Immitating real life situations, a story beggins with a situation in which all
things are relatively in balance, then, the inciting incident occurs. This throws
life out of balance, the characters being forced to take actions despite risks,
and ultimately make difficult decisions. In the case of results meeting
expectations, the theme is automatically set to be monotuous and tiresome
to engage in. In order to keep the action exciting, the author must display
the struggle between expectation and reality. This situation can be found in
the story entitled Haroun and the Sea of Stories, also known as Rushdies
most humorous and accesible work. Haroun is the inheritor to a storyteller
who loses his skill of storytelling in the result of mysterious forces attempting
to block the seas of inspiration from which all stories are derived. The path

the young boy goes through, to restore the Ocean of Streams of Stories is
withal the path towards restoring the balance of the situation in the
characters life. This is known as the incinting incident, which captures the
multitude of emotions the reader is put through. From fury resulted in the
inconvenient situations, to relief in the turning point of the situation in which
the character makes a choice under pressure that brings a state of
peacefulness to the situation, and for the reader the occurrence of
experiencing an epiphany. This main function, the potentiality of inducing
intense emotional experiences confirms that storytelling is, indubitably, a
form of art, without further justifications.
With the following quote: nothing comes from nothing , no story comes
from nowhere, new stories are born from old - it is the new combinations that
make them. Rushdie does not intend to illustrate the lack of individuality of
each story, but rather their potential in sustaining autentic pieces through
reusing their motifs.
Both Haroun and the Captain are young men, unexperienced at the
beginning, the emotional struggles they go through are what makes them
define themselves. Stories also have the function of influencing the youth by
expressing the concern of moral values by using the given characters
(especially the protagonist) as tools for the embodiment of the righteous
conduct.
Leo Tolstoy says that All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes
on a journey or a stranger comes to town. We can easily relate these
definintions to this essays themes of focus which are, thematically speaking,
tales about the sea. In the first one, Haroun, a young boy, is the protagonist
in a story which is considered to be a parable for the several existing
problems in todays society, especially in India, which is the authors
motherland. The Secret Sharer features a young man on his first mission

on the sea which begins to take purpose when he meets the visitor, the
stranger in the town.
Stephen King thinks that the best stories always end up being about the
people, rather than the event, which is to say, character-driven. In contrast
with other text chategories (such as jurnalistic, informational, etc) the story
may be a produce of events and consequences fused to become action, but
its fundamental focus stays on the character and its development. He
changes, grows, learns, is transformed, his inner nature is revealed through
his choices under pressure.
I consider that I managed to discuss only a few of the numberous functions
of storytelling, although I assume that, with further reading and information
gained from this course I will study and learn many other aspects on this
matter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Secret Sharer: Conrads Turn of the Winch - Michael Murphy

Conrads Secret Sharer: A Private Ethics of Leadership - Thomas

Vargish

Theories of Stories and Storytelling - Eric Miller, PhD

Storytelling, Narration, and the Who I Am Story - Catherine

Ramsdell

Rushdies Story of the Sea of Stories: The Text as an Echoing Space

- Rama Kundu

What Influences Rushdie?: Connecting Haroun and the Sea of Stories

to Oz and the Alice Stories - Shingo Azuma
Text Interpretation Course - Final Paper
BABAN ANA-CRISTINA
Russian - English

Year I