As Americans, history is what helps us make decisions in the present and helps us plan for the future. It draws our attention to the past to determine what we did wrong or right, so that we may learn from our mistakes or our successes. History is a story. It is a compelling tale that shows us where we have been and what we have done. Typically, the idea that history is a story is discouraged by most history teachers; rather it is just thought to be “All recorded events of the past” (Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1983). But by exploring American history as a story, we can find so much more depth and meaning to it. In this essay, I will look at the pros and cons of thinking of American history as a story. When
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He says, “The medium of story is changing, in other words, but not its essence. Our inborn thirst for narrative means that story – its power, purpose and relevance – will endure as long as the human animal does” (Eagleman). Basically, he is telling us that stories mesmerize us and they “serve the biological function of encouraging pro-social behavior” (Eagleman). Stories help us be innovative and give us understanding of what we do not know. If we look at history as story, we see the same concept. History gives us understanding and helps us be ever-changing to the ways of the world. That is how we as Americans can be productive and intuitive. In a different article from the New Yorker titled “Everything is Fiction,” the author, Keith Ridgway, shows us a similar idea. He says, “everything is fiction. When you tell yourself the story of your life, the story of your day, you edit and rewrite and weave a narrative out of a collection of random experiences and events” (Ridgway). And that is exactly what history is: an ever-changing story of our …show more content…
If we view history as an ever-changing story, we can forget what actually happened in the past and never learn anything at all. In fact, sometimes history can be rewritten to a point that we never learn what happened and only find a clouded subject, carefully censored. In an article in Associated Press called “Curriculum changes in history prompt large student protest,” author Colleen Slevin interviews a 17-year-old student protesting. The student said, “I don’t think my education should be censored. We should be able to know what happened in our past.” (Slevin). Because of cases like these, history can be tainted, revealing that not everything from the past is correctly interpreted. History, therefore, can be seen as just a series of events in the past that do not necessarily mean anything to the present. Joyce Carol Oates, author of the article “Believing What We Read, and Vice Versa,” says, “With the best intentions, in recalling the past we are already altering – one might say violating – the original experience” (Oates). In other words, history cannot be a story unless it is not distorted from its original
He says, “The medium of story is changing, in other words, but not its essence. Our inborn thirst for narrative means that story – its power, purpose and relevance – will endure as long as the human animal does” (Eagleman). Basically, he is telling us that stories mesmerize us and they “serve the biological function of encouraging pro-social behavior” (Eagleman). Stories help us be innovative and give us understanding of what we do not know. If we look at history as story, we see the same concept. History gives us understanding and helps us be ever-changing to the ways of the world. That is how we as Americans can be productive and intuitive. In a different article from the New Yorker titled “Everything is Fiction,” the author, Keith Ridgway, shows us a similar idea. He says, “everything is fiction. When you tell yourself the story of your life, the story of your day, you edit and rewrite and weave a narrative out of a collection of random experiences and events” (Ridgway). And that is exactly what history is: an ever-changing story of our …show more content…
If we view history as an ever-changing story, we can forget what actually happened in the past and never learn anything at all. In fact, sometimes history can be rewritten to a point that we never learn what happened and only find a clouded subject, carefully censored. In an article in Associated Press called “Curriculum changes in history prompt large student protest,” author Colleen Slevin interviews a 17-year-old student protesting. The student said, “I don’t think my education should be censored. We should be able to know what happened in our past.” (Slevin). Because of cases like these, history can be tainted, revealing that not everything from the past is correctly interpreted. History, therefore, can be seen as just a series of events in the past that do not necessarily mean anything to the present. Joyce Carol Oates, author of the article “Believing What We Read, and Vice Versa,” says, “With the best intentions, in recalling the past we are already altering – one might say violating – the original experience” (Oates). In other words, history cannot be a story unless it is not distorted from its original