Dialectics of Stories

Tell me a story seems to be a magic word in all the cultures. Storytelling is a

universal human activity. Every known society on earth, at every period of recorded
history, has told stories. We create stories around us to imitate our surrounding or to
express the mysteries around us. I grew up listening to the stories of my mother,
sitting by the fire side, especially after the supper or before I go to sleep. There were
times I forced my mother to tell stories, even if she said she has no more stories left to
tell. I wont allow her to sleep until she tells me a story. I know my mother create
stories at times, just to please me. But as I grew up I slowly moved away from my
mothers stories and find myself in the company of friends listening to the stories
narrated by some of the elders, who are known for their skill of telling stories in the
village. The stories are of different themes, some on the myth of the origin of
mankind, some as part of religious rituals, some for instruction, and some for pure
entertainment. But the larger question is, are they still relevant today? Why should
they be shared, retold, recreated or even put into written form? Are they not just
remnants of outdated or culturally quaint stories, of little relevance today?
To answer these questions one needs to look into the stories more deeply and
understand what it is made up of. The fact is that, these stories are not just a story with
or without plot, but within its oration it constantly evolves a certain way of life,
typical rituals, important mythological allusions, a collective memory and shared
experiences. It enumerates the cultural nuances and tries to capture the popular
themes of different times. The most typical characteristic of any story is that, it is not
static, it keeps moving, changing its form with every story teller, with every
generation. Therefore, they are important and not just the relic of a past, because these
tales are the gateways to the constant realm of dreaming, through which archetypes
are embodied, and the life paths are explored.
Stories remain an important tool of cultural communication not only in the
past but even today. The stories narrated by our forefathers kept the history of our
people alive. They reflect the hopes, fears and beliefs system of our people in the past.
It perpetuates the cultural identity of our people. And its values and ideas are brought
into practical world. Lets look into one of the classic love story of our community
called Ro and Ronai. And see how it reflects the hopes and fears of our people in
the past, and their belief system. I am sure many of us must have heard, if not all. The
story is about two young lovers called Ro and Ronai who are madly in love with each
other. It begins with a typical romantic note, wherein Ro and Ronai emerged as
childhood friends, who later turned as lovers in their lives. The love lady Ronai
challenges Ro in many ways to test his love, but Ro like any other hero wins all of
them. The climax of the story lies in their irrevocable vows, of living and dying
together. They had taken a vow to live and die together, by placing some of their hair
together, and also had shared a slice of ginger from the same branch, which is
considered to be a taboo. As a result they both fell ill and died and brought untold
miseries to their parents. Their parents tried every possible ways to save their lives,
performed all the penance and rituals, sacrificed animals to propitiate the evil spirit,
but it was all in vain. It was believed that their vows were too strong.
As evident from the above story, how in a very laconic way story mirrors the
belief system of people and the different rituals like, sacrificing animals to appease
the evil spirit. It also comes to serve as a warning to all the young lovers not to go
against the moral codes of the society. The consequence of disobedience is nothing
but death, as depicted in the story. It also reflects mens effort to shun the suffering

caused by death though it remains unsuccessful. Such story comes to serve as social
maxim and becomes a yardstick to judge the morality and integrity of individuals.
And at large such maxim becomes an instrument to control the society, providing
ideals to be inculcated amongst its members for individuals well-being and for the
welfare of the community. In other words, it serves as a critique to the socio-cultural
behavior of a community.
Stories help in conceptualizing ones culture in totality. But one cannot negate
the problem inherent in the process of understanding ones culture in totality as
culture being very broad an inclusive. For example, from the historical perspective, it
is social heritage or tradition that is passed on to the future generation. From the
behavioral point of view, culture is shared, learned human behavior, and a way of life.
From the functional point of view, culture is the ways human solve problems of
adapting to the environment or living together. From the structural point of view,
culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, behaviors, etc. Thus,
culture can be studied in many ways.
Raymond Williams, a cultural critic defines culture in a more inclusive and
descriptive manner. According to him, culture may mean all the signifying practices,
from language through arts, philosophy, journalism, fashion, advertising and other
expressions of a given society. But the thickness of human cultural activities and the
significant insight needed in understanding their nuances have spawned a variety of
analytical approaches to the subject. But one of the most formidable yet necessary
aspects of cultural analysis is to provide a description of the context within which
particular culture and its values are produced. Such approach proposes that we cannot
understand the culture of any given society, be it tradition or modern apart from the
context in which they are produced and consumed. Therefore, to understand the
cultural significance of our people, we need to uncover the ideologies implicit in those
stories of our forefathers and see how it captures the cultural nuances of our
community and explore the contextual meaning added to it. Then only we can
establish a better understanding of our roots and our identity, and the virtue of not
being the other.