Analysis: How Do Stories Shape Humanity

How Do Stories Shape Humanity? “Novels and stories are renderings of life; they can not only keep us company, but admonish us, point us in new directions, or give us courage to stay a given course.” (Robert Coles). We as humans, all love a good story; whether we are watching a movie, listening to our favorite song, reading a novel or having someone tell us a story, there is always a sense of enjoyment. Stories are all around us and we can trace stories and the act of storytelling back to our early ancestors. "All the individuals of the same species, and the species of the same genus, or even higher, are descended from common parents;" stated by Charles Darwin in Origin of Species, his take on stories was take even though the story may change as humans evolve, they all start with an origin. Looking through the lens of literary Darwinism stories can be a metaphor towards the theory of evolution. "Conflict is the fundamental element of fiction...In life, conflict often carries a negative connotation, yet in fiction, be it comic or tragic, dramatic conflict is fundamental because in literature only trouble is interesting. Only trouble is interesting. This is not so in life." Janet Burroway's point is very true, and is basically the main theme in chapter three of Gottschall's, The Storytelling Animal. Even though people don't
“The Story People are us. If those strictly practical people ever existed, they don’t anymore. But if we hadn’t known this from the start, wouldn’t most of us have bet on the Practical People outlasting those frivolous Story People? The fact that didn’t is the riddle of fiction.” Stories contribute the most to group selection. People are drawn to stories and stories can many people together. In the aspect of the quote, stories can be used to take a break from