https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A23k6vWVvfroSviDWiChhuBI_8aCnE5vB49goyICcTY/edit?usp=sharing

Kamryn Compton

Professor Emerson

English 110 E

22 April, 2019

My Life, My Narrative  

        I consider myself to be a narrative. I believe that I tell my life through a story that is my own, completely unique to me. I believe that we each have a story and the people we meet and the relationships we form are a part of our own stories and, conversely, we become part of their story. Even if it is a minor detail in a much broader story. I believe that as I am creating my story, that this is what separates me apart from the other 7 billion people on this planet. This happens as it develops over time, and also creates a sense of order in the chaos that we all consider to be our lives.

       I consider myself to be a narrative made up of many parts and chapters. The picture to the left is a picture of me as a little girl. If you were to ask me today if I am still the same person I was in that picture, I would tell you yes. I would further explain that this was part of my narrative, however, what I am writing now is not the same that it was when this picture was taken. Through autobiographical reasoning, which Julie Beck, the writer of “Life’s Stories” referenced MacAdams in explaining is “identifying lessons learned or insights gained in life experiences, marking development or growth through sequences of scenes, and showing how specific life episodes illustrate enduring truths about the self.” Based on this logic, I have developed and grown, and who I was in that part of my narrative has shaped me into who I am in my narrative today. I believe that our narratives and our life stories make any of us individual and shape who we are and may play a positive or negative role in helping us to shape who we want to become. According to author of “Life Stories” Julie Beck:

 

“This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is.”

 

I believe this is true that I am made up of many stories and pictures that have helped shape and identify who I am. However, it is also true that this way of thinking is not true for everyone. According to Galen Strawson author of “I am not a Story,” himself and many like him are deeply non-narrative, and as Strawson puts it; “I don’t think an ‘autobiographical narrative’ plays any significant role in how I experience the world, although I know that my present overall outlook and behavior is deeply conditioned by my genetic inheritance and sociocultural place and time, including, in particular, my early upbringing.” Opposed to the narrative approach that looks at the development of oneself and the idea that self-knowledge develops over the lifespan, Strawson believes in many-selves, a different self in each moment. Strawson quoted Fernando Pessoa in his “I am not a Story” and summarized his non-narrative view and said that:

 

“Each moment I feel as if I’ve just been born/Into an endlessly new world.”

 

        While for some living in the moment can be very beneficial, I personally value how a narrative can help shape a person from their past and can help form one’s future. When I look at life through a narrative perspective, I feel I gain a sense of control over my life, as a narrative can create a sense of order. For me, this has a profound positive impact in my life. According to Dan P. McAdams, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, who was referenced in both Beck and Strawson’s writings, stories can “provide our kind of messed up lives with a certain kind of semblance of meaning and purpose” (College). In the video I provided below McAdams explains in the timeframe 6:24 – 11:00 minutes a summary the role he believes that stories play in our lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySDUoyL3KHg (6:24-11:00)

McAdams not only emphasizes how a narrative can provide structure, but in Beck’s writing, she further explains how development through a narrative consists of three levels and aspects of self; actors, when we are young and our personality traits interact with the world, we get old enough to make decisions and become agents, making decisions in hopes of producing a desired outcome, and lastly when we come the authors of our narratives by adding ideas about the future with experiences from the past and present to form a narrative self (Beck). This not only helps us shape our future and who we are but is also how one learns, by taking prior knowledge and what we know and applying it to new experiences.  I believe in the development of self and that through narrative, one can look at their life, learn from their past, and create a positive change in their future.

The picture of me as a little girl is me as an actor, and the picture of me on the right is me as an author, the author of my own narrative! I believe that through narrative I not only created my own unique story but have also provided myself with a sense of structure that will allow me to move forward with a source of confidence as I navigate my way through this next chapter of my life. By creating my story through the narrative approach I not only defined myself, but have grown from my past experiences and have taken control of my story and where my story will go from here.