Sunday, December 1, 2013
On Stories....
One thing i was considering while reading TLRATFFIH, and especially in The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire, was if a story is only really a story if there is someone there to listen to it. This brought up another question i have been thinking about, and that is, what is the difference between hearing and listening? In the aforementioned story, a woman cries from the jury, "We are all listening, Thomas" and then later, "We all hear you". Is listening passive, and hearing active? Can you listen without hearing? Is a story only a story if someone truly hears and understands what you are talking about? Just some food for thought. Happy Thanksgiving.
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I'll leave a comment giving my thoughts on the questions you posed in your post. I think you are correct when you say that hearing is active and listening is passive. It's like the cliché TV episode with the lazy, layabout husband sitting on the couch watching TV with the wife telling him to do something and asking if he is listening. He says yes, but really is paying no attention and not really HEARING anything she is saying, despite what he says.
ReplyDeleteA story is a story no matter who hears it or even if no one hears it. It's still a story. There is still a message, still a plot, still a moral (PATTERN 4 SENTENCE!!!), but it is not being used to its full potential.
Many times in Sherman Alexie's work, characters don't even have the option of listening/hearing. They just refuse to listen to stories at all.