The Importance of Storytelling

Storytelling has been an integral part of human life since the dawn of time. From cave paintings, to the first written language, to Chaucer, to Netflix today, stories have been used to demonstrate principles, inspire audiences, or to recount history.

In the prologue of The Canterbury Tales, we’re essentially told a short story about humanity. The narrator tells his own story about each character and their values and, in so doing, implicitly gives insight to the narrator’s own values. The knight is the golden boy of the group, thought by the narrator to be the noblest of the pilgrims. The monk is respected by the narrator for going against the grain and pursuing his own passion, despite what is expected of him. The friar is revealed to be greedy by using his position for his own profit and the physician is similarly obsessed with gold. The parson is more pure than the monk and friar. This prologue demonstrates the variety that exists within people, there are those who are noble and pure and there are those who are otherwise incentivized.

Today, stories are told in a similar way: through characters. Characters are what we relate to in stories, and without good characters a story can’t be driven to tell, well, a story. Generally, every show or book has the token funny character, the more straight-lace character, etc. And these tropes give us insight into our own values. Maybe some people identify more with the joker than the straight-lace character. Or maybe some people identify more with the intelligent problem solver than the brute force character. But one thing is universal, stories are about people even when there are no people in the story. Wall-E explores themes of love and care for ones surroundings, despite being centered around two robots.

All stories, including The Canterbury Tales have a message. Even stories as silly as mine about falling off a scooter that was being towed by a trike via a jump rope has a message. But stories are how societies pass on their legacies. The more stories are passed down through time, the more we learn about our own humanity. And the way we interpret those stories gives insight into our own values and interests.