Potiki And The Art Of Telling Stories :: essays research papers

This is an explorative essay on the theme in Patricia Graces novel Potiki that telling and retelling stories is an of the essence(predicate) and valuable part of being gracious.An important theme in Potiki is the enduring thought that creating and sharing stories as a central part of being human is important. It is a cosmea-shattering theme because the novel is heavily imbued with Maori culture, in which the stories and spoken beliefs are presumption prominence, and as well as because it is a popular belief that people need narratives to reach meaning, structure and value to their lives. This theme is displayed resolutely and poignantly in Potikis plot, characters, setting and symbolism, as the people of a small rural new(a) Zealand community rediscover themselves through stories spoken and found in Maori carvings. The appraisal that humans need narratives is the core theme in Potiki, and it is used also to link other themes and aspects of the novel it is in this way that we know the idea of storytelling is an intrinsic part of the novels structure.The idea that creating and sharing stories is important as a central part of being human is shown in Potikis plot and characters when the mother of the main family in the book, Roimata, decides to let deuce of her children learn at home instead of at school. Instead of teaching them herself in the style of a traditional European education system, both(prenominal) Roimata and the children learn naturally from stories and histories which are shown as being part of everyones life. For example, Roimata says,It was a new discovery to find that these stories were, after all, about our own lives, were non distant, that there was no past or future that all clipping is now-time, centred in the being. (Pp39.)In this way Roimata and the children are essentially learning in a way in which all people learn to well-nigh extent by sharing stories. The idea that the telling and retelling of stories sustains, enlarges and defines our view of the world is shown in Potiki when Roimata continues,They were not new stories to us, except that stories are always new, or else there is always something new in stories. (Pp132.) The character is emphasising the moral and educational value of stories in human development and understanding by utter that there is always something to learn from stories, even when they are retold repeatedly.