Analysis Of A Story That's All We Are By Thomas King

When Thomas King says, “The truth about stories is, that’s all we are,” I believe he is pointing out how powerful of a force stories are in our lives. We are told stories from our childhood, as a way to remember history or pass down traditions. He is trying to make the point that stories make up our history, our cultures and ourselves. A good example of this comes from Nealon and Searls Giroux’s book, “Subjectivity.” The book says there is the “self” which is our primary selves, untouched by cultural influences or the law. Then there is the subject, which is usually influenced by the culture around him and formed by the law. The self is subject to their economic status, ethnicity, education, language, etc. The stories a person knows and has

The way he closes each chapter is repetitive, however it hold a lot of meaning. King ends each chapter saying “Do what you want with this story; but don’t say you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard it… you’ve heard it now.” This is very important and I was very impressed with such a creative way to show its importance. This statement is basically pointing at how influential stories can be in our lives. He is showing us that some stories are important to tell in order to share knowledge and how life altering they can be if they aren’t told. Knowledge is a common theme in most stories and each story holds its own. He writes in a way to not only tell a story, but to interest the reader in the story and then help them understand the lesson behind the story. An excellent example of this is portrayed when King tells the story of creation. He tells the story of Charm and all of the animals collaborating to create the earth (pg 20) and then compares it to the typical Adam and Eve story most American children are told. He shared this story to show the dichotomies portrayed throughout Western Society. In Western Society, you are rich or poor, white or black, strong or weak, male or female. The strategy King used to make this point was very important because we had a frame of reference instead of just being told facts. On page 139 when King discussed Canadian

I believe he is targeting anyone who will listen. Stories affect everyone. Everyone grows up around them, everyone is told them and they have the power to affect everyone’s lives. The stories King is telling and the lessons behind them are relevant to pretty much everyone who will listen. The truth of the matter is, most of us are subject to things especially minorities, people on the lower class scale and those who speak a language other than English in America. The stories King tells are efficient in helping to drill in the idea of self and subject and how most of us are subject to different aspects of a socially constructed society. However, there is a small portion of Americans who are privileged in every area of life. These are the white, older, Christian, straight, upper-class men. I believe Thomas King does an excellent job of making an audience full of these readers aware of their privilege. One of the purposes of Thomas King’s book The Truth About Stories was to show how influential stories truly are in our lives and how many stories relate to self and subject. King does and excellent job of telling his own stories to reiterate this theme throughout the