The Significance and Impact of Storytelling in Human Life

Stories are not merely made up works of fiction for one-time consumption. They are nuanced compositions that are meant to be pored over, full of hidden meaning and implication that can be applied to real life situations. The reasoning behind the telling of these stories is perhaps even more important, as storytelling has several functions for which it has been used for thousands of years. In both contemporary and historic societies, storytelling has had a significant impact on human life, often functioning as an outlet for emotions, a way to fulfill the innate human desire to create and unearth meaning in everyday life, and as a means of connecting with an audience through a larger message.

Storytelling is one form of art that people turn

Several authors write no because they want to, but because they feel a need to write as it gives their own lives significance. Author Neil Gaiman wrote that once he begins writing a story, he feels a moment where the “story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and [he] knows what it’s about and why [he’s] doing it” (Gaiman, 1). Stories are told to make sense of an otherwise seemingly meaningless existence, and as seen with Gaiman, a story that comes to life bears the fruits of motivation. Equally important are the stories told based upon everyday life. People are surrounded by countless objects and bombarded with dozens of daily events. Stories are written about this everyday life to unearth meaning from these everyday occurrences, and perhaps put them into perspective. Author Mary Gaitskill, in her essay about why writers write, speaks about how “life gives [one] everything your senses can bear” and how storytelling is “an affirmation of [one’s] presence in the corporeal world.” (Popova, 1). Gaitskill describes life as thousands of daily interactions with one’s environment, a constant flow of information that must be organized. Writing this information down, even crafting it into a story, allows the mind to slow down the rush of sensory input and analyze

In the world of marketing and advertisement, storytelling and appeal to emotion are key parts in gaining customer interest. In a Skype ad called “Born Friends,” two girls with the same disease that caused them to be born without one arm are connected through Skype. Through this sentimental story of two lonely girls finding solace in each other, Skype is able to touch the hearts of those who may identify with or sympathize with the two girls (Hong, 1). Storytelling with a heavy appeal to feeling not only garners emotions from the audience, but also creates a deeper connection with the audience, effectively gaining their interest. In addition to gaining the audience’s interest, telling stories has the ability to inform the intended audience of a larger message. In the autobiography Night, by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel describes in detail of the cruelty and torture he faced as a teenage Jewish boy in a concentration camp. One of the central purposes of his autobiography was to inform the public of the true horrors he experienced, as well as his underlying wish for concentration camps and blatant intolerance to end. In this as well, Wiesel’s descriptive stories not only gave his audience perspective on the Holocaust, but also created a link between Wiesel and the audience, a link through which Wiesel’s message would eventually be spread. The telling of