God's Story Reflected in Our Stories, Part 1

At least ten elements or components displayed in God’s Story (see my post on February 20, 2013) occur in our stories: creation, something’s wrong, redemption, the hero, death and resurrection, glimpses of glory, relationships, belief/faith, providence, and a happy ending. Few stories fully express all ten elements; but all ten occur often enough to reveal God’s Story. Here are some examples of the first five component displayed in stories.

Creation
Every storyteller “creates” (Tolkien would say, sub-creates) a world. In fact, both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien wrote creation stories: Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew portrays Aslan singing Narnia into existence; and in The Silmarillion, Tolkien beautifully describes the formation of Middle-earth. Even story-tellers who don’t write explicit creation accounts fashion worlds for readers to enjoy. Flannery O’Connor, author of short stories and novels, observed that the novelist always has to create a world, and a believable one.

Something’s Wrong

Tolkien wrote, “There cannot be any ‘story’ without a fall – all stories are ultimately about the fall. . . .” Accordingly, every tale conveys that something is amiss. Peter Rabbit disobeys his mother and steals into Mr. McGregor’s garden. The little bunny, in Margaret Wise Brown’s The Runaway Bunny, wants to run away from home. The Ring and its Maker are the problem in The Lord of the Rings. And Edmund callously betrays his siblings in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Redemption
Screenwriter Brian Godawa observes that stories “are finally, centrally, crucially, primarily, mostly about redemption.” Redemption is a reversal or a resolution of that which has gone awry. It’s quite simple in some stories: Peter Rabbit learns to obey his mother; and the runaway bunny discovers that, no matter where she goes, her mother will always seek and find her. In many stories redemption is delightfully complex. In Field of Dreams, for example, Ray Kinsella’s angst is resolved only after building a baseball field and traveling hither and yon in response to that unrelenting voice. In Groundhog Day, Phil has to relive the second day of February three thousand six hundred and fifty times to learn how to love.

The Hero

In many stories a special person is chosen to rescue those afflicted with misfortune or injustice. So in The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins accompanies a group of dwarfs to retrieve their treasure in the Lonely Mountain; in The Sound of Music, Maria rescues seven incorrigible children and their father; and in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker becomes a Jedi Knight to defeat the Galactic Empire. The hero component is such a prominent feature in our stories that acclaimed mythologist, Joseph Campbell, spent a good deal of his career studying the hero-cycle. He concluded that it is humanity’s primary story—it’s our “monomyth.”

Death and Resurrection

 Joseph Campbell noted that death and resurrection is a natural part of hero stories. Mostly it’s virtual death and rebirth late in the tale. That happens in The Hobbit when Bilbo is knocked unconscious during the Battle of Five Armies. He had been wearing the ring that made him invisible, so he is thought to be missing or dead. When he comes round and hears the voice of a man searching for him, he takes off the ring and identifies himself.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem has to be sedated because of the attack during his trek home from the pageant. Jem’s injury, alluded to in the opening paragraphs of the book, is an enduring reminder of the significance of the assault. And Sully gives new life to the defunct power company, in Monsters Inc., by harnessing the laughter of little children.