McIntyre The Story Telling Animal

Choose a passage from the McIntyre reading that describes a particular aspect of persons as the subject of a narrative. Quote the passage, explain it, and tell a specific, personal, life experience that illustrates its significance with respect to identity (your identity).

McIntyre argues that we are all just “story telling animals”. He believes in order for human beings to keep going, we have to associate ourselves with a certain narrative. “I am the subject of a history that is my own and no one elses, that has its on peculiar meaning” (McIntyre last page) He goes on to explain, if there is no meaning in ones life then they will become depressed and in some cases commit suicide. If we do not associate our lives with a certain narrative or story then there will be no point to keep going. If there is no climax and build up to a certain event then we will not be happy.

I agree with McIntyre in the sense that the vast majority of people have to see there lives as a story. From birth we are subject to different media that tells us we have to embark on a journey to become something. Most movies follow a plot that describes a hero’s journey. This plot, that is followed by a lot of movies today, involves a main character that overcomes adversity and eventually resolves it through hard work. I think that we have to associate ourselves with a hero that overcomes adversity in order to accomplish our goals. For me, my successes and failures and everything I try to accomplish begins with a goal. Once I have that goal, I try to imagine how I am going to get there, what its going to be like if I succeed and from there what I am going to do next. One example for me is college. I am in the process of  trying to get my degree so I can use it to then get a job and so on and so on. I imagine myself getting a degree and I imagine what it will be like once I have it. It is a narrative that I have spelled out in my head. Through this outcome I give myself a new identity. I can then say I am a college graduate.

Momento

• Do you agree with Leonard’s statement that we all need mirrors to remind us who we are? In the movie the mirrors were his notes, the photographs, and tattoos. What has he become by relying upon them? What would you become without your own mirrors?

In this movie, Leonard the main character, has a condition where he cant remember anything prior to an accident that happened some time in the past. Every time he falls asleep he wakes up with no recollection of anything that happened to him in the last twenty four hours. He tries to remind himself of events by carrying around notes, getting tattoos and looking at pictures. Although Leonard has a condition, do we not all use this method with our memories?

Our memories can be deceitful. If you ask me what happened yesterday in absolute detail my memories may not be all the way accurate. It his hard to see something and be able to remember it down to the exact detail. When we think back on past events we are just remembering the last time we remembered that event. Are we much different than Leonard? Even though he has a condition, are we able to even trust our memories if they are not always accurate to the tee? In a way we can relate to Leonard. Every day he writes down the most important details of what happened. When we wake up and reflect on what happened the day before we only remember what we think is important and the rest is mostly forgotten.

In the movie, we come to find out a clue Leonard was believing the whole time ended up being a complete lie. Leonard purposely wrote himself a faulty note because he did not want to realize the truth about the death of his wife. I know from personal experience that I myself find myself remembering things that did not actually happen or I remember details that were never there. When I reflect on this, I realize that I should not do that but for some reason I will do it anyway. People are flawed and nobody is perfect. Sometimes it is hard to face the fact that you were wrong in a certain situation and we have to keep telling ourselves that we are right in order to protect ourselves from the truth. This is what Leonard did in the movie. In other words, the truth hurts and our memories are not always going to serve our wants.