Xingyu Zheng

post#2

         Story is a word that we knew when we were small. Kids always hold a thin, hard cover, and colorful book to their parents to ask if they can read the story for them. One reason why kids loves to read story is the story tells many new things to them. So the reason why people write story, is the author wants to tell something though his/her work, and also to express how they think about things.

        A story can be created based on real thing, and also fake thing. We called the story either non-fiction or fiction. Some story cannot be told if it is written based on real events. Thus, fiction story showed up. The word “Fiction” is very broad. People can find it in literature, media and so on. However, fiction is mostly use in literature. Many fiction stories are telling the truth of human life even though it is based on a non-real background.

        Sometimes, some fact can be hard to accept, the fiction could make things interesting and attracting, so that reader can accept it easier. In another way, fiction also offers a new door for writers to open their mind and write more creative work.

       As what Hasif Amini thought: “In fact, since long ago stories have been a remarkable way to enlighten human minds in dark times full of mystery”, whatever fiction or non- fiction story, they all “enlighten” the reader’s heart and mind. They may think different way about one thing after they read the story. Some of them can find consonance from the book. Authors use their words to create another world in their works.

Amini sets out to explain why fiction captures the attention of readers, and in doing so brings examples from nature which speak to his argument. One such example that stood out to me was the constellations which were given names by early astrologists. Attached to each constellation was a story or background behind each name. One might ask how someone can arbitrarily decide what a set of random orbs of light millions of lightyears away from us should be called, let alone they should be called something at all. The point that Amini makes that I find most relevant to todays times is that we enjoy fiction as a means of escapism. More specifically he mentions that fiction enlightens minds in dark times. In saying that I think Amini not only considers fiction to be something people who can’t handle reality read, on the contrary fiction helps to shape our reality. By allowing for the creative process to take over, fiction enables writers to solve solutions in todays society in a safe space. The writers also look to the readers on feedback and often shape their own views based on that. So when I think of fiction, I often associate it with this co-creative process that allows us to play with the idea of reality, in turn allowing change to occur at a progressive pace.

Hasif Amini brings up an interesting pattern in human behavior in his short story “Words Without Borders.” He states that we often find or create a story for anything that is unknown to us. Amini’s use of the stars as an example is perfect because these stars are just spots of light to us. However, humans find a way to connect the dots, give them shape, name them, and create stories for each creation. Wether it be the stars in the sky as Amini gives as an example, or on how the world was created, we, as humans, are naturally born with the instinct to think. Just as Descartes’s “Cogito Ergo Sum” suggests, we think, therefore we are. Humans are constantly looking for answers and solving anything that’s unknown. The unknown is a “confusing” idea and humans want to make sense of it to the best of their ability. We do this by creating stories for the things happening around us everyday.

Fiction is an important form of knowledge because it allows us to think, create, and use our imagination. It allows us to experience everything happening in stories vividly in our minds. While it may be unlikely for it to happen to us, we are able to learn through the experience of others. We might never have seen the dragon mentioned in a fiction book, but we end up being able to imagine it in our minds. Reading fiction opens up a new world and opens up our minds to all possibilities. It gives us an opportunity to gain knowledge we are unable to find in nonfiction.

There is no direct correlation between fiction and knowledge, for knowledge is an individuals accumulation of factual information. Obviously, fiction is not fact, however often times fiction can lead to knowledge. For instance, before the enlightenment one can argue that peoples explanations for common earthly aspect were fictional. There were no real answers for why things were the way they were so people created an understanding for them through fiction. Although their understandings were not accurate, they essentially led to the enlightenment, a period where people were hungry for scientific explanations. Another example that comes to mind is from the 15th century when Christopher Columbus challenged the idea of a flat earth. Although every one had  established that the planet was entirely flat, Christopher Columbus sought the truth and eventually succeeded  in proving that the earth was indeed round. These two examples show that although the original explanations  may originate from fiction and imagination  often times result in truth being discovered. One can argue that many innovations can come out of fiction and imagination. In my opinion every invention comes from a “what if” idea. For example “what if we had a device that can capture a moment forever?” Eventually the camera was invented. This applies for improving inventions that already exist. For instance “what if we had a telephone that is portable and can make calls from almost any where?” Thus the cellphone. While fiction is not real or true, we obtain real factual information from it when attempting to seek the truth and we push ourselves technologically to create innovations that all originate in ones fantasy.

Fiction creates knowledge by using stories to explain and bring light to real life situations. It takes one to a fictional place and allows them to analyze the world from a third party point of view. Fiction can also help one acquire and absorb information by connecting a story to the real world, in the way people used stories to study the stars. The reading states, “Tell a story, so that we understand why and how this world was created, who our ancestors were and where they came from, so we understand where we are and where we may be going.” This meaning that through stories one can gain knowledge of the past, present, and future. Through stories, one can receive a better understanding of life in the past and get an idea of the things their ancestors encounter. The latter can create a knowledge in history and help one to have a greater understanding of the world, as it is today, to inspire tomorrow. People use fiction to explain things they don’t understand, which creates thought and inspires the expansion of one’s mind. Fictional stories are a way to “enlighten human minds in dark time full of mystery”, as stated in the reading, by having one lose themselves in a story and/or gain inspiration from the events within it. We tell stories to teach by connecting the fake world to the problems of the real world. Through fiction, one can learn life lessons and create knowledge. Fiction plays an important part in how we intake information and adapts to society to give this information the best way possible.

I do not believe fiction creates knowledge, more that it helps people understand and come to terms with the unknown. Sometimes the unknown can be terrifying, fiction can put those fear to rest. For example in Hasif Aminis Words Without Borders it talks about many years ago when people looked up into the night sky they would see points of light and over time people drew imaginary lines to connect them. Creating things like the rap, goat, fish and twins which to this day we use in astronomy. I believe if I were living at that time it would almost put me at ease seeing a “crab and goat” instead of a mysterious night sky that is filled with unknowns. Stories have been told for many, many years and past down through generations, most are filled with imagery and descriptive words to help give a better understand and visual of things. I believe that imagination and fiction play hand and hand, to understand most of these tales and stories you have to allow your imagination to get you there. Using the descriptive language you can picture a visual of what is being written about.

Enlightenment thinkers had the same sort of imagination, by stepping away from the facts of the church and stepping out of the box. They questioned things and gave an understanding or what they believed was an understanding to the unexplainable. They thought of new ways to explain things other than just accepting them and not knowing they questioned and came to conclusions.

The human brain is the most amazing form of collecting and creating data. It is an engine that’s always on the move. Always creating , analyzing, deciphering, and questioning. As humans we also use our brain to imagine and create fictional thoughts and ideas. We project these imaginations or fictions in many forms, such as: stories, movies, plays, music, and art. When these thoughts are exposed it allows other to think in terms of what they just heard, saw, and felt. This is when fiction can spark up knowledge and start creating, turing fiction into reality. Many of the things we use in our day to day lives started of as someones  imagination. Someone had imagined being able to fly like a bird and go from city to city and explore the world, and then someone else said  it could be done and they did it. The idea of flying seemed like a fictional thing to people at one point in history. The fictional thought sparked knowledge to certain people allowing them to use their brain to create. From there, the fictional idea of flying became a realty and over time developed into something that we use on a daily basis. I believe that fiction allows us to think outside the box. We imagine things because we simply want that imagination to be reality, the imagination is something you wish existed. By sharing what you imagine, you allow many others to think about that same thing and eventually build a knowledge that will then help you  transform that imagination into a reality .

Long time ago, computer was a fiction, automobile was a fiction, and many other things were fiction before. Fiction and imagination are correlated. Imagination and thinking are correlation. We are encouraged to imagine wildly and freely because only that could move our world forward. Knowledge is the foundation of the building our life and societies. It is the most important things in our life. For example, why are we required to learn history in our early age? Because histories are knowledge, histories teach us knowledge about the past, about why and how world war 1 and world war 2 happened, so hopefully that we would not have war again. Histories are nonfiction knowledge, while imaginations are fiction knowledge. How? Because fiction allows to imagine hypothetical situations, allows us to prepare for the foreseeable future. Afterward, we can learn and gain knowledge about improve ourselves when similar situations surface.

According to “Maybe imagining and naming is a form (and a part of) controlling or taming things unknown.” in Hasif Amini’s “Story”, I think that maybe knowledge was created by people’s fiction. I believe when unknown things happened, people use their imagination to understand it. Time to time, people wrote stories to tell others about their experiences in life, it could be fiction or nonfiction, but it still would make others think. In addition, according to the reading, “Tell a story, so that we understand why and how this world was created, who our ancestors were and where they came from, so that we understand where we are and where we may be going.” The story tells us about knowledge, but these stories are come from the fiction. Fiction makes people think and imagine, from thinking and imagination, knowledge is created.

Fictional stories and stories in general are crucial to literature for various reasons. Stories educate and inform the human mind in ways nothing else can. Fictional stories allow and help us think about things through an unfamiliar and interesting lens. People enjoy listening, writing, telling and reading stories that get our brains thinking and imagining things in a different perspective. These stories aid us mentally by elevating us into a different world and allowing us to imagine scenarios that can not happen in our daily lives. Stories have the capability of expanding our knowledge by telling us who we are, where we came from and where we are going. By depicting what the past generations have lived through, we can learn from they’re mistakes and avoid some hardships that they have endured. This allows us to have a clear view of where we are headed in the future and to use the knowledge and information learned form stories. A fictional story might be a “fake” story, but can have much meaning and can teach lessons that can be applied to our present lives. In the enlightenment period people were curious and asking questions in order to educate themselves and absorb knowledge that was unfamiliar to them. Fictional stories can relate to the enlightenment period because people want to hear and read about a world that is unknown to them.