Janey Bucy
Mrs. Cavotta
Literature, Period 3rd
January 13, 2014

In Salman Rushdie's excellent book Haroun and the Sea of Stories, there's a striking scene near the beginning where Haroun, the child of a famous storyteller, confronts his father by repeating a line that was previously parroted by a narrow-minded neighbour:
What's the use of stories that aren't even true?
Haroun spends much of the story (which I gather might be imagined rather than true) making up for this mistake, through fantastic adventures in a universe where two factions are at war: those who tell stories, and those who want all stories to end and silence to reign.
For this is where fiction is so much better: at the telling not of factual truths that anyone can observe, but of greater Truths about life, about what it means, what it's about, how to live it, how to enjoy it and be happy and find a purpose. To observe these Truths, one needs very good eyes indeed, and telling them directly is almost impossible. Instead, a great author must tell a story that illustrates the Truth that they experienced and observed. If they do it extremely well, it becomes a kind of distilled life experience that the reader assimilates and which changes their understanding of life in subtle and important ways.
The plot concerns a boy who all but curses his father in a moment of despair by saying, cynically, ''What's the use of stories that aren't even true?'' As a consequence, the father becomes heartbroken, and loses his storytelling mojo. Haroun then embarks on a fantastic adventure to save the enchanted ''Ocean of the Steam of Story'' from villains who would corrupt it. By taking that journey and saving that enchanted place, Haroun restores his father's life and power by giving him the tale of his own adventure, which, when told, rouses a hopeless town to rebel against exploitive, oppressive forces. Fictional stories have been part of the human civilization since the beginning of time. Fictional stories play a huge role in many different cultures; it is a practice that goes back the human history. Ever since childhood we have been told stories through story books, picture, books, music, even the bible. Most of the time the characters, in story books, take the form of animals or inanimate objects. These stories are meant to entertain, influence, teach or even scare us. As children, these stories used to fascinate us and adults used it as a way to discourage us from deviant behaviors.
When I was younger one of the folklore that used to be popular in my home country (Ghana) was “Anansesem” it simply means “spider tales”. It was a set of stories or fables about a trickster spider called Kwaku Ananse. Even though he is a spider, he appears like a man. In most of the stories, he tries to trick people for his own gain but his plans always backfires, mainly due to his own conceit, and when they do, he turns back into a spider and scurries up into the corner of a wall in shame. The adults usually told us these ananse stories to discourage us from doing stealing or lying etc. The stories were also a good way for us to socialize. All the kids in the area would come and sit around the adult telling the story; food will be made and passed around. After the stories, we will just be quiet in amazement or in fear, and then we will all run home because we don’t want Kwaku Anase to catch us and try to trick us. (Sometimes I blame this for my fear of spiders)
As we grow older the fictional stories we hear or read become less “storybook like” and more realistic but they basically still do the same thing, except in a more subtle way. We still get to escape from our own lives and get lost in the world the author weaves. Stories connect us together in a way, so everyone who has read or heard the same story feels a sense of...

Work Cited
Rushdie, Salman. Haroun and the Sea of stories. New York: Penguin Books, 1990. Print.