God said Let there be narration

I am half way through reading the essay "Narrative," by J. Hillis Miller and though I admit that the very thought of reading essays bores me, I find this one quite interesting. Not only is the topic entertaining, but the actually writing is comprehendable, therefore really allowing me to get into the essay and be influenced by the authors valid points.
Miller discussing how simple narration has so much leverage in shaping humanity. Miller has a strong belief that withought narratives, humun culture would not excist; "Surely there is no human culture, however 'primitive,' without its stories and habits of storytelling." The ability to narrate shows that we have "advanced language competence." Through the stories that we tell, out intellect can be measured. I think that Miller's theories are so extreme that they seem arguable, however I have a hard time disagreeing with them. The one point he made that really made me ponder was "We would not know we were in love if we had not read novels." The fact that love was created and introduced to humans through novels is just mind boggeling. I do agree that withought a word for love, it would not exist, therefore narration was the primitive beginning of the passionate emotion. However, I cannot bring myself to believe that we needed a novel to explain to us what it felt like to be fully consumed by the feeling of love.
Miller asked himself three big question: Why do we need stories at all? Why do we need the "same" story over and over? and why do we always need more stories? These questions a quite legitamite and his answers are quite facinating. We need stories because they shape us. This makes me wonder if someone read only horror stories, and another read only romances, how differently would their personalities be? The stories we read define us, so is a person who reads narratives daily and challenges their own intellect much more complete than one who reads rarely? We read the same stories over and over because each time, it reassures us of what we remember from reading it the first time. I know that when I read something more than once, I pick up on something new each time. We are never satisfied with a story, thats why we keep reading more and more. I loved how Miller explained that through narratives, we experience so much withought the consequences we would face in real life. How true that statement is. Reading a narrative is an escape from reality, so it seems, but at the same time, it is actually defining our reality.
Narration makes the world the way it is. Perhaps it created love, it also has been accused of starting wars. It not only reveals secrets of life to us, but it actually creates the life and culture that we know and experience today. I would be very afraid to live in a world without narratives, because through Miller's point of veiw, little would exist. I no longer think that a good narration is just for entertainment, but so much more than that.

chemsford.