Us vs Them

Copyright Masaya. Source

Grouping occurs when similarities or differences are noted.

One study showed that people are more likely to go sit next to someone with the same haircolour as them if they come into a room full of people looking for a seat.

The human nervous system works by appraising things and then deciding if they are a threat or not (or at least, one theory suggests that).  When looking at something, you automatically categorise it as either the same as you or different.  First, human or not human.  If human, then it is categorised as either the same or different.  If you look at survival way back when, people different from you will probably be out to kill you, since they will likely be part of a different tribe.

There was a study done where a class of children were treated differently according to their eye colour.  The blue eyes were often rewarded while the rest were treated worse.  The children were under 10 years.  Very soon, the kids with the different coloured eyes formed a group and those with the blue eyes grouped and already formed a strong Us vs Them mindset.

Even children as young as that form groups according to circumstances.  There is a natural tendency to treat people who differ from you differently.  Ergo, the birth of racism.

In the end, there are two main things that can happen within a community if two different cultures are mixed together.  Either the minority will be consumed and converted by the majority, or the two cultures will essentially segregate and deal mainly with their own kind (okay, three, the two cultures can combine and form a new culture, which is probably the best solution).

How many times are you grouping every day?  How many times do you classify someone as part of “Us” or a part of “Them” without realising it?

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Uncovering Your Fossil

Stephen King says in his book, On Writing, that stories are fossils that must be uncovered.  For a more detailed explanation, buy his book (no, seriously, you should) but for now, just know that it means that the story is pre-existing and you are just revealing it (and finding it yourself).

What I really want to talk about here is symbolism and/or theme.  I think every person that went through high school got a plateful of it with every English class.  All the important stories seem to have symbolism and have some kind of great message to deliver.

One of the reasons that I’ve avoided a lot of classics is because of this.  I don’t like symbolism, I like story.  Symbolism is for smart people who take the time to study the book for months until they understand the underlying reason for every word the author put there.  Or so I thought.

I like King’s theory.  He says that symbolism, just like the rest, is in the fossil that is your story.  You just have to uncover it.  In other words, after you wrote the first draft, you’re likely to see a theme if you read it.  Things might stand out to you as symbolism.  If you like it, you can expand on those symbols and remove others.

What I’m trying to say is that I don’t want to sit and plot my story around the whims of some kind of symbol that I want to convey.  I want to tell a story.

So instead, I will uncover the fossil and see if there are any symbols to be found.  If so, I might refine them to focus my story a bit.  If not, that’s fine too.

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Crafting a Story : Theme

Theme is a rather new concept to me. It is sort of the story under the story. The general thought that underlines the entire story as a whole.

A theme is not always applicable (at least not a theme that encompasses the entire story), but since my story will run a rather singular storyline, I think it’ll work.

Henry kills someone. This is an isolated incident and killing people is hard both during and after. So he is bound to have some unresolved feelings about it. It is a giant blotch on his otherwise perfect life. He killed someone, but more importantly, he didn’t plan on it. He regrets doing it (but this will obviously be in conflict with the knowledge that he had saved Jasmine).

Jasmine agrees to act as a hostage for her boyfriend in his store robbing conquest. She comes from a poor background, so it isn’t such a huge transgression for her psyche. However, when Henry saves her, she sees that she can do better and probably regrets helping Irwin, or maybe even ever getting involved with his kind (interestingly, this will also be in conflict with another line of thought, being that she met Henry through the encounter). Maybe, as she starts her admiration for Henry, she realises how many opportunities she lost to rise to a higher class. She regrets many decisions.

Irwin, obviously, regrets that he got himself killed. Furthermore, when he sees Jasmine getting together with Henry, he may even regret ever getting mixed up with her. Maybe he even regrets his choices that led him to being a criminal. For interest’s sake, let’s say that there was an opportunity to kill Henry before the store incident (or maybe during, but before the shooting), but he had let Henry live. Therefore, he probably regrets letting Henry live.

Through a lot of things, regret seems to be a common theme. Regret for decisions made in the past.

Most probably, there will be other themes, but since this one is applicable for all three major characters, I’ll keep this one in mind while fleshing out the scenes.

Next week I’ll look at fleshing out Jasmine (and I’ll keep my theme in mind).

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