The Epilogue of Suffering: Heroism, Empathy, Ethics

Prototypes, Feelings, and Stories

Just as we do not consider all birds equally good instances of birdness (contrast robins with ostriches), so too we do not consider all stories equally good instances of storiness. Someone’s account of buying a fuse is a perfectly legitimate story. But it is not so good an instance of a story as even the sappiest romance. If asked to produce paradigmatic cases of stories, or to judge which narratives we consider particularly exemplary, we are unlikely to choose stories about minor household repair. Moreover, this is not culture bound. Cross-culturally, the most common and standard stories concern such matters as two people falling in love, being separated, then being reunited. Stories such as this (not stories about house repair) are prototypical narratives, just as robins (not ostriches) are prototypical birds. One primary characteristic that serves to mark stories as prototypical is emotion. Our prototypical stories treat emotive issues and, when successful, engage our emotions as readers. Specifically, such narratives standardly involve a hero’s quest for happiness.