Galen Strawson writes “I am not a Story” all about how narrative isn’t a life story. Life is bits and pieces and messy. It is not meant to be written as a story. Not everyone can sit down and write their life story from beginning to end because for them it’s just not possible. The first time I read through this passage, I thought Strawson was crazy, I didn’t understand how he didn’t think the narrative was unimportant and how it was not the truest version of yourself. The second time through the article, however, I began to understand more of what he was saying. If we are living our lives with the intention of making a good story or for reasons other than ourselves, we are not truly living our life as real as we should. We become actors in our own life. We fabricate our life, make it seem the best it can seem to others so they think we have a good life. But on the other hand, how do we know our true self? Am I really my true self right now? I don’t know. I have different personalities and tendencies when I’m in different situations or people. My friends see a different side of me than my parents, my parents see a different side than my professors, the people closest to me see me different than a stranger I pass on the street. How can I know who is really my true self? Strawson doesn’t know how to wrap up all these selves into a whole being. The narrative is overall a good way to explore generally what your life story is and to share meaningful messages to others, but what exactly is the truth when we are sharing our narratives with others? Are we fooling ourselves in this process too? There are so many what-ifs and unknowns about the narrative that make it a hard thing to write your life story into.
Annotations:
Good, you point out the major points that Strawson makes. I too did not understand how he could think this when I began reading this paper. The questions you pose at the end of this blog are great and could definitely be built off in an essay to form an abstract argument.
I totally agree with you, when I first ready Strawson’s essay I thought he was crazy too but once I started to read over his ideas over again I started to see his point of view, on how when you are in your different roles such as a student, daughter, and friend all see you from a different point of view. Although, unlike Strawson, through all those roles I still see myself as one whole person. Strawson, on the other hand, thinks through all these roles, someone else takes over.
I love that you’ve already read this challenging essay twice. Kudos to you! 🙂