Monday, July 6, 2020

My Creative Thinking for the Story Telling Process - 1925 Words

The Art of Storytelling: My Creative Thinking for the Story Telling Process (Essay Sample) Content: The Indian Tarot ReaderName:Course Title:Instructor:Institution:Date:The Art of StorytellingStory telling is an artistic form of expression that unifies the storyteller with the audience in a cultural paradigm (Walsh, 2014). It is a unique form of expression due to the creativity, artistry and stylistics that are employed in its delivery. All these aspects contribute to its overall aesthetic value as an art form (Walsh, 2014). The cultural setting of the story is used by both the story teller and the audience to interpret events in the story. These settings include gender roles, values, norms, beliefs and customs (Walsh, 2014). In the story of the Tarot reader presented below, the practice of Tarot reading is deeply entrenched in Indian culture and is thus understood both by the story teller and the audience. The active audience technique is also not an art introduced by the story teller, but is part of the established culture of storytelling (Walsh, 2014). It require s the audience to participate in telling the story rather than just listen passively. In each story lies a moral, which is meant to influence the listeners interpretation of the world around them. Consequently, the narrator is a teacher who helps to shape or change the world (Walsh, 2014).My Creative Thinking for the Story Telling ProcessI had every intention of presenting the story of the Tarot Reader to my audience in best possible manner. The story had to be told within the context of my Indian cultural background. To capture this it is crucial to incorporate the use of appropriate costume, props and presentation techniques (Walsh, 2014). Secondly, the story had to be told in the most captivating manner possible. The literary devices I use for this purpose were symbolism, imagery, humor, repetition, song and refrain. All these are integral parts of the Indian storytelling tradition. There was a wide choice of Indian clothing to choose from, since India has a long established, uni que dressing tradition. So that did not present any problem. The main props were the cards, table and a chair. In the performance, the cards symbolized the Tarot readers trickery, humor was captured through the words of the Tarot reader, and those of his tricky customer. The twisting of the song by the customer also creates some humor. Both the song and refrain Tic Tac are used to enhance audience participation. The story passes the moral that trickery is short-lived. A simple diagram of the presentation plan is shown below.07620Elements of presentationCostume and propsStylistic devicesSong and refrainGestures and movementElements of presentationCostume and propsStylistic devicesSong and refrainGestures and movementAbout the Story of the Tarot ReaderIn expressing my own personal and cultural identity, I would like to tell an original story based on the ancient and contemporary practice on tarot reading in India. Tarot reading refers to the act of divination using a pack of playing c ards (Parlett, 1990). Each card dealt to the person always reveals something about the future. The practice can be traced to ancient Egypt but is still popular today in parts of the world including India (Parlett, 1990). Through the craft of story-telling, I create a dramatic acted monologue that artistically captures this Indian practice. The monologue is spiced with action and literary aesthetics that make it appealing for performance before an audience. My own reactions and those of others to this presentation are then discussed at the tail end of this paper. It shall be a five minute monologue presented in a style that is comical and satirical by the narrator. The moral of the tale is that persons should perhaps cast aspersions on their belief in tarot reading.The Indian Tarot Reader[The stage is set with paintings of different tarot cards in the background. At the center is the Fool card. Set directly in front of this card at center stage is a table with a chair directly behind it, such that the chair faces stage left to give a profile view of the occupant. There is soft Indian music coming from the background at the beginning of the action.The Narrator comes in and takes his seat behind the table. He supports himself using a long staff, which he sets down under the table as he sits].Narrator:[Sighs. Turns head sharply to look at the Audience]. When I say tic you answer tac. Tic!..Tic!..There was once a man in Bangalore India. He was a Tarot reader. You know what a Tarot reader is? [Pause]. Right, a tarot reader is someone who foretells the future by reading cards. At the beginning of his work every day the Tarot reader would say:Look at this. The cards say that someone will die today [Showing the Death Card]. Definitely not me, since I do not read my own fate in the cards. If I did, I would have died a long time ago. You cannot imagine how many times I pull out the death while I am alone. Never for a client though, never. [Pause as he resets the card on top of the pack.]Tic! .. Tic!...... One day a rich man came to consult him. The good client did him a favor of knocking the door first. This gave him time to put away the death card from the pack. He muttered to himself: I will quickly hide this. It is not a good thing to pull out a death card for a client. No one wants clients who think they are going to die. If they think they are going to die, they are not going to pay. Moreover, they ask other clients not to come, that I have become useless and my predictions are all wrong. People dont want to die, so they do not want to hear that they are going to die. [Picks out the death card and thrusts it into his pocket.]Tic!.......Tic!........ Then he was ready to welcome the client. He had his own way of welcoming his clients, now that he was a future forecaster and not just an ordinary jock on the street. He did this using a short song. You know that old American slave song Kumbaya my lord Kumbaya. Great, it is the same song he used but he sung, Come right in my guest come right in.Lets sing that together. Come right in my guest come right in, come right in my guestCome right in Oh guest, come right in.Of course occasionally he sung, Come right in you fool, come right in. But he made sure the guest did not here the fool part. In fact, he quickly picked out the fool card and tucked it away even as he sung for the guest.Come right in my guest come right inOh guest come right in. Come right in you fool ..Oh fool come right in.Tic!....... Tic!......... At last the guest came in and he waved him to a chair. The cards are asking, what brings you here today? he asked the guest. As the guest tried to answer he said, No no! Do not answer, only the cards know the answer to that question. You just put 5,000 rupees in the pot under the table.The guest put in the money as instructed, then slowly sat up again. The Tarot reader said, The cards say you want to know your future of course, the future of your business to be precise , right!Right, responded the guest.The Tarot reader picked up the cards and closed his eyes as if in deep meditation. He slowly picked out a card from the middle of the pack and showed it to the client. Which card is it? he asked the client with a voice that suggested he was still in deep meditation.The King of Diamonds, responded the client triumphantly.Aha! There it is, shouted the tarot reader in excitement. There you are. You are going to be a most fortunate man in the future. Your wealth is going to multiply to the maximum. You are going to be a rich man!But I am already rich, quipped the client.Oh! cried the Tarot reader, You think you are already rich. Hahaha! You havent seen nothing yet. You w...