More to the Story
Backstory matters because it helps us better understand the present situation in fiction and nonfiction
Welcome to From the Teacher’s Desk, where we take turns further reflecting on our episodes and applications to the classroom.
I have always loved a good backstory.
A good story can keep me engaged by peeling back the layers. I don’t want to know everything from the very beginning. I want to do some work trying to figure out why someone is acting a certain way. I like the little hints along the way that help me put together pieces of the puzzle before most of the remaining pieces get dumped on the table. I like little surprises.
Perhaps that is why I loved Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when I was a kid. Or why I was so excited to see Revenge of the Sith. Or why I enjoyed the flashback/flashforward nature of Yellowjackets. Or why I couldn’t wait to talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on the podcast.
Why Does Backstory Matter?
Context. Everything is about context. As a history and English major, I’m always pointing out to students why the context of the text they are studying matters. Yes, Dracula is a novel about a vampire and the basis for much of our vampire myth, but to understand the story of those who defeat him in the novel, readers must understand the history of the Victorian era. Yes, The Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys gone wild on a deserted island, but understanding the culture of all-boys schools in the mid-20th century helps us better grasp the power dynamics of the main characters.
And when we can get the backstory of our main characters, it gives them depth and dimension that cannot be there in the present.
So how can we teach our students about backstory?
Consider Alternative Tellings
There were a lot of reasons for talking about Rosaline on the podcast, but one big reason was the chance to look at a little-discussed character from Romeo and Juliet and see how she would tell the story. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs helps explain why the wolf was huffing and puffing. Wicked explains the complexities of the relationship between the Wicked Witch of the East and the Good Witch of the North.
Alternative stories don’t just give us different perspectives, they give us a reason for why things are happening in the present in our stories. We covered this in our discussion of Wednesday when we looked at the long history of the Addams family. Backstory is not always necessary to understanding the plot, but it can be absolutely necessary to understanding the motivation for the plot, and alternative tellings can help open those doors.
Let students write their own backstory
Challenge students to see their own personal narrative as a backstory to where they are now. Consider looking at books like American Born Chinese as an example for how backstory can matter to the here and now.
You can also show students how their personal experiences inform the way they see the present. One of my favorite writing assignments has always been an argumentative narrative (the whole unit can be found here). I have the students write about an event that changed the way they see some kind of issue and argue for why that issue matters now. It helps to teach them about narrative writing and gives their narrative a bigger purpose than just telling a fun story. It helps them discover how a single event (or series of events) shaped them into the person that they are today. That’s what backstory does. It helps us to better understand characters and the argumentative narrative helps them to see that reality in themselves.
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Thanks. Working on a non- fiction item that has several backstories.
Also, read "Lord of the Flies" while attending such an English all-boys school for sadists. The truth that we were the backstory of the novel remained hidden in plain sight.
See also Lindsay Anderson's "if..."