Oral Storytelling and Speeches

When I first started Native American Literature's and Cultures class, I was extremely nervous about the prospect of giving several speeches throughout the semester. My mind in denial, I couldn't see the need to give speeches. I'm an English major, give me pen and paper and I'll write you as much as you want on any subject. But public speaking is definitely not my medium. However, as the semester has progressed, I've discovered something new about giving speeches. In Native American cultures, much of their story telling exists orally. They may write some things down, but when it's written, there's always the idea that it will freeze, and resist change, eventually losing its relevancy and fading out. At first I found this hard to believe. It seems that it would be easier to lose something that is only committed to a few people's memories. But maybe this isn't so. In the Medieval era, most storytelling was oral across the cultures. When the first stories were written down, there was also a plethora of stories circling around their new found fragility. When we write a story down, we allow our memories so ease and thus we retain less of the story line and words. It isn't necessary to memorize a story if you can just pick it up and review it when needed. But many manuscripts from this time have been lost to termites, fire, and other sorts of destruction. So while we depend so strongly on written storytelling, there seems to be a number of ways to lose it.

In relation to speeches, this made me think for a minute. I love to write. It's my best form of communication and the most enjoyable. But perhaps there is something important to learn from speaking out loud. On the paper, words are just words. They hold no body language or connotation, they leave a lot of the tone up to the reader. This, however, is not always ideal. While I hope that my stories can apply to a number of different people and inspire the minds of those from all different walks of life, there things that are just never meant to be altered. Though I'm scared to death to get in front of the class and talk, I can see that it relates in an important way to the different modes of storytelling. I'm still telling my story, but this time so that the audience can also see and hear what I feel and mean behind each little word and expression. It's really rather more exciting to look at it this way... and a little less nerve racking.