I took a literary criticism course in the
2014-2015 school year, and there is one literary technique that has always
confused me: in media res. It means starting in the middle of the story.
Aside from books like “Twilight” that
literally start at the end of the story and then tell the story from the
beginning for the next 400 pages, the term in media res is just confusing to
me.
Even in books like “Twilight,” it’s still
confusing. Was Bella Swan dropped on her head as a child? Did she have a life
before falling in love with Edward? Did she have a life even after technically
dying? So many unanswered questions!
All facetiousness aside, what defines “the
beginning?” Look at just about any story, and you’ll find that you need at
least some background for everything. You can start with the birth of the
princess in the fairy tale, and you know what? You still need back story. After
all, why did the wicked fairy curse the princess? There is history that you
need to know (or sometimes just want to know).
In other words, unless you are talking about
a Creation story, there is some background. Every story starts in media res.
The Bible is a good example of this. Even
though there are a lot of stories and a lot of chapters, the continued focus on
genealogy is significant. We can get so wrapped up in the stories that it’s a
bit disappointing to take a break to go to what seems like endless lists of
fathers, sons and everyone in between.
What is all too easy to forget, though, is
that those chapters of genealogy are there to remind readers of their history.
Not a single story in the Bible is meant to be taken in isolation. You can’t
understand the story of Daniel or Ruth or Elijah or Moses or Jesus or even the
Pharisees without knowing and understanding the backstory that stretches back
to the Creation and the Fall and the Flood. That’s their story.
That’s what makes Jesus’ birth so shocking,
actually — because the genealogy was broken. After all those hundreds of names
of fathers and sons (and sometimes daughters), the genealogy was forged anew.
But there is cultural and family history
there. Every story begins in media res except for the first chapter of Genesis.
How do you have backstory when there is
none? You can’t.
But there is backstory to every other story.
What does that mean for people here and now?
It reminds us that we have a history. It means we are in the middle of a story
involving ourselves, our children, our parents, our grandparents and everyone
else we are related to or have come in contact with.
This doesn’t exclude adopted children; on
the contrary, if you are adopted, you have been adopted into the history and
family of those who have adopted you. You have a biological heritage, but you
also have a new familial heritage.
For those who wish to cast aside their
history and start anew, this doesn’t destroy your hopes — but I would venture
to guess that most people do not want to lose everything.
If you could, would you give up your past,
your memories, your family, your friends, your education?
Like it or not, some of that is what has
made you who you are. There is nothing to say that you cannot rise above
terrible things in your past and build a
richer, more stable and more meaningful life than you have or you have seen. Of
course you can — absolutely you can. However, your experiences may help you
grow in wisdom. You just have to be willing to learn from your experiences.
As I write this, I can’t help but remember
movies like “The Bourne Identity,” in which an ex-CIA agent and assassin loses
his memory but struggles to rediscover his past. He has the ultimate chance to
start over, but even after that baptismal opening scene, he still wants and
needs to know who he was.
The same thing goes for Victor Hugo’s “Les
Miserables,” in which ex-convict Jean Valjean also struggles to create a new
life and identity for himself. Even his new identity is molded by his past.
That’s the thing that most of us have
forgotten, I think — or it’s downplayed more and more, especially in modern
media. Fewer people know (or care to know) their heritage, and few know not
only their family history but their country’s history and their ideological
history.
There’s background behind each historical
movement, each institution, and in the modern world, but the gut instinct seems
to be to throw old institutions away in favor of the new without understanding
the history and the meaning and the purpose behind those old institutions.
So we need to use our own in media res
origins to learn, grow and build a future, both for ourselves and for those
around us. More importantly, though, we should strive to understand what it is
that we wish to change in the world before we seek to change it.
We
must have foresight, but why cast aside hindsight as well?
