Every story has something to say and every story conveys a message to
the reader, whether it’s something about the world in general, or about the
human condition, and the kind of issues that relate to all of us. These are all
relayed through the characters that inhabit the story.
Any intended message can be overt, subtle or implied.The moral of a story is not to be confused with the author’s personal thoughts and feelings, because as a rule, an author should never personally intrude a story. Instead, morals are the products of our observations and the issues that impact all of us, and how we can learn and grow from them.
Think of the snippets of wisdom given to you by your parents or grandparents
– these are the basis of various morals adapted by society and used for
generations. Our lives are dictated by morality, and fiction is no different.
Even from the dawn of time, storytellers have included morals in their
tales; they all want to give us a message of some sort, whether that message is
about love or kindness, bravery, courage, loyalty or trust, behaving in the
right way or learning from one’s mistakes etc.
Even the most basic stories have something to tell us, but, contrary to
belief, constructing a story with a moral template isn’t as complicated as it
sounds. Writers, on the whole, tend to make it complicated when there is no
need to.
So how it is done? How do you
convey that important moral message?
To begin with, every writer needs to thoroughly understand the kind
of story they’re writing because from that basis, the heart of the story and
its central themes, and the character’s personal journey, form the moral(s) of
the story.
For example, if you have a story about betrayal or revenge, you may have
a character that eventually comes to realise that, in the end, forgiveness is
better than vengeance because although revenge might feel satisfactory in the
short term, it doesn’t alter the situation in the long run. The moral of the
story, therefore, is that forgiveness is better than vengeance.
Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ has many strong moral threads, particularly the
injustice of slavery for the main character, by having a different coloured
skin, and his struggle to become a free man in a land of white people. The morals here are that skin colour makes no difference;
no man is master above another because we are all born equal and it is wrong to
prejudge someone.
Think about other stories. To
Kill a Mockingbird also explores racism and prejudice.
Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is a moral story about the
brutality of and pointlessness of war. It’s a simple message.
Throughout history, writers and poets have used morality within their
tales. There are countless morals to
ponder in Aesop’s fables, while Homer’s Odyssey is littered with moralistic
dilemmas for Odysseus to overcome and learn from.
Probably the most famous examples of any moralistic stories can be found
in the Bible and Koran. Many of the tales involve people who embark on a
journey and learn something about themselves and the world around them so that
they may become better people.
Your main character’s story involves a personal journey. By the end of
that journey they will have changed in some way, they will have learned about
themselves, and so their behaviour will change too. All this is interwoven with the central themes
of the story, be them love, hate, revenge, jealousy, murder etc, to form the
moral thread.
As you write your story, you will see how such morals are formed by what
happens to your characters and how they go about achieving their set goals. Sometimes we have firm ideas about the morals
we want in our stories, while other times they naturally emerge as the story is
written.
The strength of voice as the writer also plays an important role in how
effective the moral thread is with the reader.
As already mentioned, such threads can be subtle, implied or even hidden
within the story. These are far more
preferable for a reader than having it shoved in their faces at every available
opportunity. Don’t preach to your reader,
but rather enlighten them. Readers like to figure out things for themselves –
it’s one of the things that make reading a well written book so enjoyable.
Don’t get too caught up in trying to invent morals for the story because
you think the story must have one. Often, the message emerges naturally as you
write the story. And of course all that
depends on the quality of the writing; the strength of the characters and the
situations that evoke emotion and empathy, the kind of journey they undertake,
the various themes running through the story, and of course the strength of the
author’s voice. Your character must
change by the end of the story/novel, and having shared the journey, the reader
will too.
So, does there have to be a moral to every story? The answer is that every
story has something to say.
Next week: Suspending disbelief for your reader