Shoukr, Ahmed

English 1A
Narrative: how it can make or break the world
In Its time for class: toward a more complex pedagogy of narrative, Amy E. Robillard
recounts her personal experiences, focusing on her childhood, growing up with her four siblings
and a single mother who had an obsession with time. She uses a variety of rhetorical tools to
promote the merits of narrative in academic writing including giving people a strong moral and
ethical foundation that can help them adapt and work hard towards in their lives. The merits of
the effectiveness of merit can be seen in Mountains Beyond Mountains, where Farmers narrative
allows him to work tirelessly with no compensation. On the contrary, it is evident that the lack of
narrative of the Haitians hinders their ability to adapt when their simplistic, and supernatural
view of world events is challenged.
Robillard believes that the narrative is more complex than recalling a set of facts about
ones past. Instead, narrative is dependent on an individuals analysis and interpretation of their
past experiences which makes it different from person to person. She claims that the point [of
writing about ones narrative] lies in interpretation. We understand our present by interpreting
our past, analyzing its details and selecting the plot line (84). Robillard supports her statement
by using her own past to show how ones narrative can vary based on which stories they choose
to tell in order to arrive at a certain interpretation of their present and future. Specifically,
Robillard explains how she could tell the story focusing on the fact that [her] mom was home
when [she] came home from school every day, that [she] went to school with a full belly every
day, that [she] never went without clothes or shoes (83). Conversely, Robillard explains how she
could also tell the story of how her mom was asleep in front of the television. The oatmeal she

had filled [her] belly with was bought on credit at the store and on Wednesday and Sunday
nights the one-family house was filled with the sounds of [her] screams as [her] sister beat [her]
(83). Without question, the practice of telling ones past is an art in itself because it requires
piecing together specific events and experiences to make a claim based on your perspective of
life.
Telling a narrative is a way for a person to interpret their past and learn how those
experiences influence the development of their values and morals. Farmer, a doctor who spent
most of the year volunteering in Haiti to ensure that the poor there could have more access to
medical care at the very least, embodies Robillards point in Mountains Beyond Mountains as he
discusses his past to Kidder, a journalist who wants to learn more about what Farmer does and
what motivates him to work hard for little compensation. He explains that his narrative can be
told in two ways where one is full of happiness and cool experiences while the other shows the
reality of the financial hardships he faced with his family.
The way I tell myself the story is a little too neat. Id like to be able to say that when I
was young I lived in a trailer park, picked fruit with Haitians, got interested in migrant
farmworkers and went to Latin America. All true, but not the truth. Were asked to tidy
biographies that are coherent. Everyone does that. But the fact is, a perfectly discrepant
version has the same ending (54).
This version of Farmers background tells a story of a wonderful childhood where he had the
choice to do whatever he wanted including travel and participate in many creative activities most
children do not have the luxury to experience. However, the second version reveals a different
perspective. Farmer lived in a trailer park that was infested with cockroaches at night. He had to

put pots and pans beneath the leaks in the cabins roof (53) when it rained, pick fruit with the
Haitians because of his familys extremely unstable financial situation, and venture with his
whole family on a boat to get fish. Even though Farmer can tell a story of an adventurous
childhood that was full of happiness and prepared him for the work he does in Haiti in the
present because of how much he traveled then and how much he travels now, he can also tell the
story of how his family lived in harsh poverty where it was hardly clear what their future held.
This different, but also true narrative can justify another part of his present such as why he cares
deeply for people that live in poverty. Therefore, Farmer understands that his past, as well as
present, could be told and interpreted the way the interpreter wants.
Kidder, the journalist, tries to ask Farmer questions about his past in order to try to
understand his motivation for working hard without any compensation and Farmer gives him his
version of his past that he believes is the reason for his work. Kidder believed that it was
impossible to spend any time with Farmer and not wonder how he happened to choose his life
(57). The reason being was because the storyteller, which in this case is Farmer, has the power to
present his or her story to their liking. Therefore, Farmer could present his life in a variety of
ways, with one narrative not necessarily being more true than another.
In addition, Robillard claims the same experience can lead different people to different
paths as narrative depends on interpretation of those past events as well. For example,
Robillards mom always forced Robillard and her sister to be on time for everything as children,
and therefore Robillard is always on time as an adult for everything including her job,
appointments, etc. On the contrary, Robillards mother believes her sisters chronic tardiness to
everything will make her late for her own funeral (75). Therefore, Robillard believes narrative
is indefinite because it depends heavily on the stories chosen, interpretation of the stories, and

analysis of how they relate to the present and future. This allows the reader to look into Farmers
past differently and understand that while he tells his story in a way to show why he works
tirelessly as a doctor in Haiti, there are many other routes he couldve taken as a result of those
experiences and many others he chose not to talk about even if they were also significant. For
example, Farmer discusses his time back in college when he joined a fraternity and was pretty
taken by it, by wealth nearly takin in (55). Therefore, Farmer could have chosen to live a rich
lifestyle after meeting many other classmates who come from rich backgrounds and not care
much for helping the poor the way he eventually does. He made the choice of how to react to his
experience and after drawing his narrative, Farmer is able to have a lot of motivation in his work.
When Kidder, asks Farmer why he works so hard, Farmer replies, I feel ambivalent
about selling my services in a world where some cant buy them. You can feel ambivalent about
that, because you should feel ambivalent (24). Furthermore, even though Farmer is a highly
successful physician in Boston, his bookkeeper told him, Honey, you are the hardest-workin
broke man I know (23). Thus, Farmer is motivated to work extremely hard even though he is
losing money because he has effectively drawn his narrative, understands his purpose, and
derives his inner motivation from it. To further illustrate the breadth of Farmers motivation, we
can look at Farmers continued efforts despite many of his patients being a lost. For example,
Farmer is able to help Larzus, a person with AIDS and TB go from 90 to 150 pounds. In
addition, he is able to save a girl whose father had been saving up for a coffin for her just a few
months prior. Farmer does not give up when many of his patients die or they come to him with
diseases that have taken their toll and are untreatable. Neither does he give up when the military
takes back control of Haiti after a man he endorsed was democratically elected. When Farmer is
asked by one of his coworkers in Haiti who questions why he is working hard on hopeless cases,

he replies, the objective is to inculcate in the doctors and nurses the spirit to dedicate
themselves to the patients in other words, Fuck you (42). Regardless of his chances of
success, Farmer is truly motivated to work with every patient he encounters in Haiti and learn as
much as he can about the complexity of the world from medicine to political issues outside the
United States. On the other hand, the lack of narrative can be detrimental to a persons
motivation to do work as well as their hunger to learn more about the complexity of the world.
The less an individual or a society as a whole has a sense of narrative, the more likely
they will try to find ways to simplify the world around them because they do not have to recall
and analyze their past to understand to how their place in the world changes as their surroundings
change. Robillard argues this desire for closure is a characteristic of a working-class filled
with uncertainty and instability (90). To further prove this need to simplify ones surroundings,
Robillard uses Pat Belanoff when describes that in his writing, he learned to turn away from
complicating issuesparticularly issues which reared their unwantedness unbidden, when [he]
had almost finished a project. [He] didnt want [his] texts so messed up by things [he] couldnt
include seamlessly (90). Often, people are not open to new complex ideas because they
challenge the closure they have in their view of the world. However, those that have time to
construct their narrative, usually coming from the more well-off class, can absorb complex ideas
because they understand that they only have to use the parts from these complex ideas that can
help them, while acknowledging the rest as simply true or useful but not in their personal lives.
To give a real life example, I want to be successful in my endeavors and in the Silicon Valley
there are always events and opportunities that I attend where I get to meet people that tell me
about their startups, success stories, and their character traits that they believe were essential to
those successes. However, I only take from those people things that I believe could apply to me

and I leave the rest because I dont need to live as someone else does to have their success. The
world is so complex that there is not one way of living that is right or wrong and differences in
character often lead to more diversity and creativity. This shows how at least attempting to
construct a narrative can help a person absorb complex ideas whereas not having a narrative
leads people to stay away from complex ideas and accept the simplest explanations for their
surroundings, even explanations in the supernatural realm. Through Robillards lens of how
narrative serves those who have it or consistently work on it, we can understand why Haitians,
who mostly are preoccupied with survival because of their extreme poverty, often look for
supernatural, simple explanations of their surroundings. Kidder describes the Haitians belief in
Voodoo, or magic, to explain many causes around them so they do not have to look for complex
explanations. He describes, that is, not every peasant practiced the indigenous religion called
Voodoo, but virtually everyonebelieved in the reality of maji, of sorcery. For many people
around Cange believed that Farmer, like all good Voodoo priests, knew how to contend with
maji (28). In addition, many Peasants tell Farmer they believe he has a gift of healing, godly
powers and so on. Many large institutions such as world religions and nations attempt to simplify
the world to their people, since the masses usually do not build narrative. In Islam, there is a
belief of hasad, which means when something bad happens to someone, it could be attributed to
anothers envy for something they have that caused them to be cursed. Likewise, the Greeks also
have the evil eye object which is meant to ward off any curse from others. Evidently, the need for
closure is usually for the masses since most people live in poverty and that is especially evident
in Haiti. In addition, this need for closure can be very counterproductive when failure or changes
in the environment challenge the peoples simplistic view of the world around them.
Robillard discusses how Richard Sennett, author of Hidden Injuries of Class and The

Corrosion of Character explains The conditions of time in the new capitalism have created a
conflict between character and experience, the experience of disjointed time threatening the
ability of people to form their character in sustained narratives (76). In an increasingly
capitalistic world, students often find a discrepancy between their ethics and beliefs and the
actions they have to take in order to survive and make money. Robillard argues that by
consistently leaving narrative out of academic writing, we will continue to marginalize the
possibilities for working-class students to develop an understanding of why things happen, their
consequences, their material results in the present (76). Clearly, academics harms students when
it denies them the ability to write about their narratives in todays increasingly complex, material
world because they lack a clear understanding of their own values. The problem presented by the
lack of a clear narrative to students can be applied to the Haitian population described by Farmer
as a whole that clearly has a large lack of narrative because of the poor quality of living that
forces most people to struggle just for survival. In fact, Haiti has a 25% mortality rate for people
under age 40, has been abused by military dictatorships and misrule for decades, and has been
occupied by foreign countries such as the US from 1915-1935 even though they had a promising
future being the first black nation that even Napoleon could not suppress. When Haitians are
struggling to survive, they will not have any time or capacity to draft any narratives to help
explain why things happen, their consequences, their material results in the present (76) as
Robillard argues. Therefore, they will lack values and ethics that relate to their world and help
motivate them to work hard and improve or compete in the new world economy. Similarly, many
countries in poverty around the world today are suffering without any sign of progress because
the people are often looking for simple explanations for their suffering without any realistic
effort at constructing a narrative that can help them make a better future for themselves. This

makes them susceptible to negative ideologies and movements that develop to fill the gap created
by lack of narrative for those individuals and understanding of their place in the world. Thus,
Robillard is correct when she claims that there are different ways of conceiving of time and that
these ways of conceiving of time are class-based (75). Consequently, Farmers need for
devotion to helping reduce poverty allows the poor to have the chance to eventually create their
own narratives that help them become successful and reduce world suffering.
In conclusion, Robillards discussion of narrative speaks to a higher degree of learning
that must be acknowledged by institutions in order to help their students become more whole and
help them survive in todays world. Clearly, when Farmer was able to craft his narrative, he was
able to derive motivation from it that allowed him to do great work even if he received very little
material compensation for it. Furthermore, narrative could be applied to large institutions to
show how poverty and turmoil often come hand in hand because negative ideologies tend to
thrive where they fill the gap in places where older, simpler narratives were challenged.
Narrative can give morals, ethics, motivation, and diversity in society and that is why education
is extremely key to helping end poverty and turmoil around the world. The more individualistic
narrative is, the better it can adapt and the less likely people will follow negative ideologies such
as those that simply create an enemy and play on peoples fears. The inquiry can be left open
here to a lot more research on how narrative can be written, how it affects not only individuals,
but also mass movements and organizations, and how leaders have used this to make history as
long as it is understood that narrative is anything but a simple recalling of events.

Works Cited
Kidder, Tracy. Mountains beyond Mountains. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.
Robillard, Amy E. Its Time for Class: Toward a More Complex Pedagogy of Narrative.
College English 66th ed., sec. 1. Print.