In the article “Life Stories” by Julie Beck, she mentioned many different aspects that play a role in the way that we tell our personal stories and how the way that we tell stories to change as we get older. One of the notable assertions that Beck stated in her article was that she mentioned: “not only are there individual differences in how people think of their stories, there’s huge variation in the degree to which they engage in storytelling in the first place”. This quote stood out to me because I was able to create a connection to myself. It reminded me of how my friend and I share stories with each other and how the way she tells the stories that we both experienced is different from the way that I tell them. Another quote that I found interesting in her article was when she stated, “the way that people recount experiences to others seems to shape the way they end up remembering those events”. This reminded me of the idea of how people could experience an event in their lives but then recount that experience with incorrect facts, which Beck mentioned later in the article. This idea is interesting because like I mentioned before, when my friend and I retell each other stories from high school, we sometimes notice that one person remembers the story including different facts than what actually occurred. The last quote that caught my eye was when Beck mentioned how in Alder and Pasupathi’s studies how “people need to see themselves as actors to a certain degree…other people play a big role in shaping life stories”. I liked how Beck combined the two studies to come to the conclusion that other people also play a big role in an individual’s life story. I reacted as a believer to this quote because an individual’s life is influenced more by their relationships with others and isn’t just based on the individual’s own decisions.
I loved how you formed your paragraphs in this blog! Also, the first quote that you mentioned from Beck’s article about variation between people’s stories really stood out to me as well. I loved ow you incorporated your personal stories too! Great Job!
Your personal connection to your friends in the begging of your post is very effective in explaining the quote and what the author was trying to say about how stories are everywhere. All of the personal connections you made to the text help so much with your summery. I am very impressed by it because I had a lot of difficulty relating myself to the article, but after reading your explanation, I have a better understanding of what the quote and the article meant in the first place. I feel now, after reading this, I could’ve also made more personal connections. Very well done.
Excellent. I love reading your peers’ comments, as it seems your reflection benefited them. I also enjoyed reading you consistently relate Beck’s quotes back to your experience with your friend. I’m always so interested to listen to my family and friends recount experiences we’ve had together. Without fail, they will highlight things that I had missed and/or flourish details I would not. Sometimes hearing someone else retell an experience will reshape my own memories of that experience! Sharing stories can be so powerful, no?