I listened to The Silence of The Lambs by Iain Reid because I just happened to watch that movie at 7:30am this morning with my Dad.
Iain pads through the chicken coop with his Father, who introduces Iain to the chickens, sheep, dogs, cats, and ducks he will babysit for the next week or so. Iain balks at the job of overseeing the expectant ewes ready to give birth to lambs in the next day or so.
Iain finds the dog feeding schedule alone algebraic: Titan gets three cups of chicken-nugget sized dental food, but less in the morning, and sprinkle some three-cheese parmesan on it, but only at night, and give Meg a scoop of diet food, and two scoops of regular food, and one quarter of half a can of soft food, and give titan the rest, but only if it isn't cold out, then he might not eat it, then give him the cheese, but don't give him cheese if he eats the soft food, and Meg is getting old so boil her a cup of chicken brouillon, but only if its cold out because she sleeps on the porch.
"Keep cool fool, even if you don't know what you're doin'" a young woman sings on an old record in the background.
"Goodnight Girls" Iains father walks around the farm one last time. The next day Iain calls the neighbour to ask about a sheep with a small cut, that night, Iain can't keep a fire going to warm the house. He calls his brother, an engineer, who could always keep one burning.
The next day, a new baby lamb, surrounded by woolly welcomers, is born without incident.
This story could have been an intriguing comedy of errors, but I felt the ending was unfinished, and the title did not suit the piece, the lambs weren't silent, nor did Iain really comment on how quiet the farm was, likely because farms aren't quiet.
The sounds were excellent, the farm noises, and conversation with his mother about feeding the dogs really added to the psychic space, or mental images of the story. But it left me wanting more.
The Silence of The Lambs never really came full circle for me, as it did in the theatrical movie this morning. Farms thrive on cycles, patterns, schedules, and Iain never told the audience how that went, there were problems he introduced, like feeding the dogs, but he never said wether or not they were solved. It's not like it was an unsaid, unanswered metaphorical question or anything, he just left it out.
Overall, it was a great story, I was engaged untill it ended abruptly, leaving me with questions like why did he end here? What happened with the dogs, ducks, chickens? Were there anymore lambs? Did he get the fire going?
So I made up this aphorism: Nothing ruins a good story more than an unfinished end.
In addition, I think if this story was told like the in-class narratives, the unfinished nature of the story would have been much more obvious.
First, because the storyteller could be asked unanswered questions right away after he finishes.
Second, the storyteller could read the audience's reaction, confusion or distraction, and realize he needs to come full circle; the story could have been saved!
Third, the story could be changed or edited for next time, and the one bad session could be forgotten and the story improved or slightly changed each time he tells it. This would improve the reactions and likeability (or lack thereof) he read in the audience.
Unlike the outfront narratives, oral stories are dynamic, not concrete. This is the beautiful nature of oral storytelling, a story can be altered a little each time you tell it. Flaws can be fixed, jokes made funnier, details changed for theatrical effect, and each time a different person reiterates the story to a friend ("Hey I heard this great story!") some details will be ignored, exaggerrated, or changed to fit that person's perspective.
Here is a great YouTube video called Storytelling Tips:
Keywords: davidson, emilyann, narrative, oralrhetoricpwc, oralstory, OutFrontChoice2, week5
