The value of historical knowledge, and especially moral stories having been passed down, is that they give the present a sense of perspective. It helps us in understanding and assessing our own values and ways.
Luisa Del Giudice, from the American Italian Historical
Association states that, "One of the things that make oral history different is that while more conventional history is primarilty interested in what happened-why was the massacre carried out, in what way, whose responsibility is it, what was its place in the overall military scenario of and of the Resistence-oral history also asks another question: what does it mean?"
Many stories from the Roman Republic, such as Lucretia's, hold moral value. The story goes that the current kings son’s raped her and caused her suicide. Her husband and father then started the revolution that overthrew the monarchy. This established the Republic. The event of Lucretia’s rape caused the domino effect of dissatisfaction over the last tyrannical king of Rome, Lucius Tarquin Superbus.
The conspiracy to overthrow the new republic was plotted by the two sons of Junius Brutus', an active leader in overthrowing the old monarchy. The sons, Titus and Tiberius, wanted to restore Tarquin as monarch of Rome. They were caught and Brutus condemned his own sons for plotting to reform the republic. His highest order was to the rights and republic of the people of the Roman Republic. The moral of this story is that the welfare of the republic should be placed above one’s own family. This shows that the people of the Roman Republic valued the fact that they were a republic.
Sources
Giudice, Luisa Del. Oral History, Oral Culture, and Italian Americans. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Limited, 2009. Print.
Stories, like dreams, seem to offer a glimpse into the people or person who created them. We can learn a lot from the stories that civilizations make for their culture. People make stories to keep children in line,to give a nation a sense of dominance, to control beliefs or to remember ancestors. It's kind of sad that we seem to lose stories as we get older. The magic and mystery seems to die. Maybe it's because instead of stories to entertain us, we have movies.
ReplyDeleteI agree; we have other ways of driving morals into our minds, such as movies and TV shows. Instead of a well trusted adult telling us it's bad to steal, we have TV programs. I wonder if this, subconsciously, makes us less likely to obey because the source is less trusted. Just thinking out loud..
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary Maddie does it make us trust the television more, than adults because it does influence everything we are, including our morals?
ReplyDeleteI think in some ways it does. It seems like a lot of people will believe anything they see on TV; they try to do similar things as people on TV do, anyways. How do we draw the line between trusting stories and following moral guidelines?
ReplyDeleteWell hopefully that's where our conscience comes in, but sometimes I wonder if people know how to use that vital organ.
ReplyDeleteErin, that's my point. We are learning to rely on television more.
ReplyDeleteOh I thought you were saying we don't trust our televisions! I guess we should be talking about this instead of writing so we can understand what we mean!
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