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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27299
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27299
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Stories are an attempt to endow life with meaning. Where ordinary life seems possessed of a terrible randomness, we look to stories to assure us that there is actually meaning and purpose in life. This may or may not be true, but the thought that it is true is of enormous comfort to us, even in the face of tragedy. This is one of the big reason we are so fond of stories. It is one of the big reason why, far from wanting stories that are unpredictable, we actually demand that they be predictable, and take pleasure and comfort from the predictable ending.

A tragedy that we feel we can understand, that fits a story arc, that seems to have moral purpose, affirms our sense of order in the world at precisely the time we need it. Thus a soldier dies in battle defending an orphanage is a tragedy, but it has moral meaning, it affirms our sense that heroism is a meaningful and worth attribute of human beings and we feel good about that.

A tragedy that we don't feel we can understand, however, has a very different effect. An orphanage is destroyed by an earthquake the day before the children were going to be adopted into good homes. This affirms the randomness and meaningless of life. There is no heroism in it, no moral affirmation. There is nothing we can do but shake our fists at God. There is nothing to feel good about.

Original score: 4