How Fiction is Actually Factual

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How could fiction, a made up story, relate to the news? Short stories are most often written to be relatable to an audience. The author wants to engage his or her audience and for the reader to feel a connection to the story. When one feels a connection with a story, it resonates more and leaves a lasting impact. At least one aspect of a story seems plausible, or like it may happen. These aspects of stories would be possible to see in a news article. Three different styles of writing can especially be compared to news one may read – romanticism (“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving), dark romanticism (“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe) and realism (“To Build a Fire” by Jack London.) Short stories although fiction, are often related to fact.

Literary romanticism was a literary movement in which writing was based on the imagination, was light hearted and not serious. It started to distract people from their rough, daily lives. Romantic stories were much like fairy tales in which many aspects seemed impossible and magical. However, some parts of these stories could be possible. In the story “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving (http://goo.gl/sq4H57), a man goes into the forest to get away from his nagging wife. He then comes across dwarves and drinks a potion and falls asleep for many years. When he awakes, his wife has passed away and becomes popular in his town. Although this story seems impossible, there are often news articles that can be found today that also seem like magic. One news article, written by Stephanie Gallman, can be compared to romanticism is about a cat that was hit by a car and died (cnn.com). The cat’s owner then buried his pet, however five days later the animal was found walking around in a neighboring yard. This news seems impossible, because it appears that the cat came back from the dead, however it is a true story. Although not apparent at first, there are similarities between literary romanticism and the shocking news we read today.  

Dark romanticism in literature is similar to romanticism except it has a much more gloomy and negative energy and includes things such as ghosts, vampires and other evil spirits. The stories end badly (usually in death) and emphasize that it is natural for humankind to sin. “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe (http://poestories.com/read/blackcat) is an example of a short story that falls under the category of dark romanticism. An originally sane man begins to spiral into insanity because of a haunting black cat. The cat seems possessed by an evil spirit, and begins to affect his owner's psyche which drives him to murder his wife. The story emphasizes mystery and spirits as well as insanity. One example of a real event that is comparable the “The Black Cat” are the murders by Jack the Ripper (biography.com), a now famous serial killer slaughtered many women in London during the late 1880s. His vicious butchery, mysterious notes to the police, and never being caught for his actions are similar to many characteristics of dark romanticism. The psychotic nature of the murders and the mystery of not knowing who the next victim would be and who the assassin was is similar to attributes of dark romanticism.

Realism in writing is much what it sounds like – it is meant to be realistic and give the impression of being plausible. Therefore, realism is the most easily compared to news one may read today and fact. Even more easily compared to news is literature that falls under the subcategory of naturalism, a darker form of realism. In Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire” (http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html) a man is traveling through the Alaskan wilderness like he has many times before. However, this time the cold is more bitter than ever, and through a series of events the man ends up dying of the cold. This story relates to realism because the man was going about his daily routine when multiple simple mistakes lead to his death. These sort of tragedies often happen in lives today. Many times, people are doing a routine thing for them when something out of the ordinary occurs. This could be seen in the Sydney hostage crisis (nbcnews.com). People were sitting in a cafe, when they suddenly find themselves in a hostage situation which lead two civilian deaths. In both London’s short story and in the Sydney hostage crisis, people go about their daily lives when they are hit with tragedy. Since naturalist stories have this characteristic, they appear possible to happen in reality.

Although fiction is not an account of reality, it is related to fact. An author's goal is usually to have his or her story resonate with the reader. Most often, a reader is more engaged and intrigued by work that is relatable in some way. Because of this, many types of literature incorporate some form of reality into the writing. It could be the nature of the protagonist, setting or event that occurs. Romanticism, dark romanticism, and realism all incorporate at least one of these factors. Since at each type of literature includes at minimum one of these characteristics, one can imagine them actually occurring.