Beating Dragons

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

I am a big fan of Gaiman and am inclined to like a lot of things he says. I’m also a big fan of fairy tales and fairy tale retellings, but focusing on this quote is about more than my likes; this quote hits on a core idea for me. 

Sometimes fiction lets you explore ideas, behaviors, and life more clearly than nonfiction. 

Lory and I have had many conversations about fiction versus nonfiction, what should you read in order to learn, and reading for purpose versus reading for pleasure. I’m not going to try to get into all of that now, it is a post of its own, probably an episode of its own. I expect that we will tackle some of these ideas more than once.

For now, I’ll say that I deeply believe that fiction gives us paths to examining life and ourselves that are sometimes more useful than nonfiction. 

Fairy tales, and fantasy, open that door even wider. Fantasy allows us to see ourselves and others in roles that we might not accept in ‘real’ life. 

For my Masters of Liberal Arts, I wrote “Making Their Own Choices: Strong Female Characters in Fantasy Literature – One Hundred Books for Late Elementary to High School Readers.” A big idea for me was that because it was fantasy, boys and girls could accept girls in roles that they might not have otherwise. Fantasy gives us room to think differently. Fiction gives us room to think differently.

Back to Gaiman’s quote – What I like about this is that he is saying it isn’t about the dragons; it is about how we deal with the dragons. In a larger way, fantasy and fiction aren’t so much about the things that aren’t ‘real’ as they are about how we deal with life.

More on this another time.

What do you think about fiction versus nonfiction? Let us know at twosides2thestory@yahoo.com