The biblical story of how David defeated Goliath transcends a recollection of Israel's history and goes beyond its religious associations. Today, the phrase David and Goliath has come to carry the secular meaning of an underdog situation, where a weaker opponent faces all insurmountable odds to beat a bigger and stronger adversary (Gladwell, 2013). Additionally, the story is religiously ambiguous, as the Goliath's defeat by David is found in both the Bible and the Quran (Kidwai, 2019). The original story, from the Book of Samuel, however, has been retold many times with different plot details such as exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution. My favorite version, however, starts with David's background as a simple shepherd who rose to defend his people in their time of need and became one of the most compelling individuals in history.
Far away from his humble flock, the Israelites, led by Saul, are in a difficult battle against the Philistines. Every morning and evening in the Valley of Elah, the Philistines, championed by Goliath, would come out and challenge the Israelites in single combat. The Israelites would then send their champion, and for forty consecutive days, they would be defeated. Saul, then the king of the Israelites, is afraid for his people.
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God then sends His prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to guide David to give the Israelites hope. When Goliath comes out to challenge the Israelites, David accepts. In the confrontation, Goliath is a tall giant cladding in thick armor and a javelin in his hand. David, on the other hand, is armed only with his sling and a brook holding five stones. When the challenge starts, David hurls a stone with his sling, and it hists Goliath between his eyes. Goliath falls on his face, and David secures victory by decapitating him. The Philistines are frightened by the death of their champion and flee while the Israelites pursue them to the gates of Ekron.
The story of David and Goliath is an inspiring one. Its purpose is to persuade the listener that the past is history, and the future is uncertain. Therefore, when facing insurmountable odds, one should not despair because the deck is stacked against them. Towards the religiously inclined, the moral is that regardless of the difficulties of one's undesirable qualities, like lack of physical strength, they should appeal to their respective higher power for deliverance. For the secularly inclined, on the other hand, the rational argument would be that David won by blind luck. However, it should be noted that eve blind luck is part of one's strength and should never be underestimated.
Secondly, the story of David and Goliath wants the listener to think is that solutions to common problems sometimes require out of the box thinking. For instance, conventional thinking drove the Israelites to accept Goliath's challenge by sending in soldiers who are physically strong and trained to fight. However, David was neither strong nor trained to fight as a soldier, but he still secured victory for his people. Additionally, David won the challenge using an unconventional weapon. The story, therefore, tells its listener that when the odds are stacked against the underdog, the best approach to secure victory is either introduce a black swan or change the rules of the game. This is rational, from an adversarial game's perspective in a zero-sum game, where the payoff comes from amplifying one's advantages and nullifying the opponent's strengths.
Lastly, the story of David and Goliath is effective in reaching its goals in two ways. First, the formula for a great and effective story is provided by Ken Burns; 1 + 1 = 3 (Von Baldegg, 2012). This simple formula implies that for a great and effective story, the whole thing must be greater than the sum of its parts. In the context of David and Goliath, the parts are David as a humble and weak shepherd, Goliath as a strong enemy whose tyranny makes Israelites cower in fear, and Goliath's defeat by the underdog. Taken as a whole, the story becomes more than a simple fight between the Israelites and the Philistines. Instead, any listener casts themselves in David's shoes and gets to experience his victory, albeit vicariously, thousands of years later with every retelling.
Secondly, a story is effective when it grows beyond its original context and still maintains its core. For instance, the story of David and Goliath is of Jewish origin but was recast to be a Christian story in the Bible where it teaches God's power and His plans to protect His people (Mujib, 2019). Additionally, the same story is found in the Quran, with little changes to the plot (Cunkap, 2016). Today, the story is an urban legend where its secular use is to encourage the underdogs to continue to fight against their opponents, even if the odds appear to not be in their favor.
References
Cunkap, N. L. T. (2016). Power of God & Level of Risk; The impact of religiosity on individual's risk preferences (Master's thesis, University of Stavanger, Norway).
Gladwell, M. (2013). David and Goliath: Underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants . Little, Brown.
Kidwai, A. R. (2019). The Interfaith Dimension of Some Recent English Translations of the Quran: A Critical Analysis.
Mujib, A. (2019). The Role of Myth in Escalating The Conflict Between Israel-Palestine. EMPIRISMA: JURNAL PEMIKIRAN DAN KEBUDAYAAN ISLAM , 28 (1).
Von Baldegg, K. C. (2012). Ken Burns on why his formula for a great story is 1+1=3. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/ken-burns-on-why-his-formula-for-a-great-story-is-1-1-3/257165
Discussion: Elements of An Effective Story
Stories are around every aspect of the human experience. According to Taleb (2016), stories are unique to human beings in that they not only help shape knowledge and behavior but also how people connect disparate events and facts into a congruent whole that drives the human experience, be it through motivation or actualization. There are different types of stories, however. Apart from fairy tales, urban legends, and anecdotes (Sykes et al., 2013), there are also stories about overcoming the monster, such as in David and Goliath, rebirth, rags to riches, quests, tragedy, comedy, and journey and return (Illes & Harris, 2014; Hagan, 2019). Regardless of the type, however, most of the stories have different elements in common.
For instance, in overcoming the monster, journey and return, and rags to riches types of stories, there usually are underdog heroes and oppressive authorities. The oppressive authorities might vary from literal enemies and monsters to figurative oppressors, like nature in quests and adventures. Regardless of the type of story, however, the denouement includes moral messages. The moral of the story might be implicitly implied with the narrative or added by the storyteller after finishing the story (Sykes et al., 2013). Additionally, the moral message drives the possible effects that would be desirable in their audiences.
Depending on the purpose of the story or its context, for instance, the effect would be to inspire. The story of David and Goliath, when narrated, has the effect of inspiring the weak to look beyond their subjective limitations and aspire to do great things (Vandello et al., 2016). Alternatively, the desired effect would be to persuade the audience (Sykes et al., 2013). Parisian Love from Google, for instance, persuades its audience on the impact Google has on everyone's life as they go through different milestones and transitions in their life (Google Stories, 2009). Finally, the possible effect a story could have on its audience would be to caution against undesirable behavior, such as the story of Red Riding Hood or the girl who cried wolf. This list, however, is not exhaustive.
References
Google Stories. (2009, November 19). Parisian love [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/nnsSUqgkDwU
Hagan, H. (2019). Basic Plots in the Bible: A Literary Approach to Genre. Biblical Theology Bulletin , 49 (4), 198-213.
Illes, K., & Harris, H. (2014). How stories can be used in organisations seeking to teach the virtues (Doctoral dissertation, Emerald Group Publishing).
Sykes, M., Malik, A. N., & West, M. D. (2013). Stories that move mountains: Storytelling and visual design for persuasive presentations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Taleb, N. N. (2016). Incerto 4-Book Bundle: Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, The Bed of Procrustes, Antifragile . Random House.
Vandello, J. A., Goldschmied, N., & Michniewicz, K. (2016). Underdogs as heroes. Handbook of heroism and heroic leadership. New York: Routledge , 339-355.
Von Baldegg, K. C. (2012). Ken Burns on why his formula for a great story is 1+1=3. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/ken-burns-on-why-his-formula-for-a-great-story-is-1-1-3/257165
Student Responses
Ebone Liggines
I agree with your view of what constitutes a story, especially since stories are presented around us in multiple ways. For instance, what makes a good visual story is the script, visual effects, lighting, and camera angles. This is different to an oral story where a good one depends on the orator’s skill. A good orator can turn a bad story into a story while a bad one can ruin a good story. On the other hand, apart from using stories to connect and change people’s perspectives, stories are also a good way of persuading people in the most effective way possible
Joseph Locke
I agree, visual stories are the easiest to understand, especially when explaining difficult subjects. I also consume a lot of video content, especially about classic cars, movies, and TV shows. Where I disagree, however, is that video stories are not just visual but also audio. Without the synchronization between the audio and visual elements, video stories lose out. To test this, try watching old movies that do not have sound and compare the experience. On the other hand, while knowing your audience is best so as to affect them, you also have to add a message to persuade. Any PSA out there is an example of either a good or bad audio-visual storytelling.
Janet Deskins
I agree with your perspective. A good story is not just a narrative but one the audience can relate to. A good story is like an analogy. On the other hand, a memorable story has to give us a reason to pay attention and remember it. What better way to achieve this than defy our expectations and expand our boundaries? Stories, therefore, not only remind and associate but also work as cognitive aids. After all, what better way to persuade a person than to give them the tools and let them come to the conclusion themselves.
