“There is no fear in my lexicon” vs. “You are not normal if you won’t be scared”
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Alison Stern Perez
Abstract
Bus drivers in Israel have coped with decades of stress, fear, and the constant threat of terror. This paper summarizes a qualitative analysis of the form and content of narratives told by Israeli bus drivers who directly experienced a terror attack. A preliminary discourse and semiotic analysis of a case study is presented here as representative of a ‘broken’ narrative, as reflected in what initially appear as internal contradictions in both form and content. The non-random distribution of personal pronouns is analyzed, and hypotheses are postulated regarding the meaning of the interviewee’s communicative strategies in telling his narrative and coping with his lived experience. In particular, the interviewee makes openly conflicted statements regarding his sense of fear and willingness to admit being scared, while using the first-person and both gendered second-person pronouns in a uniquely patterned manner that also reflects this ambivalence. A careful analysis of these seeming contradictions, inconsistencies, and ‘broken’ narrative patterns leads to the ultimate suggestion that certain messages in individual discourse can reveal the narrator’s feelings and attitudes about the surrounding hegemonic social discourse. In the case of Israeli bus drivers, this discourse facilitates a collective sense of obligation to act and cope resiliently, and discourages ‘less acceptable’ reactions.
Abstract
Bus drivers in Israel have coped with decades of stress, fear, and the constant threat of terror. This paper summarizes a qualitative analysis of the form and content of narratives told by Israeli bus drivers who directly experienced a terror attack. A preliminary discourse and semiotic analysis of a case study is presented here as representative of a ‘broken’ narrative, as reflected in what initially appear as internal contradictions in both form and content. The non-random distribution of personal pronouns is analyzed, and hypotheses are postulated regarding the meaning of the interviewee’s communicative strategies in telling his narrative and coping with his lived experience. In particular, the interviewee makes openly conflicted statements regarding his sense of fear and willingness to admit being scared, while using the first-person and both gendered second-person pronouns in a uniquely patterned manner that also reflects this ambivalence. A careful analysis of these seeming contradictions, inconsistencies, and ‘broken’ narrative patterns leads to the ultimate suggestion that certain messages in individual discourse can reveal the narrator’s feelings and attitudes about the surrounding hegemonic social discourse. In the case of Israeli bus drivers, this discourse facilitates a collective sense of obligation to act and cope resiliently, and discourages ‘less acceptable’ reactions.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Beyond narrative coherence 1
- Weird stories 17
- Identity, self, narrative 33
- ‘Mind-reading’, a method for understanding the broken narrative of an aphasic man 49
- Broken narratives, visual forces 67
- Artists-in-progress 87
- Breaking of self-narrative as a means of reorientation? 103
- “There is no fear in my lexicon” vs. “You are not normal if you won’t be scared” 121
- Beyond narrative 147
- Afterword 167
- Index 191
- List of contributors 187
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Beyond narrative coherence 1
- Weird stories 17
- Identity, self, narrative 33
- ‘Mind-reading’, a method for understanding the broken narrative of an aphasic man 49
- Broken narratives, visual forces 67
- Artists-in-progress 87
- Breaking of self-narrative as a means of reorientation? 103
- “There is no fear in my lexicon” vs. “You are not normal if you won’t be scared” 121
- Beyond narrative 147
- Afterword 167
- Index 191
- List of contributors 187
