This document discusses using narratives to help students process trauma. It describes an assignment where students researched a deceased person from a local gravestone and wrote a fictional narrative about their life. Students engaged with local history and practiced storytelling skills. Many found that creating narratives about others' lives helped them connect to the stories and provided an outlet to explore difficult topics. The assignment also supported students' emotional well-being by giving them a creative way to discuss trauma and feel less alone.

1. “Only the Forgotten”:
Towards a Better Narrative
Donna B. Nalley, English Program Director, South University Online
Leslie Braniger, English Instructor, National Park College

2. “We tell ourselves stories in order to live. The princess
is caged in the consulate. The man with the candy will
lead the children into the sea….

3. We look for the sermon in the suicide, for
the social or moral lesson in the murder of
five. We interpret what we see, select the
most workable of the multiple choices. We
live entirely, especially if we are writers, by
the imposition of a narrative line upon
disparate images, by the 'ideas' with which
we have learned to freeze the shifting
phantasmagoria — which is our actual
experience.” –Joan Didion, The White Album

4. Stories help us to understand our lives,
and they help us to connect our
experiences in some meaningful way
with other people's lives.
Think about the stories that were told
to you and about you as you were
growing up by people like parents,
grandparents, teachers, ministers,
classmates, or coaches. How did they
shape your vision of yourself and your
world?
Words and Stories Are Powerful

5. One mother wrote of being homeless and living in a shelter to escape an
abusive marriage and having her children separated because the boys
could not stay in the same building with the girls. She feared for her young
boys’ safety.

6. One young man told of being kicked
out of his home when he finally came
out as gay to his family. He was
heartbroken because he came from a
close-knit family, and they had
disowned him completely.

7. One woman wrote a terrifying tale of hiding in
her house when she was a young child as some
men hung her father from a tree in the front yard
and sprayed the house with bullets so that no
one could come to his rescue. He died, and
even though she was a helpless child, she had
never gotten over that horrible misplaced guilt.

8. In a typical narrative essay assignment, we ask
students to compose an essay that tells a story.
Here is part of a prompt that we have used in the
past, when we asked them to tell about a time:
• When you were given a meaningful gift.
• When you lost something important.
• When you learned an important lesson.
• When you were scared by something or
someone.
• When you first learned a new skill.
Write What You Know

9. Writing about a trauma can lessen the pain
through gaining control of the narrative,
finding community and support, and
experiencing release through the creative
process.
The writing process allows students to rethink
those narratives and to create their own
meaning and assign their own significance to
the story, helping in a small way to change
their mindset and reshape their futures.
The Writing Process

10. • Act of expression – a kind of creative
therapy and expiation
• Being heard, accepted, and acknowledged
by peers and instructor.
• Finding and building community as others
can relate and offer support.
• Focus on the writing – peer reviews and
the editing process allow the writer to focus
on the writing instead of the event.
Benefits of Telling a Story

11. “The idea that I could channel my pain
into a narrative comforted me in a way
that I found hard to explain. It had
something to do with my intuition that if I
could frame the experience, I could
thereby control it. It also had something to
do with my sense that writing a story
about a personal tragedy connects one
with others who have gone through a
similar trauma and thereby universalizes
it” (Moran, 2004, p. 94).
Regaining One’s Power

12. Instructors have a unique opportunity to
foster a student's emotional resources by
affirming the value of their life
experiences and strengths, as
demonstrated by their narratives.
Students receive feedback that is not only
technical and aimed at improving their
writing skills, but also affirming of their
individuality, strength, and resilience.
The Role of the Instructor

13. Express empathy – “That must have been hard for
you.”
Avoid playing therapist and focus on the writing:
• “How do you want to tell your story?”
• “Who will be the audience?”
• “What impact do you want to have?” “What form
do you want it to take?”
Next steps – “Where do you want to go from here?”
Responding to the Narrative

14. The Gravestone
Narrative

15. My Idea: How It Began
Martin Lewins: 10/13/1841-04/28/1913 Born in England

16. The Research Process

17. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/hot-springs-887/#

19. One student learned the shameful truth of racial
classifying rules and laws in the United States, as to
his surprise many of those listed on the black
Arkansans resource page appeared white. Another
began exploring Maxine, the Hot Springs madam,
far surpassing the four assigned research materials
for her annotated bibliography.

20. “Miracle Moonshine” by Joshua Gill:
It was the summer of 1922 when I left my wife without a husband.
I was shot down in front of the Southern Club on my way home
from work, didn’t even get to say goodbye to her.
“Forbidden Love” by Jennifer DuVall:
“The truth was I had found my soulmate; however, he was white,
and I was not allowed to love a white man. The last time I saw
Jason was June 6, 1936.”
“The First Day of School” by Daisha Dixon:
“This all began in fall of 1967 having these nine children coming to
our school in Little Rock, Arkansas went nationwide on all news
stations. At the time Orval E. Faubus was the first governor that
was re-elected for at least six terms. President Eisenhower sent
troops to help the negros attend school at Central High School.”
Student Examples

21. “Balderdash, kid; don’t be so eager to do
anything for the greenbacks,” said Al. “Now
look. if you stick with us, we’ll help you
make enough money to be big bugs in this
city.”
Unexpected Outcomes
He then got a knock on the door, and when
Al Capone opened it, there he was, the great
Charles Lucky Luciano. Peering down
dreadfully, Lucky asked me, “How about a
job moving some O Be Joyful, kid?’’ “Darn
right. I want the job,” I replied.

22. I liked it better, although it made me a little
uncomfortable at first, as it seemed taboo. I felt that
taking pictures of tombstones and making up stories
about the deceased was disrespectful. This
assignment helped me to be more open to new
ideas. I learned about myself as a writer.
Feedback
I loved this assignment! I liked it more than the traditional narrative
essay we did at the beginning of the semester. I felt like I was able to
connect more to the story, not to mention we had several different
resources to choose from.
I learned more information about the city of Hot Springs. I learned
what was happening during the time period my character was alive. I
knew only a little bit of Hot Springs, but after researching, I learned
more insight on segregation and gambling.

23. Key Takeaways
• Developed research skills by consulting library databases
• Learned about local history
• Practiced techniques used in traditional narrative (main point, logical
organization, dialogue, vivid imagery, descriptive details)
• Invested themselves in the creative process
Many students noted that they like both the traditional narrative and this
one. Both narratives are valuable in many ways, and I’ll assign the
traditional narrative at the beginning of the semester and the gravestone
narrative closer to the end.

24. References
Angus, L. E. & Greenberg, L. S. (2011). Working with narrative in emotion-focused
therapy: Changing stories, healing lives. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Didion, J. (1979). The White Album. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Kaminer, D. (September 2006). Healing processes in trauma narratives. South African
Journal of Psychology, 36 (3), 481-499.
McAdams, D. (1993). The Stories We Live by: Personal Myths and the Making of the
Self. New York: Guilford.
Moran, M. H. (Fall 2004). Toward a writing and healing approach in the basic writing
classroom: One professor's personal odyssey. Journal of Basic Writing, 23
(2), 93-115.
Zembylas, M. & Bekerman, Z. (March 2008). Education and the dangerous memories
of historical trauma: Narratives of pain, narratives of hope. Curriculum
Inquiry, 38 (2), 125-154.

25. Contact Us
Leslie Braniger, English Instructor
National Park College leslie.braniger@np.edu
Dr. Donna B. Nalley, English Program Director
South University Online dnalley@southuniversity.edu