A Response to Grand Narratives

Overall, I really liked this article, because while this idea of certain people not being represented in literature is something I have thought about before, I had not thought of it in the same framework presented by Franks. As Franks points out in her article, there are grand narratives being given as representative of all human experience. However, if we begin asking ourselves whose voices are being represented in these narratives, it is easy to see that these grand narratives do not apply to everyone and that some individuals are not being included in the story. Having narratives that assert only one authority or only have one overarching voice are cause for concern. What gets left out of the literature when this happens is an important point of discussion not only to search for unanswered questions but also to help include minor payers that might not be fully represented. I liked how, despite the problems with these grand narratives, Franks says it should not discourage students doing research on a topic that includes this. Instead, they should see it as an opportunity to criticize the work or to create a new discussion about it.

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