Is Everything a Mystery Story?
Growing up in the Catholic Church and attending Catholic school from Pre-K 3 to 12th grade, the story of Cain and Abel was nothing new for me. I had already learned about the first fratricide in history, but I had never seen it as a mystery story. Because of this, I began to wonder: What exactly is a mystery story? So, I thought back to the 'Five Essential Elements of a Mystery' reading that we did not too long ago. The five components were:
- the characters
- the setting
- the plot
- the problem
- the solution
To me, this sounded like the recipe to every story in history. In almost every story I've ever read there has been some aspect of a problem that needed to be solved by the protagonist. Does this really make every story a mystery?
In Cain and Abel, the "problem" is the tension between the two brothers. One believes that his sacrifice to God should be his "best" and the other believes that he should keep the best for himself. The "solution" to this tension is Cain slaying Abel. This solution is a bit extreme and abrupt in my opinion, but it happens. I still don't think that just because there was murder, that this has to be considered a mystery. Perhaps if we didn't know who the killer was, this could be considered a mystery, but in my eyes this just a plain old story about bickering brothers gone wrong.
That's a really interesting question, "is every story a mystery"? Most of these points are necessary (mostly necessary...) for a good narrative. Strong conflicts in stories have two resolutions: either they break the problem, or they themselves break. Bear in mind that the five essential elements sheet is from the Cam Jansen Super Sleuth Squad (click click!) so it's a bit elementary, but I think all the points listed are still very important components of a narrative, and especially mystery narratives.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the "solution" bullet point, though. Many mysteries in our world, such as The Dyatlov Pass Case (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8RigxxiilI), remain unsolved and may remain unsolved forever. Yet, it is still a thrilling read. Does a mystery need a solution? Should a mystery novel have a solution?
I completely agree with what your saying. When I had read the five elements for a mystery story all I could think was “these are the main elements for every story”. Maybe a mystery story is just meant to make you ask questions, not that the story itself is a mystery. Cain and Abel certainly makes you wonder…
ReplyDeleteYou can twist literally anything into a mystery story, because we never know everything. That list can help you break down elements of a mystery, but I agree it's a pretty poor definition. I think going by feel is best for a mystery, but if I had to define it I would say that the majority of the story involves characters attempting to uncover unknown information. If you use that, Cain and Abel is not a mystery story, as no information is withheld from the characters or the reader.
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