Charon’s JAMA article:

“Not unlike acts of reading literature, acts of diagnostic listening enlist the listener’s interior resources-memories, associations, curiosities, creativity, interpretive powers, allusions to other stories told by this teller and others-to identify meaning.  Only then can the physician hear-and then attempt to face if not to answer fully- the patients narrative questions.”(1899)

By Dr. Rita Charon writing this quote she is showing you the qualities it takes to actually listen from a doctor and a patient.  She shows that with narrative medicine if the doctor can relate to what the patient is saying by associating it with their own life and identify the deeper meaning to the story of the patient’s needs.  Only after the doctor can relate their stories to other stories that have been told to them or, to their own stories are they truly going to hear.  When the doctor/physician can “hear”, meaning that they can relate something to the story being told, is when they can give their patient a complete and honest full answer to their original question.

“Tell Me a Story” Robert Krulwich (RadioLab):

Talking about Galileo, “And it wasn’t just his science that was alarming.  I think it was the power of his story telling.  Thats what made him extra dangerous.  Because stories have this power.  People like them.”(4)

This quote talks about how Galileo was a science person and he wrote a book that people could understand.  This took place in the time period when science was incomprehensible if were not trained in that field.  The fact that Galileo could put his scientific findings into plain language that everyone else could understand showed the power that stories could have.  People thought that he was dangerous because he had this power to transfer scientific findings into something that your average person could understand.

These two quotes show why narrative matters because it can not only help people connect in the medical field but narratives can also transfer something that is so scientific to words that the everyday plain Jane can understand.  Narratives give people the power to accomplish much more then they originally set out to achieve.