Juxtaposition as a Storytelling Device

Let's talk about Juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is a great storytelling tool that you can use to expand your storytelling options. It can provide the jumping off point for your plot, a subplot, or it could be used to add a minor character detail that further fleshes out your character and their personality. So, what is Juxtaposition? It's taking two seemingly different concepts and crossing them together. Place two things next to one another and compare and contrast them. This could be physical items or concepts.

Let's get into a simple juxtaposition. If you place an apple next to an elephant and compare the two, they have nothing in common. One is small and one is very large. One is a fruit, and one is animal. They have very different purposes and existences. Apples don't survive long while elephants go on for years.

The juxtaposition of these two very different things isn't very interesting unless you consider the elephant eating the apple and thus giving the apple a new purpose. In storytelling, the juxtaposition should modify that which is being juxtaposed. In this case, the apple is more than an apple, it's sustenance for the elephant. And the elephant, is an elephant who likes apples. It's a character trait, if not a particular special character trait. The apple reveals previously unknown information about the elephant. The Elephant likes eating apples.

Let's get to a slightly more complicated use of juxtaposition. I'm going to create a character. Her name is Kelly, she's a 20-year-old college student. Kelly drinks coffee and she has a favorite mug. The favorite mug has a phrase on it, "World's Greatest Dad." A surface level observation, this doesn't seem notable. But look a little closer. These two elements, a 20-year-old female college student and a World's Greatest Dad mug are incongruous. She's probably not the 'World's Greatest Dad' but the mug she loves and uses everyday says otherwise.

So, we have juxtaposed a female college student and a World's Greatest Dad mug. How do these things modify one another? The mug is transformed from just being a mug to being symbolic of an incongruous trait. The girl drinking from the mug is revealed to, at the very least, have a quirky sense of humor. But, for storytelling purposes, this could be even more revealing. Why does she have this mug? Why is it her favorite? Perhaps she's just delighted by her own juxtaposition. But as the author of the story, we can use this mug to reveal more about her.

Let's say the mug belonged to the girl's father. He passed away when she was 10. She bought this mug with her allowance money and gave it to her dad just before he died. Thus, the mug is not only an incongruity, but also a storytelling device that, as we unfold our story, will further reveal our main character. She drinks from the World's Greatest Dad mug; a roommate character enters the scene and is curious why she's drinking from a World's Greatest Dad mug, and our protagonist has the option to share an anecdote about the mug that casually moves your story forward. Or she could dismiss the mug and say she bought it at a craft store and your story can be about two friends who go looking for fun stuff at bargain stores.

My point is that the juxtaposition of the girl and the mug offers you a vast number of storytelling options. Options that don't involve your main character in voiceover delivering reams of expository dialogue to tell you things that you could tell the audience with an effective visual trigger and a charming bit of conversational banter that moves the story forward. Voiceover or Narration certainly has a place in storytelling, but it doesn't have to be the only tool in your storytelling toolbox.