Recovery of a lost one

Disciplines > Storytelling > Plots > Polti's Situations > Recovery of a lost one

Description | Discussion | See also

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Description

Elements

The Seeker
The One Found

Summary

The Seeker looks for and finds the One Found.

Variants

recovery of a lost one

Discussion

Although this is a relatively short description, recovery is a common theme. In life, people go missing most often through voluntary means, leaving of their own accord. 'Lost', here, often means that the seeker has lost the person who is missing, as the missing person may be quite happy. It also happens that the missing person is themselves lost, such as a child who is separated from its mother or adventurers lost in the wilderness.

Stories do cover voluntary loss, but make use of the more involuntary situation of capture and kidnap, where a person is taken against their will and usually against the law. Such situations make for classic conflict with the abductors, rescue and escape.

Loss and recovery is a deep theme in psychoanalysis, where the child separating from its mother can be a traumatic experience. Splitting is also relevant, where we separate out good and bad objects.

'Recovery of a lost one' is the 35th of Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations.