Oh this is so the discussion for me. Get ready for the rambles of a literature nerd :3
Why do you think authors include hidden messages (like morals of the story) in their story?
Because by writing stories it’s easier to get your point across and get your readers to think about it. If you talk about your morals, it will be only that, talk, random words. However, if you include them and show them in a story, people are “forced” to think more about them, and maybe you’ll even get to convince them of that.
Do you think that they include it on purpose?
Some do, some don’t. Some make stories solely with the purpose of getting their point across (see C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia). But some others just want to make a story, and in those stories, even though nothing may happen, they leave the reader thinking (see almost all of Anton Chekhov’s stories)
Do you yourself, like stories with clear morals.
No, I don’t. I like stories that make me think and allow me to get to a conclusion of my own. I like stories that affect me in an intellectual or “spiritual” level by allowing me to initiate a dialogue with the story, not the ones that shove morals down my throat and expect me to be okay with that. I want the stories to recognise me as my own being, rather than some blank canvas in which the ideas can be plastered with no problem.
Give an example of a story you read in which there was a hidden meaning.
Oof, there are THOUSANDS of these. Okay, maybe not thousands, but there are still a lot. To begin with, there’s The Chronicles of Narnia, these were my favourite books growing up and they have a very dear place in my heart. There’s also Oysters or Mysery be Chekhov. There’s also The Perks of Being a Wallflower, or Señas de identidad. I could go on and on forever.
Does every story have a moral / hidden meaning / hidden message?
Not necessarily a moral/hidden meaning or hidden message. But all stories say something. Even if people read them just for entertainment, stories will always say something. Be it on the story itself, on the issues addressed in it, about the writer or about the reader. Literature is made for people to get those messages, even if they aren’t meant to be like that.
Is this necessarily a good thing? Can it be a bad thing?
As a thing itself, it is neither good or bad. I love seeing the power of art, and how it can change us. However, the outcome can be both, good or bad.
Some people can send the wrong messages, be it purposefully or on accident, and that can harm readers. However, no matter the message, it’s up to how the reader takes it if the things the story causes are good or bad.
Can a story ‘just be a story’?
No. Anyone who has come across me in these kind of discussions has had to endure my opinions, but I’m going to share them once again.
Oscar Wilde himself said that:
Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life
And I believe that’s true. What we read has the power to shape us. And as Plato said, stories have the power to “move our souls”. Everything we read changes us in some way. Everything we read gives us something to think about. A writer can make a story just for the sake of it, Anton Chekhov wrote stories merely because he needed the money. But in any case, stories will always say something, and that is up to the readers’ interpretations.
Can a reader find a moral, totally different from the authors?
Definitely. “Not two people have ever read the same story”, there can be as many interpretations of a story as there are readers for that story. No interpretation is better than other, they’re different. However, the reader must make an effort to make a good interpretation of it.