Narrative

The author arranges events in order to elicit a response from the reader. Ask yourself:

How does the text suggests that I view the events? What is the effect of that and how is it achieved?

Defining narrative

It is the retelling and arrangement of events ordered in a cause!effect organi"ation and located in time and place. #arratives are told in the simple past: they are finished events. $lot versus story. %tory: the se&uence of events in the text presented in the logical and chronological order in which they would have happened.

%ummary of ma'or actions characters and relationships. A(stract reconstruction of what happens in the text.

Narrative: a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space. Narratives begin with one situation: a series of changes occur according to a pattern of cause and effect; a new situation arises that brings about the end of the narrative.

Narrative development
n

Desire sets up a goal Process of achieving that goal

Counterforces / obstacles /opposition, which creates a conflict normall! another character made into the opponent"
n

#he protagonist must change the situation to achieve her goal

n

Cause and effect impl! change

$lot: the actual arrangement of the events in the text.

%tories told (ackwards )from end to (eginning* %tories starting in the middle of the action. %tories 'umping from present to past and future. +aps in the story a(out events that may not (e told.

CHARACTER

Which are the character,s motivations? -oes the character achieve his.her goals? What o(stacles must the character face? -oes the character change in the course of the action? -oes the character have an individual personality? -oes the character fulfil any function in the plot? /haracters are descri(ed (y their actions relationships with other characters and (y what other characters do to or say a(out them

Character typology

0ound characters )individuals*:

They show a psychology They have distinctive and uni&ue traits1 They can (e contradictory and unpredicta(le1 adapt to different situations1 and eventually change due to experience They always react as expected following the trait of the type they represent. They are representative of human (ehaviours1 social classes1 groups1 ideas1 etc.

2lat characters )stereotypes*:

They have an instrumental function in the text: helpers )friends*1 opponents )villains*1 facilitators1 etc. Associated with specific textual modes: comedy popular genres )crime fiction1 horror1 romantic fiction*.

Narrators

Third person narrators:

$rovides distance and a sense of detachment. The narrator can tell the story from different points of view )characters,* Allows a sense of o('ectivity. $roximity with the narrator and the story. The point of view is always that of the narrator or character telling the story. It helps explore mental change and growth.

2irst person narrators: