CHARACTERISTICS OF A NARRATIVE

A narrative does not merely report events; it is not a transcript of a conversation or a news report. Instead, it is a story that conveys a particular meaning. It presents actions and details that build toward a climax, the point at which the conflict of the narrative is resolved. Most narratives also use dialogue to present portions of conversations that move the story along.

NARRATIVES MAKE A POINT

A narrative makes a point by telling readers about an event or a series of events. The point may be to describe the significance of the event(s), make an observation, or present new information. The writer may state the point directly, using an explicit thesis statement, or leave it unstated, using an implied thesis. Either way, the point should always be clear to the audience by the details selected and the way they are presented.

The following excerpt comes from “The Lady in Red.” It tells the story of a homeless man’s first attempt to beg, the rejection he faces, and the kindness of one woman. Notice how he chooses vocabulary to reinforce his own sense of defeat and his miraculous rescue by the “lady in red.”

Details that reinforce the main point

I closed my eyes for a moment against the failure and fatigue, and then I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Sir,” a lady was saying. As I opened my eyes and turned around, a lady in a red hat and an old red coat with a big brooch of an angel pinned to her lapel was standing there. She was digging through her purse as she talked. (para. 20)

NARRATIVES CONVEY ACTION AND DETAIL

Narratives present a detailed account of an event or a series of events, using dialogue, physical description, and action verbs to make readers feel as if they are watching the scene or experiencing the action.

Dialogue

Because you were born over two months premature, the doctors told your parents that you might be deaf or blind, or have other serious disabilities. Your parents seemed worried about what people in their community would think if they brought home a baby with special needs. . . .

Action verbs

Physical description

Alone in my room, I gripped the phone tightly, my head whirling. Years ago, when a friend asked me if I had an “idealized” view of my birthparents, I had scoffed and said no. Yet now, confronted with notes from my unearthed adoption file, I realized that my imagination had nonetheless cast my birthparents as courageous people who made a terribly difficult decision out of love, as many birthparents do. . . . It had never occurred to me that their decision might also have been motivated by the fact that I was a girl — a girl whose potential health problems could prove embarrassing to them. (“The Alternate History of Susan Chung”)

NARRATIVES PRESENT A CONFLICT AND CREATE TENSION

An effective narrative presents a conflict — such as a struggle, question, or problem — and works toward its resolution. The conflict can be between participants or between a participant and some external force, such as a law, value, tradition, or an act of nature. (In the example paragraph, the conflict is between the adopted woman’s beliefs about her birth parents and what she learns from the adoption file.) Tension is the suspense created as the story unfolds and the reader wonders how the conflict will be resolved. The height of the action — the point just before the resolution of the conflict — is the climax.

NARRATIVES SEQUENCE EVENTS

A narrative often presents events in chronological order — the order in which they happened. Some narratives use flashback and foreshadowing to add tension and drama. A flashback returns readers to events that took place in the past; foreshadowing hints at events that will occur in the future. Both techniques are used frequently in fiction and film. For example, an episode of a soap opera might open with a woman lying in a hospital bed, flash back to a scene showing the accident that put her there, and then return to the scene in the hospital. When used sparingly, flashback and foreshadowing can build interest and add variety to a narrative, especially a lengthy chronological account.

NARRATIVES USE DIALOGUE

Just as people reveal much about themselves by what they say and how they say it, dialogue can reveal much about the characters in a narrative. The use of dialogue can also dramatize the action, emphasize the conflict, and reveal the personalities or motives of the key participants in a narrative. Dialogue can be strategically inserted to heighten the drama and help characterize the people depicted.

NARRATIVES ARE TOLD FROM A PARTICULAR POINT OF VIEW

Most narratives use either the first-person or third-person point of view.