Introduction to Narrative

AS LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION TO NARRATIVE

Unit 1: Aspects of Narrative AO1: Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts using appropriate terminology and concepts and coherent accurate written expression.

A02: Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts.

A03: Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpreotations of other readers.

A04: Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and resolved.

AQA English Literature B

1. Know the structure and requirements of AS Literature with a particular focus on Unit 1 Aspects of Narrative.

2. Consider and define the term Narrative.

3. Discuss the elements that create a narrative.

AQA English Literature B

1) Term 1: The Kite Runner The

Ancient Mariner

Twelfth Night

2) Term 2: The Great Gatsby Tennyson

The Importance of Being Earnest

Unit 1: Aspects of Narrative

Unit 2: Dramatic Genres

WHAT IS NARRATIVE?WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NARRATIVE

AND A STORY?

Aspects of NarrativeWhat is the difference between Narrative and Story?

A story is simply the list of events that happened“all the various events that are going to be shown”

Narrative is the way a story is told: “How the events and causes are shown and the various methods used to do this showing. Exploring aspects of narrative involves looking at what the writer has chosen to include or not include, and how this choice leads the reader to certain conclusions.

Plot: the chain of causes and circumstances that connect the various events and place them into some sort of relationship with each other.

Choose an extract/fairytale and in pairs fill in the following tableStory Narrative

LEARNING OBJECTIVES1)TO EXPLORE WHAT ELEMENTS MAKE UP A NARRATIVE.

2)TO ANALYSE AN EXTRACT AND IDENTIFTY THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF A NARRATIVE AND HOW THIS AFFECTS THE STORY.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE INGREDIENTS OF A NARRATIVE?

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•SETTING AND OTHER PLACES.

•TIME AND SEQUENCE

•POINT OF VIEW

•OTHER VOICES

•CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERISATION

•MOOD

•DESTINATION

•FORM: GENRE ELEMENTS.

•STRUCTURE

•LANGUAGE

A02

HE DIED A HEROWhat is the story? Summarise the story in one line.

How is the story changed into a narrative? Comment on some or all of the following:1) Time and Sequence/Narrative Structure.2) Point of View and Narrative voice.3) Characterisation4) Form: Genre Elements

CHANGE THESE STORIES TO MAKE THEM MORE EMOTIVE

1. Man hit by robbers2. One hundred soldiers killed by other troops.3. Argument closes factory.4. Train seats cut by teenagers.5. Supporters run onto pitch.6. Shortage of money creates problems in schools.7. Trouble on roads after snowfall.8. Player hits referee9. House prices fall in Stevenage.10.Political meeting ends in disturbance.

ON YOUR MINI-WHITEBOARDS: 1. What does the word story mean?

2. Write down the meaning of narrative.

3. Write down 5 aspects of narrative and what they mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO3TqqoaKnw

IT WAS 7 MINUTES AFTER MIDNIGHT. THE DOG WAS LYING ON

THE GRASS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAWN IN FRONT OF

MRS SHEARS’ HOUSE. IT’S EYES WERE CLOSED. IT LOOKED AS

IF IT WAS RUNNING ON ITS SIDE, THE WAY DOGS RUN

WHEN THEY THINK THEY ARE CHASING A CAT IN A DREAM. BUT

THE DOG WAS NOT RUNNING OR ASLEEP. THE DOG WAS DEAD.

THERE WAS A GARDEN FORK STICKING OUT OF THE DOG. THE

POINTS OF THE FORK MUST HAVE GONE ALL THE WAY

THROUGH THE DOG AND INTO THE GROUND BECAUSE THE

FORK HAD NOT FALLEN OVER.

I BECAME WHAT I AM TODAY AT THE AGE OF TWELVE, ON A

FRIGID OVERCAST DAY IN THE WINTER OF 1975. I REMEMBER

THE PRECISE MOMENT CROUCHING BEHIND A CRUMBLING

MUD WALL PEEKING INTO THE ALLEY NEAR THE FROZEN

CREEK. THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO, BUT IT’S WRONG WHAT

THEY SAY ABOUT THE PAST, I’VE LEARNED HOW YOU CAN

BURY IT. BECAUSE THE PAST CLAWS ITS WAY OUT. LOOKING

BACK NOW, I REALIZE I HAVE BEEN PEEKING INTO THAT

DESERTED ALLEY FOR THE LAST TWENTY-SIX YEARS.

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

THE STUDIO WAS FILLED WITH THE RICH ODOUR OF ROSES,

AND WHEN THE LIGHT SUMMER WIND STIRRED AMIDST THE

TREES OF THE GARDEN, THERE CAME THROUGH THE OPEN

DOOR THE HEAVY SCENT OF THE LILAC, OR THE MORE

DELICATE PERFUME OF THE PINK-FLOWERING THORN.

From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flamelike as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid, jade-faced painters of Tokyo who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.

The beginning is simple to mark. We were in sunlight under a turkey oak, partly protected from a strong gusty wind. I was kneeling on the grass with a corkscrew in my hand and Clarissa was passing me the bottle- a 1987 Daumas Gassac. This was the moment, this was the pinprick on the time map: I was stretching out my hand, and as the cool neck and the black foil touched my palm, we heard a man’s shout. We turned to look across the field and saw the danger. Next thing, I was running towards it. The transformation was absolute: I don’t recall dropping the corkscrew, or getting to my feet, or making a decision, or hearing the caution Clarissa called after me. What idiocy, to be racing into this story and its labyrinths, sprinting away from our happiness among the fresh spring grasses by the oak. There was the shout again, and a child’s cry, enfeebled by the wind that roared in the tall trees along the hedgerows. I ran faster. And there, suddenly, from different points around the field, four other men were converging on the scene, running like me.

I SEE US FROM THREE HUNDRED FEET UP, THROUGH

THE EYES OF THE BUZZARD WE HAD WATCHED EARLIER,

SOARING, CIRCLING AND DIPPING IN THE TUMULT OF

CURRENTS: FIVE MEN RUNNING SILENTLY TOWARDS THE

CENTRE OF A HUNDRED ACRE FIELD. I APPROACHED

FROM THE SOUTH-EAST, WITH THE WIND AT MY BACK.

On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro' the field the road runs by

To many-tower'd Camelot; And up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow round an island there below,

The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver

Thro' the wave that runs for ever By the island in the river

Flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls, and four gray

towers, Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shalott.

HOW DO DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE TELL THE STORY?

CHOOSE YOUR OWN EXTRACT AND ANNOTATE THE EXTRACT FOR THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE.

TIME AND SEQUENCE: KEY QUESTIONS1. When do the key events occur?2. Is there anything significant about the

time in which the story is set?3. Is the story told in any

particular/significant order?

ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE: TIME AND SEQUENCE

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: THE ACTUAL SEQUENCE OF EVENTS AS THEY HAPPEN.

1)A MURDER IS PLANNED AND CARRIED OUT.

2)A BODY IS FOUND THAT YIELDS EVIDENCE.

3)THE DETECTIVE PURSUES A NUMBER OF CLUES AND IDENTIFIES THE KILLER.

4)A VIOLENT SHOOT-OUT LEADS TO THE DEATH OF THE VILLAIN.

5)THIS LEADS TO ANOTHER REVENGE KILLING.

ESTABLISHMENTREFERS TO HOW TEXTS BEGIN, THE WORK THE AUTHOR DOES FOR

THE READER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TEXT. ESTABLISHMENT CAN

INVOLVE INTRODUCING PEOPLE, PLACES, TIME AND SO ON.

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE___________Narrative: A story that starts at the end. Books may construct the whole narrative around one flashback and then return to where they began.____________Narrative: Events usually unfold chronologically. The structure is comparable to how fictional books use chapters to break up a story. These usually follow on sequentially. ___________Narrative: This structure is the most simple and commonly used narrative structure; it refers to a structure that is told in the order in which events happen from beginning to end. These are sometimes known as cause’ and ‘effect’ narratives.

Linear, Episodic, Circular.

CIRCULAR NARRATIVESLiterary Techniques1. Foreshadowing.

2. Analepsis

3. Retrospective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCy5WQ9S4c0

EPISODIC NARRATIVES1. May also be a dual narrative.E.g. One Day.

2. Disjointed

3. Fragmented Narrative.

LINEAR NARRATIVE1. Starts at the start and ends at the end.2. E.g. Harry Potter.3. Prolepsis

EMBEDDED NARRATIVE / FRAMING DEVICE•A STORY WITHIN A STORY.

•FRAMING DEVICE: INTRODUCES THE STORY AND JUSTIFIES WHY IT’S

TOLD. GIVES BACKGROUND INFO.

HOW TO SPOT IT: IF A CHARACTER IS SUDDENLY REMINDED OF

SOMETHING, SO HAS A FLASHBACK OR TELLS A SECONDARY STORY

THAT INFORMS THE MAIN PLOT, THE THING THAT REMINDED THEM IS

THE FRAMING DEVICE. THE STORY ITSELF IS THE EMBEDDED

NARRATIVE.

WHY? GIVE BACKGROUND INFO/RELEVANT INFORMATION ALLOW THE

WRITER TO EXPLORE A CHARACTER FURTHER, OR GIVE CERTAIN

ACTIONS CONTEXT OR JUSTIFICATION.

REORDER THE MURDER SEQUENCE AND/OR REORDER YOUR FAIRYTALE.

KEY TERMS: NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

1. Exposition2. Rising Action3. Crisis4. Climax5. Anti-Climax/Falling Action6.Catharsis7.Denouement

Choose any book that you have read and identify these key points.

Does more than one event fit these key points?

OTHER STRUCTURAL FEATURES

1. Mirroring2. Recurring Symbols.3. Foreshadowing4. Analepsis. 5. Language6. Pathetic Fallacy

CRISIS (SIGNIFICANT MOMENT)

Climax

Linear

Non-Linear

Disjointed

Chronological Time Narrative Time

Exposition (Opening)

Denouement

Analepsis

Time

Shifts

FORESHADOWING

Retrospective

CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERISATION1. To explore how writers present characters?2. To explore how characters can be used to

influence a story.

Key QuestionsWhat are the significant character traits?How are these traits revealed?How are the character traits revealed through the form/structure and language.

DRAW ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS. CAN YOU NAME YOUR CHARACTER?

•WIZARD

•WITCH

•FRENCHMAN

•ROCK STAR

•HERO

•VILLAIN

•FOOTBALL FAN

Label the features.

Why have you chosen these features?

________ ___________An instantly recognisable representation of a character that has been in use for a very long time.  ______________________ A certain personality or type of person seen repeatedly in a particular genre. ____________________Simple characters that are only very superficial and depend on our knowledge of clichés to recognise them

Narrative Persona: the unnamed “I” who sometimes narrates a story.

Stereotypes, Archetypes and Generic Types

The hero

The false hero

The princess

The father of the princess

The helper

The villain

The donor

The dispatcher

AN EXTRACT FROM MARINER•LIST THE FEATURES OF THE MARINER.

•WHAT ARCHETYPE DOES HE FIT?

•HOW IS THE MARINER DESCRIBED?

•CONSIDER THE LANGUAGE USED.Key QuestionHow does the Mariner challenge stereotypes?How do characters go beyond stereotypes?

THE ANCIENT MARINERIt is an ancient mariner,And he stoppeth one of three‘By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,Now wherefore stop’st thou me?

The bridegroom’s doors are opened wide,And I am next of kinThe guests are met, the feast is set:May’st hear the merry din’,

He holds him with his skinny hand,‘There was a ship’ quoth he.“Hold off! Unhand me grey-beard loon’.Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

He Holds him with his glittering eye-The wedding guest stood still,And listens like a three years’ child:The Mariner hath his will.

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:He cannot choose but hear;And thus spake on that ancient man,The bright-eyed mariner.

AN EXTRACT FROM KITE RUNNERHOW IS HASAN PRESENTED?

THE KITE RUNNERWhen we were children, Hassan and I used to climb the poplar trees in the driveway of my father’s house and annoy the neighbours by reflecting sunlight into their homes with a shard of mirror. We would sit across from each other on a pair of high branches. We took turns with the mirror as we ate the mulberries, pelted each other with them, giggling. Laughing. I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiselled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green even sapphire. I can still see his tiny low-set ears and that pointed snub of a chin, a meaty appendage that looked like it was added as a mere afterthought. And the cleft lip, just left of mid-line, where the Chinese doll maker’s instrument may have slipped or perhaps he had simply grown tired and careless.Sometimes up in those trees, I talked to Hassan into firing walnuts with his slingshot at the neighbour’s one-eyed German Shepherd. Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked really asked, he wouldn’t deny me. Hassan never denied me anything.

IVThat in the mortar---you call it a gum?Ah, the brave tree whence such gold oozings come! And yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue,Sure to taste sweetly,---is that poison too?VHad I but all of them, thee and thy treasures,What a wild crowd of invisible pleasures!To carry pure death in an earring, a casket,A signet, a fan-mount, a filigree basket!VISoon, at the King's, a mere lozenge to give,And Pauline should have just thirty minutes to live!But to light a pastile, and Elise, with her headAnd her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!

THE LOVELY BONESMy name was Salmon, like the fish: first name Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6 1973. In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair. This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail. It was still back when people believed things like that didn’t happen.

In my junior high yearbook I had a quote from a Spanish poet my sister had turned me on to, Juan Ramon Jimenez. It went like this: If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. I chose it both because it expressed my contempt for my structured surroundings a la the classroom and beause not being some dopey quote from a rock group. I thought it marked me as literary. I was a member of the chess club and chem club and burned everything I tried to make in Mrs Delminico’s home ec class.

CHARACTER TYPES

Antagonist

Protagonist

Foil

CHOOSE YOUR OWN EXTRACT AND EXPLORE HOW THE CHARACTERS ARE ESTABLISHED.