The history of narratives can be traced back to the beginning of mankind. A narrative can be termed as a recounting or telling of a series of events which can either be real or imaginative, recounted by a narrator to a narratee. A narrative can either be personal or collective history. Usually, a narrative is told casually. It is composed of human actions and human events elaborated in a creative and imaginative manner in order for the readers/audience to be able to relate the events with those that affect them. It is arranged in a particular order mostly known as a plot. A narrative has both connotative and denotative meanings. That is the outer and the hidden meanings respectively. The hidden meaning of a narrative is gotten by determining how part of the narrative symbolically affects human beings. This meaning can either be established by an individual or a group of people in a community who have a common knowledge of a culture. A narrative reflects self-understanding, provides a context, and thus meaning. All communities in the world have a culture that is usually transmitted to the subsequent generations through narratives. Therefore, for one to understand the meaning of a narrative fully, he /she has to have an understanding of the particular culture from which the narrative comes. The cultural meaning of narratives is dynamic whereby community members can contribute to their positive value. Lack of use can lead to their extinction (Abraham, 1998).
The meaning of narratives is all about links. Human actions and events are connected to related features of an understandable combination. Narratives display the significance that events have to each other. Narratives, therefore, comprise our social and cultural environments. Our lives are composed of narratives. We generate stories on descriptions for ourselves about our past actions and sometimes we even try to account for the behaviors of other people. We also use the narrative idea to justify our decisions. We achieve this by creating imaginative and creative situations (Abigail,1967).
The types of narratives include both the shortest accounts of events such as the cat sat on the table, and the longest historical or biographical events as well as novels, short stories, epics, and ballads. As narrative readers, we constantly encounter stories in the course of our conversations, through story–telling as children, and through the written and visual media (Powell, 2002).
Functions of a Narrative
- Narratives provide people with entertainment. Almost everyone enjoys reading or listening to a thriving story.
- Narratives help to create a sense of shared history thus lining people together
- Narratives also provide psychological healing to several people. When people read or listen to narratives of people who have faced a life crisis similar to theirs, they tend to be helped to get over the crisis.
- Narratives also function to provide insight. They can help us to discover positive values, explore the available options, and also to examine intentions.
Characteristics of a Good Narrative
- It must involve the readers or audience depending on the context. It is more interesting to establish an incident where the readers /audience are active in the narrative rather than merely narrating it.
- It should relate events in a sequence. The specific scenes created should be set at actual times and in specific places. This should be shown and not only told. An event should be re-created by setting it in a specific time and space.
- It must include detailed descriptions of events, people, and places. You should portray your ability to recall sounds, smell feelings, insights, and tastes, among others. You should also include actual dialogue and give the actual names of people and places.
- It should also present important changes, contrasts, or conflicts, and it should create tension and suspension. You should portray what you know from change; show the conflict between characters, and the contrast that exists between the present and the past.
- It must be told from a point of view, more specifically the author’s point of view.
- It must focus on the link between past events, people, or places and the present. The narrative must show the relevance of the event in the present and how it will be in the future.
- It should communicate a dominant idea and create an impression to the majority of the readers/audience. The detailed description, accounts of changes, and connections between the past and the present should all point up to a single central idea for the whole narrative. The readers /audience should be in a position to state the moral of the story with ease.
In conclusion, a narrative is comprised of a plot, a conflict between the characters, the setting, the theme, and the point of view. Throughout the world, narratives are uncountable. They are there always and everywhere.
References
Abraham E, Matters About Narratives Prentice Hall: New York, 1978 Abigail M, Narratives of Colored American. Prentice Hall: New York, 1967. Powell, Homeland Mythogy: Biblical Narratives, London: Oxford University Press, 2002.