What is a narrative?

When watching a movie, there might be a voice that supplies the audience with information about the characters and the overall story throughout the whole movie. That voice belongs to a narrator and is most likely a character from the movie. That is usually the answer when asked “what is a narrative?”. Defining “narrative” can be hard as there is no concrete definition since narratives is a vast topic. Narrative has many elements such as plot, setting, characters and it can be used for a lot of things such as an experience.

According to Abbott, the definition of narrative is “the representations of an event or a series of events” (Abbott, 13). He believes this is what a narrative is because our human mind instinctively tries to find an explanation of what is happening in the picture or movie (Abbott, 10). With the definition, he further breaks down the definition of a narrative to story (events and entities), plot, and narrative discourse. “Story is an event or sequence of events (the action); and narrative discourse is those events as represented” (Abbott, 19). Stories are then split into subcategories: events and entities. Herman further explains that “a story is composed to action (an event or events) and characters (more broadly existents or entities) and that is always proceeds forward in time..” (Herman, 41). Abbott adds on that the event can’t live without entities but entities (characters) can live without events. The next element, plot is needed in a narrative which can be defined as “the combination of economy and sequencing of events that makes a story a story and not just raw material” (Herman, 43). Plot is important as it is the building foundation for a story. Plot, narrative discourse, and story are what make up a narrative in Abbott’s point of view. Since it’s difficult to fully define narratives, there are many other definitions out there that might have different elements than Abbott’s.

Works Cited:

Abbott, H.P. (2008) The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative: Second Edition. Location: Cambridge University Press.

Herman, D. (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Location: Cambridge University Press