What is a Narrative

A narrative is a way of expressing something to someone else. We use it everyday in order to communicate to others. Abbott says that the "gift of narrative is so pervasive and universal that there are those who strongly suggest that narrative is a deep structure, a human capacity genetically hard-wired into our minds in the same way as our capacity for grammar (according to some linguists) is something we are born with" (Abbott 3). It is how we comprehend what goes on around us and attempt to explain it to others. A narrative does not have to be a story, as a story will have a linear plot. A narrative can simply be a feeling someone expresses through a phrase or a poem. Herman believes that the loosely defined narrative is a way to escape from using solid terms. He describes using "the contemporary use of the term narrative as a hedging device, a way to avoid strong positions. (Herman 1). Discourse is the ability to mold the story you are trying to express into any shape you wish, and still have it mean the same thing. It doesn't matter in which order you express the events, so long as your mind is able to sort them out chronologically within the story.

Works Cited

Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.

Herman, David. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print.