Narrative Text

1.      The Purpose of Narrative Text

The purpose of narrative text is to amuse or entertain the readers.

Narratives deal with problematic events which lead to a crisis or turning point of some kind, which in turn a resolution.

2.      The Generic Structure (Parts) of Narrative Text

There are three parts of narrative text, those are:

1)     Orientation

It sets the scene and introduces the participants of the story.

2)     Complication

It shows when the crisis arises.

3)     Resolution

It shows when the crisis is resolved, for a better or worse condition.

Note:

The structure of narratives occurs in the text variously. A text may have only one complication and resolution, but another text may have more than one complication and resolution.

3.      The grammatical features of narratives

There are some grammatical features of narratives, those are:

1)     Use of adjectives to build noun groups to describe the people, animals, or things in the story, such as …. a nice, diligent and kind-hearted man;

2)     Use of time connectives and conjunctions to sequence events through time, such as however, although, later, then;

3)     Use of adverbs and adverbial phrases to locate the particular events, such asonce upon a time, long time ago;

4)     Use of past tenses, such as Aji Saka went to the kingdom, measured the size of the turban ….;

5)     Use of action verbs to indicate the actions, such as fleed, explained, provided, smashed; and

6)     Use of saying and thinking verbs to indicate what characters are feeling, thinking, or saying, such as told, realized, decided.

Example of Narrative Text :

CINDERELLA

 Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Cinderella. She lived with her step mother and two step sisters.

The step mother and sisters were conceited and bad tempered. They treated Cinderella very badly. Her step mother made Cinderella do the hardest works in the house; such as scrubbing the floor, cleaning the pot and pan and preparing the food for the family. The two step sisters, on the other hand, did not work about the house. Their mother gave them many handsome dresses to wear.

One day, the two step sister received an invitation to the ball that the king’s son was going to give at the palace. They were excited about this and spent so much time choosing the dresses they would wear. At last, the day of the ball came, and away went the sisters to it. Cinderella could not help crying after they had left.

“Why are crying, Cinderella?” a voice asked. She looked up and saw her fairy godmother standing beside her, “because I want so much to go to the ball” said Cinderella. “Well” said the godmother,”you’ve been such a cheerful, hardworking, uncomplaining girl that I am going to see that you do go to the ball”.

Magically, the fairy godmother changed a pumpkin into a fine coach and mice into a coachman and two footmen. Her godmother tapped Cinderella’s raged dress with her wand, and it became a beautiful ball gown. Then she gave her a pair of pretty glass slippers. “Now, Cinderella”, she said; “You must leave before midnight”. Then away she drove in her beautiful coach.

Cinderella was having a wonderfully good time. She danced again and again with the king’s son. Suddenly the clock began to strike twelve, she ran toward the door as quickly as she could. In her hurry, one of her glass slipper was left behind.

A few days later, the king’ son proclaimed that he would marry the girl whose feet fitted the glass slipper. Her step sisters tried on the slipper but it was too small for them, no matter how hard they squeezed their toes into it. In the end, the king’s page let Cinderella try on the slipper. She stuck out her foot and the page slipped the slipper on. It fitted perfectly.

Finally, she was driven to the palace. The king’s son was overjoyed to see her again. They were married and live happily ever after.