Explanation about Narrative Text

NARRATIVE TEXT

A. Definition

Narrative text is used when we went to retell our experince or someone's story in the past with amusing way. It is provides an esthetic literary experience to the reader. In literary term, experince is what we do, feel, hear, read, even, what we dream.

Narraive text is organized focusing at character oriented. It is built using descriptive familiar language and dialogue. There are some genres of literary text which fit to be classified as the narrative text. Some of them are :
1. Folktales, it includes fables, legend, myth, or realistic tales.
2. Mysteries, fantasy, scince or realistic fiction.

Commonly, narrative text is organized by the story of grammar. It will be beginning, middle and end of the story. To built this story grammar, narrative text needs plot. This plot will determine the quality of the story. Plot is series of episodes which holds the readers' attention while they are reading the story.

Conflict is the main important element of the plot. This conflict among the characters will drive the story progress. In this conflictt, readers will be shown how the characters face the problem and how they have ability to handle that problem.

B. Part of Narraive Text

In learning text, including narrative text, we have to learn three parts:
Social function, Generic Structure, and Language Feature.
1. Social function
       The social function of narrative text is to amuse, to entertain and to deal with actual or vicarious experience in different ways. Narraive deals with problematic events which lead to a crisis or turning point of some kind which in turn finds a resolution.
2. Generic structure

• Orientation : It sets the scene and introduces the participants/characters (what,when,and     who)
• Evaluation : evaluates the participants or the place. (optional)
• Complication : Describing the rising crises which the participants have to with. It explores the conflict among the participants. Complication is the main element of narrative. Without complication, the text is not narrative. The conflict can be shown as natural, social or psychological conflict. This complication is the heart structure of narrative text. The complication will determine whether the text 'live' or not. If the narrative text consider as the 'live' text, it will arouse the readers. It will intrude to the emotion of the readers. Commonly narrative text appears as story text. In literary term, the complication structure is called conflict. Basically, conflict is devided into three kinds. In any writing, each type will not take place with its own type. Each often combines to other type in building the story. Physical conflict, or in other word as elemental conflict, is description of man's struggle to his physical word. It represents man versus nature force, difficulty, and danger. How man survives from flood, exploding mount is clear example of physical conflict. Social conflict is the second type. It will show the struggle of man against his society. It i description of struggle between man and man. It is a perfect picture of social conflict. Internal or psychological conflict is a conflict which happens inside the participant. For example a man struggles against him self, his conscience, and his guilty. He wants to steal money in the other hand he knows that stealing in not good. The fight of stealing money against having good deed is a psychological conflict. The struggle among these conflicts includes verbal and physical attempts. Narrative text will be perfectly composed by these kinds of conflicts. Sometimes it will apply one type but it often combines these three kinds of conflicts.
• Resoution : Showing the way of participant to solve the crises, better or worse.
• Re-orientation : a moral or a message. (optional)

3. Significant language features

      The language features of narrative text are :

1. Focus on specific and individual participants.
2. Use of material process (action verb).
3. Use some of behavioral and verbal processes (saying verbs).
4. Use of relational process (linking verbs)
5. Mental process.
6. Use of past tenses.
7. Use of temporal conjuctions and temporal circumstances.
8. Use of reported speech.

C. Example of Narrative Text

The Legend of Toba Lake

      Once upon a time, there was a handsome man. His name was Batara Guru Sahala. He liked fishing. One day, he caught a fish. He was surprised to find out that the fish could talk. The fish begged him to set it free.

      Batara Guru could not bear it. He made the fish free. As soon as it was free, the fish changed into a very beautiful woman. She attracted Batara Guru so much. He fell in love with that fish - woman. The woman wanted to marry him and said that Batara Guru had to keep the secret which she had been a fish. Batara Guru agreed and promised that he would never tell anybody about it.

      They were married happily. They had two daughters. One day Batara Guru got very angry with his daughter. He could not control his his mad. He shouted angrily and got the word of fish to his daugthers. The daughters were crying. They found their mother and told her about it.

      The mother was very annoyed. Batara Guru broke his promise. The mother shouted angrily. Then, the earth began to shake. Volcanoes started to erupt. The earth formed a very big hole. People believed that the big hole become a lake. Then this lake is known as Toba Lake.

D. Analyze the Text

    1. Generic structure

• Orientation : The first paragraph presents information about the participant of the story. In literary term, the participant is called as character. Orientation commonly introduces information about WHO, WHERE, and WHEN. The participants on the story are Batara Guru Sahala and the fish woman. The place is around a lake, and the time is when he was fishing.
• Complication : Paragraphs two, three and four explore the niche of the story. That is conflict among the characters of the story. This conflict will involve physical and psychological conflict. The conflict is actually the heart of any narrative text. It will drive the participant to make effort in solving the crisis. From the story above we can see that the problem arises when Batara Guru saw the fish woman and he fell in love with her. She wanted to marry him with one condition that he had to keep his promise not to tell anybody him about her including to their children. Finally they got married. But one day, one of their daughters made him angry and he broke his promise.
• Resolution : The last paragraph closes the story with solving the crisis. However it can be better or worse. From the text we know that after Batara Guru broke his promise, it made his wife sad and mad. She finally shouted angrily. Because of her loud shouting, volcanoes started to erupt. The earth formed a very big hole.

    2. Narrative language feature

• Use of material process (action verb). The action verbs we can find on the text above are : caught, made, changed.
• Use some of behavioral and verbal processes (saying verbs) : said, talk, etc.
• Use of relation process (linking verbs) : was, were.
• Mental process : felt, thought, knew, etc.
• Use of past tenses : there was a handsome man, the fish begged him to set it free.
• Use of temporal conjunctions and temporal circumstances : once upon a time, one day, etc.
• Use of reported speech.

Note :

Narrative text use of past tense, so later we try to explain how to use simple past tense. Thank you so much you all visit my blog. If there is incorrect please authorize.