The Narrative Structures of Literature
 

Let's face it. The whole of that thing we call literature is merely the telling of stories. In fact, all of the communication we do is shaped as a story. Literary Critics call these stories, and the telling of them, narrative. Narratives may be shaped as either poetry or prose and may be either true or fictional. Shakespeare's plays, Maya Angelou's poetry, an article in Sports Illustrated, a web site, commercials, even the nightly news is constructed as narrative.

When a Narratologist (one who studies narrative) studies a narrative, they examine the structural components of the narrative and the relationships between those components. The most basic of those components is plot.

Plot refers to the plan, the design, the pattern of events in a narrative. Now we must draw a careful distinction between plot and story. A plot refers to the author's strategic ordering of the events in the narrative to create a specific meaning. A story is merely relating the events of an incident in chronological order. Or as E.M. Foster put it in Aspects of the Novel:

If one says "the king died and the queen died" they are telling a story. If they add three simple words: "The king died and the queen died of grief," then they have constructed a plot.

The plot then is the structure upon which the author builds her message. The study of plot as a literary device dates all the way back to Aristotle's Poetics. Aristotle called plot: "the imitation of the action." Aristotle argued that a plot must be "whole" in that it must have a beginning, middle, and end which are complete in themselves [Although not necessarily presented in chronological order]. Aristotle also argued that the plot must have unity in that if any of the parts is missing then the whole will be negatively impacted.

Gustav Freytag set forth an outline of the structure of a plot (which is also the structure of the typical five act play). Freytag's Pyramid outlines the elements of plot:

1. introduction-during which characters, setting and the inciting moment or force are established. The inciting moment (or force) is the event or circumstance which causes the events in the plot to unfold.
2. rising action-during which the plot becomes more complicated and the conflict intensifies.
3. climax-the point of the greatest tension and emotional intensity in the plot.
4. falling action-The falling away of complication and conflict as the plot moves toward a resolution.
5. resolution/catastrophe-the concluding act of a plot wherein all elements are resolved. Catastrophe is used to describe the final act of tragedies. Resolution for prose.

Other terms used to describe plot elements include:

• crisis-(or turning point) is the moment where the protagonist's fate is going to dramatically change for better or worse. The crisis usually occurs in the climax.
• denouement - (French meaning "unknotting") is a term usually applied to the final act of a Comedy.