1 ERIC Identifier: ED250698 Publication Date: 1984-00-00
Pradl, Gordon Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communia!ion "#ills $r%ana I&' Author:
ERIC Digest.
(arra!olog)* +he +he "!ud) o "!or) "!ru!ure' "!ru!ure' The The tell tellin ing g of stor storie ies s is such such a perv pervas asiv ive e aspe aspect ct of our our enviro environme nment nt that that we someti sometimes mes forget forget that that storie stories s provid provide e the initial and continuing means for shaping our experience. Indeed, with wi thou outt stor storie ies s our our expe experi rien ence ces s wo woul uld d mere merely ly be unev uneval alua uate ted d sensations from an undierentiated stream of events. !tories are the th e repo reposi sito tory ry of our our coll collec ecti tive ve wi wisd sdom om abou aboutt th the e wo worl rld d of social"cultural behavior# they are the $ey mediating structures for our encounters with reality. Thus Thus,, it is not not surp surpri risi sing ng th that at a grea greatt deal eal of scho schola larl rly y investigation has focused on both the nature of stories and their central role in human aairs. %cross many disciplines && including ling lingui uist stic ics, s, lite litera rary ry crit critic icis ism, m, anth anthro ropo polo logy gy,, psyc psycho holo logy gy,, and and sociology && researchers have begun to see how the analysis of story stru struct ctur ure e is fund fundam amen enta tall to our our unde unders rsta tand ndin ing g of indi indivi vidu dual al intention and potential. '(%T I! )%RR%T*+*- This rather pretentious label refers to the structuralist study of narrative. The structuralist see$s to understand how recurrent elem elemen ents ts,, th them emes es,, and and patt patter erns ns yiel yield d a set set of univ univer ersa sals ls th that at determine the ma$eup of a story. story. The ultimate goal of such analysis is to move from a taxonomy of elements to an understanding understanding of how these these elemen elements ts are arran arranged ged in actual actual narrat narrative ives, s, /ction /ctional al and and non/ctional. The The inte intell llec ectu tual al trad tradit itio ion n out out of wh whic ich h narr narrat atol olog ogy y grew grew bega began n wi with th th the e ling lingui uist stic ic wo wor$ r$ of 0erdi erdina nand nd de !aus !aussu sure re.. 1y dist distin ingu guis ishi hing ng betw betwee een n paro parole le 2spe 2speci ci/c /c inst instan ance ces s of spo$ spo$en en language3 and langue 2the ideali4ed abstract grammar relating all the speci/c instances of speech3, !aussure initiated 5structuralism,5 the study of systems or structures as independent from meanings, and the /eld of semiotics was born 2see ERIC 0act !heet, 5!emiotics53. Roman 6a$obson and the Russian 0ormalists also also in7u in7uen ence ced d th the e stud study y of narr narrat ativ ive, e, reve reveal alin ing g how how lite litera rary ry language diers from ordinary language. !tructuralism was further shap shaped ed by 0r 0ren ench ch anth anthro ropo polo logi gist st Clau Claude de +evi& evi&!t !tra raus uss, s, wh who o concluded that myths found in various cultures can be interpreted in terms of their repetitive structures. '(%T %00%IR! %00%IR!
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%lthough, strictly spea$ing, narratology refers only to the particular research of literary critics and anthropologists who study narrative discourse, a concern for narrative penetrates many academic disciplines. !igni/cantly, the words 5narrative5 and 5story5 can both be traced bac$ to an original meaning of 5to $now.5 It is through the story that people ;uite literally come to $now && that is, to construct and maintain their $nowledge of the world. Through a story, an individual creates meaning out of daily happenings, and this story, in turn, serves as the basis for anticipation of future events. The psychologist eorge E%+ED %1*8T T(E )%T8RE *0 )%RR%TI>E! 0or one thing, researchers have found that certain underlying narrative structures remain constant, despite the apparently endless diversity of story forms and content. In his study of one hundred Russian fol$ tales, >ladimir 9ropp found that the same types of actions were being performed 2e.g., the hero is transported to another $ingdom3 even while the personages and details varied greatly 2e.g., the hero might be !ucen$o or Ivan# the vehicle an eagle, a horse, or a magic ring3. In all, 9ropp identi/ed seven spheres of action and thirty&one /xed elements that /t his sample of stories# and though tales from other cultures reveal additional elements, they too are composed of recurring patterns. !tructural analysis, then, uncovers the basic social&psychological tas$s that people confront during their lives && issues of dependence or independence, sel/shness or sacri/ce, birth or death. 0or another, structuralists li$e T4vetan Todorov, erard enette, and Roland 1arthes have given us new ways to loo$ at how stories 2novels3 are constructed, especially across dimensions of time and narration. 'ith regard to time, in everyday life a spea$er relates events according to normal chronology# but in complex wor$s of /ction, a distinction between 5plot5 and 5story5 evolves. The plot in eect reveals the story, often rearranging the timeline# and through this the reader 5rediscovers5 the original events. 0or instance, in a mystery story two timelines move in opposite directions to $eep the reader guessing 5whodunnit5 until the end. 'ith regard to narration, an oral tale normally consists of a spea$er telling of past events either from a /rst&person perspective
2if the spea$er was involved3 or from a third&person perspective 2if the spea$er was a mere onloo$er3. The complicated modern novel, however, destroys such a neat picture of narrator and voice. 9oint of view in the modern novel becomes a powerful tool of the author in revealing subtleties of human psychology. :itchell +eas$a, for example, has demonstrated how >irginia 'oolf=s novels involve a carefully crafted 5multiple point&of&view.5 In sum, narratology has deepened our insights into both the structure of the novel and its origins in primal tales, adding to our store of psychological and social wisdom. (*' D*E! % C(I+D=! C*)CE9T *0 !T*R- DE>E+*9 %rthur %pplebee has studied the stories children tell and children=s responses to the stories they read. (is study shows that a child=s idea of a story parallels other cognitive abilities and is related to general growth in ability to ta$e on others= perspectives. %pplebee describes six stages in children=s event&arrangement, a developmental pattern ranging from 5heaps5 2mere lists of unrelated perceptions3 to 5true narratives5 2complete events that reveal a theme or evaluation of experience3. *ther researchers have shown that children in the telling of their own stories gradually develop certain literary conventions 25once upon a time...53 as they grow increasingly sensitive to the overall aesthetic structure of narrative. Developments that parallel children=s storytelling abilities occur in their responses to narratives. 'hile small children have no abstract system for categori4ing the stories around them, adolescents begin to dierentiate stories on the basis of underlying themes and personal signi/cance. 'hat children are developing here is a mature use of the 5spectator role5 of language, as 6ames 1ritton has described it. In reacting to narratives, children grow in their ability to compare their constructs of the world with others=, and they learn to ;uestion whether their system of expectations is ade;uate for the future. 5!torying,5 in other words, is central to personal and ethical development. (*' D*E! C8+T8RE %00ECT T(E I)TER9RET%TI*) %)D TE++I) *0 !T*RIE! Important dierences among cultural groups are re7ected in their explanatory stories of the universe. !imilar events appear radically dissimilar when viewed through the lenses of dierent cultural traditions. 0or example, 'allace Chafe and his associates showed a short /lm 2in which some youths ta$e pears from a man who has been pic$ing them3 to sub?ects of dierent nationalities. The result was multiple interpretations and storytelling performances. The response patterns of %mericans focused on details and temporal se;uencing, while ree$s sought a larger
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story context and ascribed social motives to the characters. 'illiam +abov=s research with cultural subgroups revealed not only dierent story lines in response to a ;uestion 25(ave you ever been in a situation where you were in serious danger of being $illed53 but also diverse linguistic strategies for stating explanations. (*' D*E! T(E !T8D- *0 )%RR%TI>E RE+%TE T* TE%C(I)"+E%R)I) T(E +%)8%E %RT! !ince story forms provide an essential means of organi4ing material about human behavior and events in the world, teachers should explore narrative with their students. !tories will be a ma?or vehicle of our students= language development. In encouraging their storyma$ing, along with their personal responses to the stories they read, we are fostering personal and cultural development. 6ust as narratology reveals certain universals underlying our stories, it establishes the ground for heterogeneity of values and surface forms, and thus supports pluralism in the classroom. 'hile the broad, outward forms of narrative predominate in the language classroom, narratology is also concerned with how the individual mind seems to encode information about the world through highly personali4ed schemata 2see ERIC 0act !heet, 5!chemata53. 0inally, storyma$ing provides a natural transition into more formal writing tas$s. The underlying 5moral5 or point that stories attempt to uncover is what eventually gets transformed into the thesis statement in expository or persuasive essays. )arratology, then is fundamentally related to teaching and learning at all grade levels, and even beyond the classroom. 0rom the study of reading comprehension to the building of models of arti/cial intelligence, the more we understand the nature of narrative, the more we understand ourselves. 0*R :*RE I)0*R:%TI*) %pplebee, %rthur. T(E C(I+D=! C*)CE9T *0 !T*R-@ %E! T'* T* !E>E)TEE). Chicago@ 8niversity of Chicago 9ress, AB. 1ergold, !haron. 5Children=s rowth of Competence in !torytelling5. +%)8%E %RT! F 2ABG3@ H&. 1ritton, 6ames. 9R*!9ECT %)D RETR*!9ECT@ !E+ECTED E!!%-!. ordon :. 9radl, ed. 8pper :ontclair, ).6.@ 1oynton Coo$, AB. Chafe, 'allace +., ed. T(E 9E%R !T*RIE!@ C*)ITI>E, C8+T8R%+, %)D +I)8I!TIC %!9ECT! *0 )%RR%TI>E 9R*D8CTI*). )orwood, ).6.@ %blex 9ublishing Corporation, ABJ. Eagleton, Terry. +ITER%R- T(E*R-@ %) I)TR*D8CTI*). :inneapolis@ 8niversity of :innesota 9ress, AB.
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0avat, 0. %ndre. C(I+D %)D T%+E@ T(E *RII)! *0 I)TERE!T. 8rbana, Ill.@ )ational Council of Teachers of English, AB. 0reedle, Roy *., ed. )E' DIRECTI*)! I) DI!C*8R!E 9R*CE!!I). )orwood, ).6.@ %blex 9ublishing Corporation, ABB. IRI)I% '**+0=! +I(T(*8!E@ % !T8D- I) CRITIC%+ :ET(*D. )ew -or$@ Columbia 8niversity 9ress, ABJ. 9radl, ordon :. 5+earning (ow to 1egin and End a !tory.5 +%)8%E %RT! G 2ABB3@ A&. 9ropp, >ladimir, :*R9(*+*- *0 T(E 0*+
