Narrative is a type of text for amusing, creating, stimulating emotions or entertaining, motivating and giving and teaching the readers. Narratives always deal with some problems which lead to the climax and then turn into a solution to the problem. The basic purpose of narrative is to entertain, to gain and hold a readers' interest. However narratives can also be written to teach or inform, to change attitudes / social opinions e. g soap operas and television dramas that are used to raise topical issues. Narratives sequence people/characters in time and place but differ from recounts in that through the sequencing, the stories set up one or more problems, which must eventually find a way to be resolved.
Rhetorical stages of narratives are orientation (who were involves in the story, when and where), complication (a problem arises and followed by other problems); The complication usually involves the main character(s) (often mirroring the complications in real life). resolution (provide solution to the problem): there needs to be a resolution of the complication. The complication may be resolved for better or worse/happily or unhappily. Sometimes there are a number of complications that have to be resolved. These add and sustain interest and suspense for the reader
Language features of narratives are the use of noun phrases (beautiful princess, a huge temple), the use of connectives (first, before, that, then, finally), the use of adverbials phrases of time and place (in the garden, two days ago), the use of simple past tense (he walked away from the village).
There are many types of narrative. They can be imaginary, factual or a combination of both. They may include fairy stories, mysteries, science fiction, romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, personal experience.
Example of A Narrative textOne day, a huge snake got in my aunt’s living room. She was very frightened, but she tried to manage herself to be quite. Unfortunately, she failed to do it, so she screamed out very loudly and then called some neighbors for some help. After that, she ran out and in to try to chase the snake out of the room, but she failed to do so.
Some neighbors suggested using salt to chase it away. Then she went to the kitchen to get a cup of salt. Using her right hand, she spread the salt over the snake and the floor of the living room.
Not long after than, the snake slowly began to leave the room.
My aunt was so relieved to see the snake leaving the room without making any harm to anybody.
Exercises
I. Read the text and answer the questions !
Rapunzel
There once lived a couple who longed to have a child. Finally, their wish came true. As the wife waited for the child to be born, she sometimes stared out the window at the garden next door. In it grew some delicious-looking Rapunzel lettuce. But the garden belonged to a witch, and no one dared to go into it. Soon, the wife could think of nothing but that lettuce. She grew paler and paler. Finally, her worried husband decided to sneak into the garden after dark and pick some. His wife ate it all, but it only made her want more. So the husband went back to the garden.
But this time, the witch caught him. "How dare you steal my rapunzel!" she screeched. The terrified husband told her of his wife's craving. "Take all the lettuce you want, then," said the witch. "But in return, you must give me the child." The poor man agreed. As soon as the child was born, the witch took it away to raise as her own. She called the baby girl Rapunzel. Rapunzel grew to be so beautiful that the witch decided no one else must ever see her. So when the child reached the age of twelve, the witch shut her in a tower deep in the forest. The tower was very tall, and had no door. Poor Rapunzel had no way of escaping. When the witch came to visit, she called, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." Then the girl threw her long braid out the window, and the witch climbed it to the top of the tower.
A few years later, a prince happened to be riding through the forest. From a distance he heard Rapunzel singing to amuse herself. He was immediately drawn to the beautiful voice, but once he found the tower, he could find no way in. The prince could not stop thinking about the voice in the tower. Every day he would go back to listen and every night he would leave brokenhearted. He still could find no way in. Until one day from his hiding place, he saw the witch and heard her call. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." Then a long braid fell from the window all the way down to the ground. "If that's the rope to climb, I'll try it," the young prince thought to himself. As Soon as the witch had gone, the prince repeated her call. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." Then he climbed the long braid to the top.At first Rapunzel was frightened, as she had never before seen a man. But the prince told her how he had been drawn to her sweet voice and asked her to marry him. Rapunzel liked him better than the witch and agreed.
But she still had no way to leave the tower. The prince promised to bring a ball of silk each time he came to visit so she could weave a ladder and escape. The prince visited every night, and Rapunzel kept his visits a secret. But one day, without thinking, she blurted out to the witch, "Why are you so much heavier than the prince?" "How dare you trick me!" screamed the witch, and in a fury, she cut off Rapunzel's long hair. The witch laid an evil spell on Rapunzel that sent her to a far-off land.
Then she tied the long braid to the windowsill and waited for the prince. Only as he climbed through the window did he realize he had been tricked.
"Your little songbird is gone," cackled the witch, "and you will never see her again!"
The prince was beside himself with grief and leapt from the tower window. He survived the fall by landing in a thorn bush, but the thorns scratched his eyes. The prince was blinded! How would he ever find Rapunzel now?
For months to come, the prince wandered blindly through the forest, weeping. Whenever he met people along the way, he would ask if they had seen a beautiful girl named Rapunzel, and he would describe her to them. But no one had ever seen her.
Then one day, the prince heard someone singing a sad but beautiful song. He recognized the voice at once and ran towards it, calling out Rapunzel's name.
Rapunzel rushed into the prince's arms and cried tears of joy at finding her beloved. But as her tears fell on the prince's eyes, a strange thing happened - the prince could see again!. Rapunzel and the prince found their way back to the kingdom. Soon they were married and lived happily ever after.
1.What is topic of the text above?
2.Who is Rapunzel?
3.Where did the story happen?
4.What’s them of the story?
5.Did they live unhappy finally?
II.Write an imaginative story. You can choose one of the following topics or choose your own. Then, perform it.
•The magic shoes
•Handsome monkey
•Prince and snake
•The smiling Cucumber
•A deer loves beautiful girl
III.Listen a story from your teacher or cassette, make a conclusion after listening
Questions
A long time ago, a king and a queen had a baby girl. There was a bad old fairy who said, “The princess is going to out her hand on spindle and die.”
The good fairy came and said, ”She is not going to die. She will cut her hand on a spindle and sleep for a hundred years. Then the prince will come and she will wake up.”
Seventeen years passed and the princess grew up to be a beautiful and clever girl.
One day she went to apart of the palace where she has never been before. She sat down in front of an old spinning wheel and cut her hand on spindle. Then she went to sleep and so did every one else in the palace.
A hundred years later a young Prince came to a room and found princess sleeping. He knelt beside her and said, “Wake up, sleeping beauty!”
The princess woke up and at once everybody woke up, too. The prince married sleeping beauty and together they lived happily ever after.
1. What is type of the text?
a. narrative c. recounts e. news item
b. descriptive d. twist
2. What is the purpose of the text?
a. to amuse readers d. to describe a thing or animal
b. to persuade readers e. to do something
c. to inform news to readers
3. The text tells about …
a. kingdom c. bad queen e. cruel king
b. sleeping beauty d. life of girl
4. “ … the princess grew up to be a beautiful and clever girl.’
The bold word means …..
a. Raised c. became e. got
b. Rose d. made
5. What did Prince say when he knelt beside her?
a. I love you c. keep your sleep e. get out
b. get up d. be patient
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