Narration
1. What is narration
1.1 definition
To narrate is to give an account of an event or a series of events. In other words, a narrative recreates an event or gives a sense of it by helping the audience visualize that event.
1.2 classification
2. Strategies for using narration
2.1 Include the key elements of narration
In order to make a narrative easier to follow, you should often take the following elements into consideration:
1) a setting, or some background information
2) a goal, or the ultimate purpose of the writing
3) an initiating event
4) simple reaction
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5) an attempt
6) an outcome
7) the ending
In some cases, some of them may be absent. In any sense, a narrative should at least contain a setting, a theme, a plot, and an ending.
Eg.
It happened that a fox was ambling(溜达) along a country lane when he spied a bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine（葡萄树） high above his head. Hungry as he was, the fox determined to have those grapes for his dinner. He stood tall on his hind legs, but could not reach the grapes. He leapt high in the air, but missed the grapes and fell painfully onto his back. He was too sore to make a further attempt at the grapes, so he sighed and turned away down the road. “Well,” he said to himself. “The grapes were probably sour anyway.”
2.2 Select significant details for narration
Six Ws: Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?
◇ In selecting significant details, you should avoid those details which are not pertinent to the above six questions.
◇ For different subjects and different purposes, you can lay different amount of
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emphasis on each aspect. Sometimes one or two of the six Ws can even be omitted.
Eg.
I was standing right across the road there by my car getting ready to change a flat tire when I heard the train coming. Just as the engine reached the crossing, there was a loud grinding sound. And the noise did not stop either, the way it would in a car wreck; it kept going on, thundering and crashing. All of a sudden, the coal cars started to jackknife, falling off the tracks like toys, with coal pouring out all over the ground. Coal dust and dirt were flying everywhere. Then, in a minute or two, everything was still; the only thing moving was the coal, sliding out of the car in piles. I just stood there and watched. It was like something you’d see in the movies.
2.3 Determine a purpose
2.4 Choose a point of view
What are the advantages and limitations of the first person?
2.5 Use dialogues cautiously
1) Where it is possible, avoid unnecessary repetition of the speakers’ names or unnecessary description of the way they speak, so far as the reader can make out who is talking and who will follow in turn.
A tiresome dialogue:
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“ I see you in the corner,” whispered Baker softly.
“ How did you find me?” inquired Charles curiously.
“ I smelled the pipe you’ve been smoking,” purred Baker evilly.
“Oh!” exclaimed Charles alarmedly.
2)Present dialogues in a simple and brief way. Don’t overload your writing with lengthy dialogues that have vague or little bearing on the point you want to make. Don’t extend dialogues in such a way as to turn the narrative into a play.
Eg.
I’ll not forget my first---and last---meeting with that old Texan. He came striding down the line I had just surveyed on his property（地产），pulling up my line stakes（线路桩） and tossing（猛举）them over his shoulder as he came. When he got up to my surveying truck, he wasn’t even out of breath:
“ Get off my land.”
“OK. I will----in just a minute. If you’ll just---”
“Get off now.”
“Yes, sir, right now, just like you say.”
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And I did leave, as fast as possible.
3. How to organize a narrative essay
3.1 how to introduce a narrative essay
In narrative introductions, the best plan is to hint at your main point, preparing your reader psychologically for what is to come.
1) The most obvious way is to give background the reader will need to understand the story.
Eg.
After several months’ jail in my university, I was so mentally tired that I embarked on a trip to Shanghai on the very first day of the summer vacation in 1997. Though I did not expect much from that trip except freedom, it finally turned out to be my most unforgettable trip just because of a girl.
2) Another way to begin a narrative is to go directly into the story itself.
3.2 How to develop the body of a narrative essay
Episode
Chronological order
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Flashback
3.3 how to end a narrative essay
A frequently used way to end a narrative is to further point out the significance of the event.
Eg.
That incident happened more than fifteen years ago. My parents and my sister might have forgotten it by now. But Father’s words are still ringing in my ears.
Another way to end a narrative is to have the significance implied and leave it to the reader to make it out.
A Sample
If Only
Paul Monahan Having worked at a 7-Eleven store for two years, I thought I had become successful at what our manager called “customer relations”. I firmly believed that a friendly smile and an automatic “sir”, “ma’am”, and “thank you” would see me through any situation that might arise, from soothing impatient or unpleasant people to apologizing for giving out the wrong change. But the other night an old woman shattered my belief that a glib（口齿伶俐的）response could smooth over the rough spots of dealing with othe
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human beings.
The moment she entered, the woman presented a sharp contrast to our shiny store with its bright lighting and neatly arranged shelves. Walking as if each step were painful, she slowly pushed open the glass door and hobbled（步履蹒跚）down the nearest aisle（走廊）. She coughed dryly, wheezing（困难地呼吸）with each breath. On a forty-degree night, she was wearing only a faded print dress, a thin, light-beige sweater too small to button, and black vinyl（乙烯基）slippers with the backs cut out to expose calloused（起老茧的）heels. There were no stockings or socks on her splotchy（脏兮兮的）, blue-veined legs.
After strolling around the store for several minutes, the old woman stopped in front of the rows of canned vegetables. She picked up some corn niblets and stared with a strange intensity at the label. At that point, I decided to be a good, courteous employee and asked her if she needed help. As I stood close to her, my smile became harder to maintain; her red-rimmed eyes were patially closed by yellowish crusts（硬皮）；her hands were covered with layer upon layer of grime（尘垢）, and the stale smell of sweat rose in a thick vaporous cloud from her clothes.
“I need some food,” she muttered in reply to my bright “ Can I help you?”
“Are you looking for corn, ma’am?”
“I need some food,” she repeated. “Any kind.”
“Well, the corn’s night-five cents,” I said in my most helpful voice. “Or, if you like,
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we have a special on bologna（大腊肠）today.”
“I can’t pay,” she said.
For a second, I was tempted to say, “Take the corn.” But the employee rules flooded into my mind: Remain polite, but do not let customers get the best of you. Let them know you are in control. For a moment, I even entertained the idea that this was some sort of test, and that this woman was someone from the head office, testing my loyalty. I responded dutifully, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t give away anything for free.”
The old woman’s face collapsed a bit more, if that were possible, and her hands trembled as she put the can back on the shelf. She shuffled（慢慢吞吞地走）past me toward the door, her torn and duty clothing barely covering her bent back.
Moments after she left, I rushed out the door with the can of corn, but she was nowhere in sight. For the rest of my shift, the image of the woman haunted me. I had been young, healthy, and smug. She had been old, sick, and desperate. Whishing with all my heart that I had acted like a human being rather than a robot, I was saddened to realize how fragile a hold we have on our better instincts.
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