Narrative Theory

Structures

My children’s book has a closed narrative as it reaches a conclusion. The conclusion in my book is that Jack takes the money off of Sir Alan Salt and Jack and his family become wealthy.An example of an open narrative would an episode of the TV series Dexter, an episode usually ends on a cliffhanger, and the series isn’t resolved until the very end. So an episode of Dexter has an open narrative until the last episode of the series.

My story is also has a single-stranded storyline, as kids usually struggle to follow more complex ones. My story follows the simple storyline of Jack finding a key, taking money and becoming rich.There are no extra ‘side stories’. An example of a multi-stranded storyline would be Coronation Street, as there are many different storylines that include a variety of different people, these storylines are all happening at once.

My story is a linear story, as it follows a simple structure all goes all across one timeline. Each event happens in order, there are no things such as flash backs or time changes.An example of a Non-linear story would be the TV show Jessica Jones, as it contains many flashbacks, and the timeline isn’t 100% in the correct order.

The original story of Jack and the beanstalk is very much an anti-realist story, however, due to the fact that I’ve updated it, I believe that I turned it into a realist story, as my story could happen in real life. It may be fairly unlikely, but it is still possible, an the characters are all realistic characters.An example of an anti-realist story would be Spider-man, as this story is completely impossible. Even though the creators attempt to make the sorry as believable as possible, it’s impossible for this story to happen and the characters are generally unrealistic.

Components

My Childrens book does contain an opening. The opening used in my book is an introduction to Jack and his family. Then it carries on to where Jack is at this point of time, which is that he is walking down a street with his dog, Scruff.

My childrens book also contains a conflict. The conflict used in my book is that Jack comes from a poor family, so he has a desire to get money in any way possible. His desire for money drives the story and keeps it running.

An enigma is a puzzle/problem that a character needs to solve. The enigma in my story is when Sir Alan Salt catches Jack and Scruff stealing money. This puts Jack in a bad situation that he needs to get out of. This enigma is used to intrigue the reader, this should excite the kids and it should hopefully make them want to read on.

I believe that the climax in my book is when Jack enters the money room and begins to steal it. This part of the book is when Jack decides to break the law in order to help out his family. This point in the book changes Jack’s fate as he ends up taking the money and by the end of the book he is rich because of his choice.

My book doesn’t manipulate time and space, as it all follows a simple time structure and there are no huge time jumps. An example of a story that does manipulate time would be the television show 24.In 24 there are many times where something has to be done within a certain amount of time, for example, the protagonist, Jack Bauer will have to diffuse a bomb in 5 minutes, yet, as viewers watching the show, ten minutes passes and the bomb still hasn’t gone off. This is how time can be manipulated.

My book includes a clear resolution. The resolution in my book comes right at the end of the story. It is when Jack gets away from Sir Alan Salt. This then leads to Jack and his family becoming rich with the money that Jack took. In the final image of my book, Jack looks extremely happy, which is a clear reflection of the first image of him in my book, in which Jack looks fairly moody and sad. Everything in my book gets resolved by the end.