Narrative & Myth
Whilst it’s true to say that a narrative is no more than a story, the important realisation from an analytical viewpoint is that when we tell or write a story, we all tend to use a very similar form and structure, no matter what the story and whether it is imaginary or not. Narrative is easily one of the most common varieties of social discourse and a day will not pass without you reading or hearing a story – or constructing one of your own.
In a narrative, events (whether they be real or fictional) are told in certain ways: they are told (‘narrated’) from a certain point of view (e.g. ‘first person’, ‘third person’, ‘multiple viewpoint’, etc.), they are carefully selected for their value in creating a sense of involvement, interest and tension; the events are unified and coherent, they have an apparently logical ‘cause and effect’ structure. The events typically involve a main character (called, ‘the protagonist’ or ‘hero’); the life of the protagonist is usually disturbed from an initial – or presumed – state of ‘normality’ or equilibrium; this disturbance is created by a conflict that is introduced by a second character (called the ‘antagonist’ or ‘villain’ – also sometimes a social institution); the conflict is tackled by the ‘hero’ during the development or rising action of the narrative; this leads to a climax of action followed by a winding down and tying up of loose ends called the dénouement; during this final part of the story, there is the formation of a new equilibrium and a final resolution. Typically, by the end of the narrative, the protagonist’s life will have changed in some way and he or she will have learned something useful about life.
From early childhood, we become accustomed to making sense of the complex events of the world through the simplifying and satisfying means of narrative, not noticing the way the form and structure of narrative orders and simplifies reality, most particularly the way it positions people as either wholly ‘good’ (= heroes and helpers) or wholly ‘bad’ (= villains and accomplices). The fact that this is merely a point of view and a massive over-simplification of the realities of life passes us by as we become absorbed by and relate to the characters and events of the narrative. It has been suggested that we might even be born with such basic structures and forms embedded within our subconscious; they certainly have an enduring and unshakeable impact upon our psychology. Certainly, it is clear that as human beings we do have a need for security, control and order within our lives and narrative, along with genre, are two very important means by which order and security can be created in what is, in reality, a disordered and even potentially dangerous universe.
Many narratives are so ancient and enduring that they are called myths. Examples are the romance myth, the family myth, the hero myth and so on. Narratives usually have a relatively fixed structure: a ‘beginning’ (where a setting creates mood or atmosphere and characters are introduced), linked to a ‘middle’ (where the hero meets a problem and works to overcome the problem and where the plot becomes interesting and reaches a climax) linked to an ‘end’ (where a satisfying sense of closure is introduced – the plot draws to a conclusion).
