<<

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 250 698 CS 208 654. AUTHOR Pradl, Gordon TITLE : The Study of Story Structure.ERIC Digest. INSTITUTION ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Skills, Urbana, SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington,DC. PUB DATE 84 CONTRACT 400-83-0025 NOTE lip.; Provided in both typewritten versionand one-page typeset version. PUB TYPE Information Analyses- ERIC Information Analysis Products (071)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS, Content Analysis; Cultural Influences; Elementary Secondary Education; English Instruction;; *Learning Theories; Literary Devices; *; *Story Telling IDENTIFIERS ERIC Digests; *Narratology; *Story Structure ABSTRACT Intended for administrators and policymakersas well as teachers, this digest discusses the of narratologyand how it relates to language arts instruction.The digest first defines narratology as the structuralist study of narrativeaimed at understanding how recurrent elements, themes, andpatterns yield a set of univarsals that determine the make-up ofa story. The digest then discusses the function of stories in human affairs,what structural analysis reveals about the nature of ,and how a child's concept of story develops. It also exploreshow affects the interpretation and telling of stories. Finally,the digest explains how the study of relatesto teaching and learning in the language arts. (HTH)

**********************************A************************************ Reproductions supplied by EDRSare the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** I

1 Gordon Pradl

ERIC Digest

Narratology: The Study of Story Structure co

The telling of stories is sucha perVasive aspect of our environment that we sometimes forget thatstories provide the 011 initial and continuing 4:3 means for shaping our experience, Indeed, Lai without stories our experiences wouldmerely be unevaluated sensations from an undifferentiatedstream of events. Storiesare the repository of our collective wisdomabout the world of social/cultural behavior; theyare the key mediating structures for our encounters with reality.

Thus, it is not surprising that a greatdeal of scholarly . investigation has focused on both the nature of stories and their central role in human affairs. Acrossmany disciplines--including , , ,psychology, and sociology--researchers have begun tosee how the analysis of story structure is fundamental toour understanding of individual intention and potential.

What is narratology?

This rather pretentious label refersto the structuralist study of narrative. The structuralist seeks tounderstand how recurrent elements, themes, and patterns yielda set of universals that determine the makeup ofa story. The ultimate goal of such analysis is to move froma taxonomy of elements to an understanding of how these elementsare arranged in actual narratives, fictitious and real.

UAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION 0 CENTER (ERICI This document has been reproduced as eceived Itom the person or organization originating it. IIMinor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality.

Points of view or opitilons stated In this docu 2 ment do nct necessarily represent official NIE position Oct policy. 2

The intellectual tradition out of which narratologygrew began with the linguistic work of Ferdinand de Saussure.By distinguishing between parole (specific instances of spoken language) and langue (the idealized abstractgrammar relating all the specific instances of speech), Saussure initiated "," the study of systemsor structures ash independent from meanings, and the field of Semioticswas born (see ERIC Fact Sheet, "".) and the Russian Formalists also influenced the study of narrative, revealing how literary language differs from ordinary language. Structuralism was further shaped by French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who concluded .that found in various can be interpreted in terms of their repetitive structures.

What functions do stories in human affairs? jAlthough strictly speaking narratology refers only to the particular research of literary critics and anthropologists who study narrative , a concern for narrative penetrates many academic disciplines. Significantly, the words "narrative" and "story" both trace back to an original of "to know." It is through the story that people quite literallycome to know--that is, to construct and maintain their 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 George Kelly has described how our personalities grow out of the stories we have chosen to construct from our perceptions of what has happened tous, and how these stories influence our future expectations. Similarly, sociologist Peter Berger has emphasized the importance of stories in shaping social realities, showing how people's characteristic stories change as they progress frone life to another. 3

What has structural analysis revealed about thenature of narratives?

For one thing, researchers have found that certainunderlying narrative structures remain constant, despitethe apparently endless diversity :",f story forms and content.In his study of 100 Russian folk tales, found thatthe same types of actions were performed (e.g., the istransported to another kingdom) even while thepersonages and details varied greatly (e.g.; the hero might be Sucenkoor Ivan; the vehicle an eagle, a horse, or a magic ring). In all, Propp identifiedseven spheres of and thirty-one fixed elements that fithis sample of stories; and though tales from othercultures ' additional elements, they too,recomposed of recurring patterns. Structural analysis, then,uncovers the basic social-psychological tasks that people confront duringtheir lives--issues of dependence or independence,'selfishness' or sacrifice, birth or death.

For another, structuralists like Todorov, GerardGenette, and Barthes have givenus new ways to look at how stories () are constructed, especially across dimensionsof time and narrator. With regard to time, in everyday lifea speaker relates events according to normalchronology; but in complex works of , a distinction between "" and."story" evolves. The plot in effect reveals the story, rearranging the timeline; 'and through thi6 the reader "rediscovers"the original events. For instance, ina mystery story two timelines move in opposite directions to keep the reader guessing "whodunnit" until the end.

With regard to narrator, an oral tale normallyconsists of a speaker telling of past events either from a firstperson perspective (if the speaker was involved)or from a third person perspective (if the speaker was a mere onlooker). The complicated 4

modern , however, destroys such a neat picture of narrator and voice. Point of view in the modern novel becoMes a powerful tool of the author in revealing subtleties of human psychology. Mitchell Leaska, for example, has demonstrated how Virginia Woolf's novels involve a carefully craft "multiple point-of-view." In sum, narratology has dee ened our insights into both the structure of the novel and its rigins in primal tales, adding to our store of psychological and social wisdom.

How does a child's concept of story develop?

Arthur Applebee has studied the stories children tell and children's responses to the stories'they read. His study shows how a child's idea of a story parallels other cognitive abilities and relates to general growth in ability to take on others' perspectives. Applebee describes six stages in children's event-arrangement, a developmental pattern ranging from "heaps" (mere lists of unrelated perceptions) to "true narratives" (complete events that reveal a theme or evaluation of experience). Other researchers have shown that children in the telling.of their own stories gradually develop certain literary conventions ("Once upon a time...") as they grow increasingly sensitive to the overall aesthetic structure of narrative.

Developments that parallel Children's abilities occur in their responses to narratives. While small children have no abstract system for categorizing the stories around them, adolescents begin to differentiate stories on the basis of underlying themes and personal significance. What childrenare developing here is a mature use of the "spectator role" of language, as James Britton 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 question whether their system of expectations is adequate for the future. "Storying," in 'other words, is central to personal and ethical development. How does culture affect the interpretation and telling of stories?

Important differences between cultural groups are reflected in their explanatory stories of the universe. Similar events appear radically dissimilar when viewed through the lens of different cultural traditions. For example, Wallace Chafe and his associates showed a short (in which some youths takepears from a man who has been picking them) to subjects of different nationalities. The result was multiple interpretations and storytelling . The response patterns of Americans focused on details and temporal sequencing, while Greeks sought a larger story context and ascribed social motives to the characters. WilliaM Labov's research with cultural subgroups revealed not only different story lines in response to a question ("Have you ever been in a situation where you were in serious danger of being killed?") but also diverse linguistic strategies for stating explanations.

How does the study of narrative relate to teaching/learning the language arts?

Since story forms provide an essential means of organizing material about human behaviorand events in the world, teachers should explore narrative with their students. Stories will be a major vehicle of our students' language development. In encouraging their storymaking, along with their personal responses to the stories they read, we are fostering personal and cultural development.

Just 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. While the broad, outward forms of narrative predominate in the language classroom, narratology is also concerned with how the 6

individual seems to encode information about the world throu-h highly personalized schemata (see ERIC Fact Sheet, "Schemata"). Finally, storymakin) provides a natural transition into more formal school writing tasks. The'underlying ""or point that stories attempt touncover is what eventually gets transformed into the thesis statement in expositoryor persuasive essays.

Narratology, then, is fundamentally related to teaching and learning at all grade levels, and even beyond the classroom. From the study of reading comprehension to the building of models of artificial intelligence, the more we understand the nature of narrative, the more we understand ourselves.

Gordon Pradl, New York University

References and Sources for Further Reading

Applebee,\Arthur. The Child's Concept of Story: Ages Two to Seventeen. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1978.

Bergold, Sharon. "Children's Growth of Competence in Storytell- ing." Language Arts 53(1976): 874-877.

Britton, James. Prospect and Rey .rospect: Selected Essa s. Gordon M. Pradl, ed. Upper Montclair, N.J.: Boynton=Cook, 1982.

Chafe, Wallace L., ed. The Pear Stories: Coynitive, Cultural, and Linguistic Aspects of Narrative Production. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1980. 7

Eagleton, Terry. : An Introduction. Minneapolis, Minn.: University,of Minnesota Press, 1975.

Favat, F. Andre. Child and Tale: The Origins of Interest. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, 1977.

Freedle, Roy 0., ed. New Directions in Discourse Processing.Nor- wood,\N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1979.

Kelly, George. The Psychology of Personal Constructs. NewYork: Norton, 1955.

Labov, William. Language in the Inner City. Philadelphia,Penn.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972 .(Chapter 9: The Transformation of Experience in Narrative Syntax.)

Levi-Strauss, Claude. "The Structural Study of " Structural Anthropology. New York:Basic , 1963.

Leaska, Mitchell A. Virginia Woolf's Lighthouse: A Study in Critical Method. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970.

Pradl, Gordon M. "Learning How to Begin and Enda Story." Language Arts 56(1979): 21-25.

Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 1968.

Rouse, John. The Completed Gesture. New York: Skyline Books, 1978. 8

Schank, Roger. Dynamic : A Theory of Reminding and Learning in Computers and People. New York: Cambridge Uni- veristy Press, 1982.

"Schemata." ERIC Fact Sheet. Urbana, Ill.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Skills,. 1983.

"Semiotics." ERIC Fact Sheet. Urbana, Ill.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, 1983.

This publication was prepared with funding from the National Institute of Education, U S Department of Education, under contract no 400-83-0025 ERIC Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters Prior to A Product of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading publication, the manuscript was submitted to English language arts specialists for critical and Communication Skills review and determination of professional competence This publication has met such stan dards Points of view or opinions, however, do not necessarily represent the official view 1111 Kenyon Road Urbana, Illinois 61801 or opinions of either the National Council of Teachers of English or the National Institute 1984 of Education ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills ERIC Digest 'ffil=111=1M11

Narratology The Study of StoryStructure

The telling of stories is such a pervasive aspect ofour environ- The psychologist George Kelly has describedhow our ment that we sometimes forget that stories provide the initial personalities grow out of the storieswe have chosen to con- and continuing means for shaping our experience. Indeed, struct from our pecceptions of what has happened to us, and without stories our experiences would merely be unevaluated how these stories influence our future expectations. Similarly, sensations from an undifferentiated stream of events. Stories sociologist Peter Berger has emphasized the importance of are the repository of our collective wisdom about the world stories in shaping social realities, showing how people'schar- of social/cultural behavior; they are the key mediatingstruc- acteristic stories change as they progress fromone life theme tures for our encounters with reality. to another. Thus itis not surprising that ,a great deal of scholarly in- vestigation has focused on both the nature of stories and What Has Structural Analysis Revealed their central role in human affairs, Across many disciplines about the Nature of Narratives? includinglinguistics,literarycriticism,anthropology,psy- chology., and sociologyresearchers have begun tosee how the For one ning, researchers have found that certain underlying analysis of story structure is fundamental to our understanding narrative structures remain constant, despite the apparently of individual intention and potential, endless diversity of story forms and content. In his study of one hundred Russian folk tales, Vladimir Propp found that the What Is Narratology? same types of actions were being performed (e.g., the hero is transported to another kingdom) even while the personages This rather pretentious label refers to the structuralist study and details varied greatly(e.g., the hero might be Sucenko of narrative. The structuralist seeks to understand howre- or Ivan; the vehicle an eagle, a horse, or a magic ring). In all, current elements, themes, and patterns yield a set of universals Propp identified seven spheres of action and thirty-one fixed that determine the makeup of a story. The ultimate goal elements that fit his sample of stories; and though tales from of such analysis is to move from a taxonomy of elements other cultures reveal addition& elements, they too are com- to an understanding of how these elements are arranged in posed of rem ring patterns. Structural analysis, then, uncovers actual narratives, fictional and nonfictional. thebasicsocial-psychological tasks. that people confront The intellectualtradition out of which narratology grew during their livesissues of dependence or independence, began with the linguistic work of Ferdinand de Saussure. selfishness or sacrifice, birth or death. By distinguishing between parole (specific instances of spoken For another, structuralists like , Gerard language) and langue (the idealized abstractgrammar relating Genette, and have given us new ways to look all the specific instances of speech), Saussure initiated "struc- at how stories(novels)are constructed, especially across turalism," the study of systems or structuresas independent dimensions of time and narration. With regard to , in from meanings, and the field of semiotics was born (see ERIC everdaylifea speaker relates events according to normal Fact Sheet, "Semiotics"). Roman Jakobson and the Russian chronology; but in complex works of fiction, a distinction Formalists also influenced the study of narrative, revealing between "plot" and "story" evolves. The plot in effect re- how literary language differs from ordinary language. Struc- veals the story, often rearranging the timeline; and through turalism was further shaped by French anthropologist Claude this the reader "rediscovers" the original events. For instance, Levi-Strauss, who concluded that myths found in variouscul- in a mystery story two timelines move in opposite directions, tures can be interpreted in terms of their repetitive structures. to keep the reader guessing "whodunnit" until the end. With regard to narration, an oral tale normally consists of What Functions Do Stories Play in Human Affairs? a speaker telling of past events either from a first-person perspective(ifthe speaker was involved) or from a third- Although, strictly speaking, narratology refers onlyto the person perspective (if the speaker was a mere onlooker). The particular research of literary critics and anthropologists who complicated modern novel, however, destroys sucha neat study narrative discourse, a concern for narrative penetrates picture of narrator and voice. Point of view in the modern mem/academic disciplines. Significantly, the words "narrative" novel becomes a powerful tool of the author in revealing and "story" can both be traced back to an original meaning subtleties of human psychology. Mitchell Leaska, for example, c f to know." Itis through the story that people quite lit- has demonstrated how Virginia Woolf's novels involvea care- erally come to knowthat is, to construct and maintain their fullycrafted "multiple point-of-view." In sum, narratology knowledge of the world. Through a story an individual creates has deepened our insights into both the structure of the novel meaning out of daily happenings, and thisstory in turn serves and its origins in primal tales, adding toour store of psycho- as the basis for anticipation of future events. logical and social wisdom. (0 PFST CM/ \\

How Does a Child's Concept of Story Develop?\ and surface forms, and thussupports pluralism in the\class- room. While the broau, outward forms of narrative predomi- Arthur Applebee has studied the stories children tell and nate in the language classroom, narratologyis also concerted children's responses to the stories they read. His study shows with 'how the\ individual. mindseems to encode informatl?n that a child's idea of a story parallels other cognitive abilities about the world through highly personalized and is related to general growth in ability to take schemata (see on others' ERIC Fact Shee`(, "Schemata"). Finally,storympking provides perspectives. Applebee describes six stages in children'sevent a natural 'transition into more formal writing tasks. The under`. arrangement, a developmental pattern ranging from "heaps\' lying "moral" or point that storiesattempt to uncover is what (merelists of unrelated perceptions) to "true narratives" eventuallygets transformed %intothethesis statementin (complete events that reveal a theme or evaluation ofex- expository,or'persuesive essays. \\ perience). Other researchers have shown that children in the Narratology,,then;\is fundamentally relatedto teaching and telling of their own stories gradually develop certainliterary learning 'atall grade ) evels, and tn beyond the conventions ("Once upon a time ...") classroom. as they grow increas From the study 'pf reedingcomp ehension to the building ingly sensitive to the overall aesthetic structure of narrative. of Models' of artificial Intelligence,, ihemore we understand Developments that parallel children's storytelling abilities \ the nature of narratnie, ttipmore we understand ourselves. occur in their responses to narratives. While small children have no abstract system for categorizing the storiesaround Gordon Pradl, Nevi, York University, them, adolescents begin to differentiate storieson the basis of underlying themes and personal significance. Whatchildren are developing here is a mature use of the "spectatorrole" of language, as James Britton has described it.In reacting to Resouttes narratives, children grow intheir ability to compare their \ constructs of the world with others', and they learn toques- Applebee, Arthur. The Child's Cony e):tt of Story: Ages\7'woto Seven. \ tion whether their system of expectations is adequatefor the teen. Chicago: University of Chica Press;-1978,' future, "Storying," in oihPr words, is centralto personal and Bergold,' Sharon. "Children's Growthf\ Competence in Storytelling." ethical development. Language Arts 53 (1076): 874-77. \ \ \. Britton, James. Prospect end Retrospece4&lected Eaays. Gordon M. Pradl, ed. Upper Montclair, N.J.: Boynt How Does Culture Affect the Interpretation Cook, 1982. Chafe, Wallace L., ed. The Pear Stories: C pidve,Cultural, and Lin- and Telling of Stories? guistic Aspects of Narrative ProductionNorwood, Publishing Corporation, 1980. Important differences among cultural groups are reflected in Eagleton,Terry.Literary Theory: An Intr\d uction. their explanatory stories of the universe. Similar eventsappear Minneapolie.: University of Minnesota Press, 1975. radically diss;milar when viewed through the lenses of dif- ferent cultural traditions. Fcr example, Wallace Chafe and his Favat, F. Andre. Child and Tale: The Origins df Interest.Urbana, associates showed a short film (in which some youths take III.: National Council of Teachers of English, 1977. pears from a man who has been picking them) to subjects of Freedle, Roy 0., ed. New Directions in Discourse Processing. Norwood, hi.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1979. different nationalities. The result was multiple interpretations- and storytelling Kelly, George. The Psychology of PersonalConstructs, NeW York: performances. The response patterns of Norton, 1955. Americans focused on details and temporal sequencing, while Greeks sought alarger story context and ascribed social Labov, William. "The Transformationof Experiencein Narrative Syntax," In LangUage in the Inner City. Philadelphia:University motives to the characters.William Labov's research with of Pennsylvania Press, 1972. cultural subgroups revealed not only different story'lines in Levi-Strauss, Claude. "The Structural Study ofMyth." In Structural response to a question ("Have you ever been in a situation Anthropology. New York: Basic Books, 1963. where you were in serious danger of being killed?") but also Leaska, Mitchell A. Virginia Woolf's Lighthouse: A Studyin Critical diverse linguistic strategies for stating explanations. Method. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970. Pradl, Gordon M. "Learning How to Begin and Enda Story." Language How Does the Study of Narrative Relate Arts 56 11979): 21-25. to Teaching/Learning the Language Arts? Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. Austin:University of Texas Press, 1968. Since story forms provide an essential means of organizing Rouse, John. The Completed Gesture. New York: SkylineBooks, material about human behavior and events in the world, 1978. teachers should explore narrative with their students. Stories Schank, Roger. Dynamic Memory: A Theory of Reminding and Learn- will be a major vehicle of our students' language development. ing in Computers and People. New York: CambridgeUniversity In encouraging their storymaking, along with their personal Press, 1982. responses to the stories they read, we are fostering personal "Schemata." ERIC Fact Sheet. Urbana, Ill.: ERIC Clearinghouseon and cultural development. Reading and Cofnmunication Skills, 1933. Just as narratology reveals certain universals underlying our "Semiotics." ERIC Fact Sheet. Urbana,Ill,:ERIC Clearinghouse' stories,it establishes the ground for heterogeneity of values on Reading and Communication Skills, 1983.

IIIThis publication was prepared with funding from the NationalInstitute of ERIC Education, U.S Department of Education, under contractno 400.83.0025 Contractors undertaiiing. such projects under government sponsorshipere A Product of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading encouraged to express freely their judgment improfessional and technicalmatters. Prior to publication, the manuscript was submitted to English language arts specialists for and Communication Skills critical review and d.,termination of professional competence This publicationhas, met such stan- 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801 dards. Points of view or opinions, however, do not necessarily represent theofficial (new or opinions of either the National Council of Teachers of English or the NationalInstitute 1984 of Education.