Types of Narrative Patterns



Types of Narrative Patterns

Linear Journey of Central Character

• Central character is displaced from the home environment, either voluntarily or involuntarily. The chief reasons for this displacement are often poverty or parental rejection or both. The displacement may be seen as the first step toward achieving maturity.

• In the linear journey, the hero overcomes inner doubts, natural objects, and human and supernatural adversaries to reach a new, happier, and more fulfilling home.

• In many cases, the object of the linear journey is survival or success. Each story is structured around a journey from one setting to another.

Circular Journey of Central Character

• Central character is displaced from the home environment, either voluntarily or involuntarily. The chief reasons for this displacement are often poverty or parental rejection or both. The displacement may be seen as the first step toward achieving maturity.

• In the circular journey, although similar obstacles are overcome, the point of departure is also the destination. The central figures return home able to assume more self-fulfilling roles within the family structure. Circular journeys resemble the initiation rites practiced in many “primitive” societies. Alone, the individual must develop the skills and inner resources necessary for him to return a functioning member of society.

• Many of the characters in circular journeys are children.

Adapted from Moss, Anita and Jon C. Scott. The Family of Stories. Chicago: Holt, 1986.

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