NARRATIVE TEXT
There are many types of texts. However, based on the text's purpose and meaning,
there are three main categories of texts. They are narrative texts, expository texts, and
argumentative texts. In this chapter, we are going to learn narrative texts. Simply, narratives
can be fictional (fairy tale, fables, legends, etc.) and nonfictional (articles, newspaper reports,
historical writings).
Based on Cambridge Dictionary, a narrative is defined as a story or a description of a
series of events. Some people might think that narrative is another word for story. Narrative
writing is a style that allows the writer to tell a story. It communicates the writer's ideas in a
creative way.
The word "narrative" means that the text is written in paragraphs. A standard narrative
essay is written in paragraphs. In typical usage, a narrative essay is one that tells a story about
an experience.
A narrative essay is something like a short story based on real events.
1. Types of Narrative Text
There are three types of narrative writing.
a. Fiction Narratives
This type of narrative is made-up, featuring characters or events that are not real. They
are not real but often express the truth. They come from the author's imagination, though
they may be based on realistic events. In other words, fiction narratives are invented
stories.
b. Nonfiction Narratives
Nonfiction narratives are stories written about actual events and actual people. The story
in nonfiction narrative may be a realistic account with true events and real people.
Nonfiction narratives describe real people and events. They are true stories. Such kinds
of narratives are also called biographical recounts.
c. Personal Narratives
This type of narratives is based on the experience of the author. It usually uses "I" or
"we". In other words, a personal narrative is written about your own experiences.
In this chapter, we are going to learn nonfiction narratives about environmental activists.
2. Features of Narrative Essays
All narratives have certain features as follows.
a. They have a beginning, middle, and end.
Narrative essays are organized around a timeline. It relates events that progress in
ordinary time. As our real life, there are some moments which are important than other
moments. A good narrative essay should tell the most important moment among them. A
narrative essay should be linear. The first event should be written first. Then, the second
event should be written second and so on until the story reaches the last event. The first
event is called the beginning, and the last event is called the end. All the events in
between the first and the last events are the middle.
b. They contain story elements.
The story elements are plot, setting, conflict, character, and theme. Good narratives use
these elements to make the story come alive.
c. They have a goal to achieve or problem to solve.
The goal and its obstacles are the reason the reader will keep reading. The story goal
should be stated early. It is usually in or near the first paragraph and resolved in or near
the last paragraph. It is to keep the reader interest high.
d. They have a resolution of that goal or a solution to that problem.
The resolution of the goal is in the end of the story. It means the character will achieve
the goal. Sometimes, the resolution is different from what the reader might expect.
However, there is always something to be learnt from the process of pursuing and
resolving goals.
e. They have a moral or theme of the story.
By reading the narrative essay, the reader can answer why the story is important, what
the character learn from reaching the goal and overcoming the obstacles, what lessons
others can learn from reading the experiences.
3. Purposes of Narratives
The social function of narratives is to entertain or amuse the readers. Some of them
teach moral lessons. Meanwhile, a narrative essay can talk about experience. It encourages
readers to participate in the story. Strong narratives let the readers feel so involved that
they feel for the characters and the conflicts they face. They let readers experience things
they may never otherwise experience. They teach readers about someone, something, or an
event in a way that readers understand; and provide escape from the reader's world.
Recounts and narratives belong to narratives because they tell events. They describe a
past happening or an event. However, the main difference between recount and narrative
lies in their structure. In brief, if we graph the stages or a structure of a narrative and a
recount, a narrative has a pointed surface and a recount has a flat surface:
Example of Narrative Text
Tiza Mafira
A study found that the Ciliwung River is among the most polluted rivers in the world.
For Tiza Mafira, who was born and raised in Jakarta, witnessing her hometown being
"conquered" by plastic pollution has been heartbreaking. Tiza has always been an
environmental activist, from childhood through her years at Harvard Law School and into
her career as a corporate lawyer and now the co-founder and executive director of Gerakan
Indonesia Diet Kantong Plastik (GIDKP), The Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Movement.
Tiza was always interested in environmental issues. She was always the kid who
would scold her friends who didn't put their litter in the trash bin. She studied law and
navigated towards environmental law. That became the focus of her graduate study at
Harvard.
Tiza went back to the law firm after she graduated. But then she realized that she was
on the side that was trying to defend the corporations, and trying to get ground for them to
get licenses for business. She had to help a client purchase a piece of land. When she went
there. it was a beautiful paddy field and they wanted to convert it into a cement factory.
She knew that she could not stay there. That was when she started looking around for
non-profit work. Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet was one, and she also decided to do climate
policy and climate finance. It was 2014 when she left the law firm. She never looked back
and she never regretted it.
Behind the scenes, they were working a lot with governments. But up front, they were
a campaign organization. They did all kinds of fun stuff. Like they put people on a plastic
tourism ride on the river to look at how much trash is in the river. They took people to the
beach to clean up trash. They collaborated with celebrities to have this educational
campaign. They collaborated with a fashion designer where her whole theme for that
season was plastic trash in the ocean. Since more and more people were talking about it,
these campaigns gave policymakers the pressure to work faster on the policy side and take
it more seriously, because it's apparent there are social supports for it. That was their
strategy around the campaigns.
The ban on plastic bags in Jakarta was launched on July 1st, 2020. Even though
COVID-19 hit many countries at that time, the government managed to issue the ban as
scheduled was a victory. They did a survey recently with Jakarta citizens and 90 percent of
the respondents said that they now reuse their own bags in the supermarket. That's exactly
the kind of behaviour change they are looking for, and that is the point of the law-to get
into the habit of reusability