Narrative Text

Pengertian, Ciri, Fungsi, Jenis, dan Contoh

Narrative text adalah salah satu jenis text dalam bahasa Inggris yang bertujuan untuk
menghibur para pembaca melalui sebuah cerita. Cerita narrative text dalam Bahasa Inggris
biasanya berbentuk cerita fiksi yang bisa membawa imajinasi menari-nari.
Apa itu Narrative Text?
Narrative text adalah teks yang bercerita mengenai rangkaian peristiwa secara berurutan
(kronologis) yang saling terhubung antara satu sama lain.
Sifat dari narrative text adalah imajinatif atau merupakan cerita khayalan atau fiktif yang
bertujuan untuk menghibur pembaca. Jenis-jenis dari narrative text yaitu cerita legenda,
cerita rakyat, mitos, fabel (cerita hewan), ataupun cerita anak lainnya.
Ciri-Ciri Narrative Text
Ciri khas bahasa yang digunakan dalam narrative text adalah past tense, termasuk
variasi passive voice. Lalu, sering munculnya noun phrase dan adjective phrase juga berguna
untuk menjelaskan kata benda ataupun sifat seperti very beautiful princess.
Gak ketinggalan nih dengan keterangan tempat atau waktu. Misalnya, sering nemuin kata-
kata once upon a time, once, atau far away in the hidden forest… kan?
Nah, kalau udah ada beberapa ciri itu, udah pasti teksnya berupa naratif. Tapi, sebelum
masuk ke contoh, alangkah baiknya kamu paham dulu strukturnya.
Fungsi Narrative Text
Dibalik teks narasi yang panjang, tersimpan banyak tujuan. Selain tujuan utamanya untuk
menghibur, narrative text juga memiliki berbagai tujuan dan fungsi, seperti mendidik,
memperkaya imajinasi, dan mengabadikan cerita masa lalu.
Tak hanya itu, narrative text juga memiliki banyak pesan moral yang tersimpan bagi para
pembacanya. Terlebih jika jenis ceritanya merupakan cerita faktual, maka tentunya dapat
menjadi pembelajaran berharga bagi pembaca.
Struktur Narrative Text
Berikut merupakan struktur narrative text untuk membantu kamu memahami narrative text
lebih dalam lagi.
(1) Orientation
Orientation merupakan bagian awal dari sebuah struktur narrative text. Selain terdapat
keterangan tempat atau waktu, bagian orientation mengandung jawaban dari pertanyaan
who, when, dan where. Atau yang disebut perkenalan tokoh, latar tempat serta waktu di
dalam cerita.
(2) Complication
Munculah masalah pada bagian ini, yang seringkali terbagi menjadi tiga jenis. Complication
dalam struktur narrative text dapat berupa natural conflict (masalah tokoh dengan alam),
social conflict (masalah tokoh dengan tokoh lain), dan psychological conflict (masalah tokoh
dengan dirinya sendiri/perang batin).
(3) Resolution
Setelah adanya masalah, dalam sebuah cerita tentunya terdapat peleraian. Struktur
narrative text selanjutnya merupakan resolution yang berisi penyelesaian atas masalah yang
terjadi.
(4) Re-orientation/Evaluation
Meskipun kehadirannya opsional, struktur narrative text yang satu ini ada gunanya lho. Di
evaluation, biasanya penulis mengkhususkan pesan moral serta kesimpulan cerita di sebuah
paragraf akhir. Tujuannya untuk benar-benar mengakhiri sebuah cerita.
Contoh Narrative Text
Once upon a time, in a huge castle, lived a beautiful princess named Carmilla. She was the
only child in the family yet she had been forced to obey her father’s rules. She was unhappy
most of the time. The king had never let Carmilla leave the castle. Thus, the maid often
caught Carmilla crying in the middle of the night.
One night, Carmilla was sitting in front of her window. Her pretty eyes became blurry with
tears. Sally, her maid, couldn’t stand to watch the sadness. She eventually offered Carmilla to
watch an opera at Classical Theater. Without hesitation, Carmilla said yes. They sneaked out
from the castle at night. The guards had been told to stay quiet while waiting for Sally and
Carmilla to come home.
There, Carmilla saw a mysterious handsome tall man playing violin very beautifully. She
began to cry, feeling the music had shaken her every soul. Before the curtain was closed,
Carmilla caught the man’s eyes. Cold and dark. She knew from that moment that she was in
love.
Night after night, Camilla and Cecilion were getting closer. Everytime Cecilion finished his
performance, they met behind the stage. Unfortunately, Sally was fired because one of the
guards revealed the secret to the king. From then, Carmilla stopped seeing Cecilion and the
king ordered her to marry a prince.
“This world is not fair!” shouted Carmilla. Every night she sat by the window, thinking about
Cecilion. But, she had to face her wedding and was forced to forget Cecilion. On the night of
her wedding day, she was dressed in all-white, crying silently. Suddenly, she received a letter
that surprisingly fell from nowhere. She read it carefully and began to cry louder than
before.
The letter told her that Cecilion was a vampire. He loved Carmilla more than anything in his
life. He asked for Carmilla’s forgiveness because he had been lying to her about his true
identity. He also said that vampires and humans couldn’t possibly be together.
“What on earth should I do? I love him!” asked Carmilla. She would rather die than not
having a chance to live with Cecilion. Hence, she decided to end her life by slitting her wrist.
The marriage was a tragedy. A stone-cold Carmilla had already died, lying in her coffin.
Cecilion knew that he had to take his only love, Carmilla. After everyone left the church, he
flew away with Carmilla’s body and sucked her blood. That way made Carmilla become alive
and immortal. Her eyes were red as roses, hair as white as clouds. She reborned. As a
vampire.
Since Carmilla’s death, nobody in the castle nor around the village had ever seen her and
Cecilion. They both seemed to have disappeared. Although everyone thought exactly they
were dead, Carmilla and Cecilion actually lived together. Each night, they were hugging each
other by the window. Under the moonlight, they were driven with passionate love. Without
rules, without sadness. Forever.