Examples of Narrative Essays

prior to those that have come before it; for example, the very first scene with Jules and Vincent is repeated from a different perspective much later in the film. In addition, by this point in the film we've already seen Butch murder Vincent, so for them to circle back and continue Vincent's would be jarring, but due to the fact that we're picking up from an already familiar point makes the jump back in time fluent, and adds to the circular narrative Tarantino was attempting to create. When an…

In focusing on a narrative form that he terms as ludic, Newman looks at the work of the teasing inside joke and the enigma of the puzzle film. The word ludic was created around 1940 by psychologists as a way of describing the play of children, and applied to film, Newman informs us that this game-like form “… offers its own rewards, its own pleasures.” As a demonstration of these “pleasures,” Newman reads Pulp Fiction (1994) as a puzzle created for spectator entertainment, that uses the form of…

The key to understanding Narayan’s intent behind this book lies in the subtitle itself. By using the word ‘narrative’ instead of ‘lore’ or ‘tales’, Narayan at once emphasizes the inherent dynamism within this book and subtly hints at her own research interests as that of a cultural anthropologist and ethnographer. While the latter refers to a body of traditions and knowledge held by a particular group, typically passed around by word of mouth; the former is defined as the practice or art of…

part of achieving the commercial aesthetic, and Hollywood responds to what audiences want by taking a more ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ approach (Maltby 469). The major features of Hollywood narrative style are clarity, simplicity,…

This interactive narrative is an interactive documentary short that follows Marta Aviles, a longtime resident of Brooklyn’s Los Sures neighborhood in South Williamsburg, NY. Living there for nearly forty years, she now faces challenges with the rapid gentrification of her neighborhood. This piece documents her journey in deciding whether to stay or to leave her home. The narrative was broken down into the following structure: Introduction, The Street, The Stairs, The Apartment, The Listing, Part…

film by Su Friedrich focusing on her family dynamics during her childhood. Using the basic narrative structure of film, consisting of a narrated character “arc”, metaphorical exposition, idiosyncratic complications, climax, and resolution, it develops its own conventions that can be compared to that of a Hollywood-style narrative. The visuals and narrative voiceover are able to create a coherent narrative despite having an episodic nature of 26 chapters in a reverse A-Z order. Although the film…

Don’t show me, tell me; these are some of the first lines spoken by the main antagonist of William Faulkner's Sanctuary, Popeye, to the pseudo protagonist Horace Benbow. This privileging of the act of telling over showing sets the narrative direction for the rest of the novel. Faulkner’s foray in dark crime-fiction certainly eschews a ‘showing’ of the more sexual and violent details that a more typical novel in the genre would, choosing to slowly unravel details as the story progress through…

filmmaker’s purpose, viewpoint and approach of the film is determined by how they structure the narrative. Mentz takes the viewers on a journey through the minds of soldiers whom are going on their first mission to the war in Afghanistan. As the film progresses the personalities and depth of their characters is reviled. Mads, one of the soldiers is followed predominantly more than the other men. The narrative is pulled together through his journey, showing the conflicts he faces at war.…

entity that comes from nowhere and seems to be different from every other character present in the story. Leaving an audience in a purgatory state when deciding what this character truly is and how he became such a significant part of the plot. This narrative gap as described by Abbott is a hole within the novel that the other characters are trying to figure out as well. Making this vast gap larger and larger with no end in sight. Moreover, the gothic genre of the story pushes the audience to…

periods and mediums (e.g. pedimental sculpture and amphoras). With this construct in mind, this paper will analyze one particular calyx krater in order to determine how it fits into the existing taxonomy of narrative as defined by Stansbury-O’Donnell and then compare the piece to other similar narrative scenes for further context and support. The primary piece of study is a red-figure…