Narrative and Argumentative Texts: Structure and Elements

Posted on Jan 16, 2025 in Language

Narrative Texts

A narrative is the relation of real or imagined events that happen to characters in a certain place and time. Every narrative has a story and a plot.

  • Story: The series of events that have occurred in reality or in the fiction we imagine.
  • Plot: The expression of these facts, the form we give to the story.

Elements of a Narrative

  • The Author: The real writer who writes the story. In literary narratives, the author is expressed through the narrator. Depending on the narrator’s point of view, they can be:
    • Third-person narrator: Accounts for what happens to others.
      • Omniscient: Knows everything, even penetrating the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
      • Absent: Accounts only for the most visible or external aspects.
    • First-person narrator: Can tell what happens to them as a narrator or protagonist in an autobiographical account.
  • Characters: The beings to whom the events of the story happen.
    • Main characters: The protagonist and sometimes the antagonist.
    • Secondary characters: Minor characters.
    • Multiple characters: Consists of all the characters talking alike.
    • Type character: Characters are well-defined and almost always have the same characteristics.
  • Plot: The set of events and adventures that happen to the characters in the narrative.
  • Theme: The fundamental idea that synthesizes what is narrated.

Structure of a Narrative

Literary narratives present both an external and an internal organization.

  • External: A story is arranged into parts and chapters.
  • Internal:
    • Character finished or unfinished, so the structure can be open or closed.
    • The order of the narrative, i.e., how the author presents the different parts.

Types of Stories

  • Closed Stories: When the end involves an important or permanent change in the character, such as death or falling in love.
  • Open Stories: When the story starts and ends at some point in the lives of the characters, and the action could continue normally.

Order of the Parts in a Narrative

  • Linear Structure: Introduction, middle, end.
  • Circular Structure: The story goes through several stages to return, in some way, to the beginning.

Argumentative Texts

To argue is to give reasons to support an opinion. Argumentation has an appellate function: through it, the speaker tries to influence the opinions, attitudes, or behavior of a partner or an audience. Argumentation is central to daily life. We can observe three kinds of arguments:

  • Deductive: A general truth applied to a particular case.
  • Inductive: Specific data leads to a law, principle, or general thesis.
  • Framed: Occurs when the thesis is at the beginning and end of the argumentative text.

Structure of an Argument

The speech is divided into several parts: introduction, argument, and conclusion.

  • Introduction: Raises the issue.
  • Argument:
    • Statement of facts.
    • Contrary ideas: Comments or objections to the ideas that we will defend.
    • Arguments for our opinion.
  • Conclusion: Either a summary of everything and a return to the initial idea to confirm it. It often includes calls to the receiver, seeking their engagement.