Narrative Theories Character Types Russian scholar Vladimir Propp devised a theory of all narrative characters fitting into

8 specific categories. These categories sort specific roles in a story that highlights how plots can have very similar core concepts to one another despite the vast differences in setting, structure and characters. Some of the most basic elements sorted by Propp were the Hero and the Villain characters. Typically, the hero is the main character who is aligned to the Good faction, and the villain is of the Bad side, his role to antagonize and hinder the hero in his quest, as well as performing evil acts and generally acting as the bad, evil person opposed to the good natured hero. Looking at the list of Propps character types I can establish that my story uses three examples yet in a different way that one would expect. Firstly is the man, who I could class as the villain despite being a presumed hero thanks to being the main character. In the story the man is defined as a greedy, cunning individual who doesnt love his wife for who she is and instead becomes obsessed with her golden arm. This lust continues after she dies (to which the man is unaffected) and eventually ends with him digging up her corpse to steal the arm and place it on his nightstand. This definitely places the man in the Villain category. The woman however could fall into the Princess character, albeit only slightly as she is not rescued like a typical princess would and is instead the one the man marries after seducing her. The woman from her brief appearance seems to be a sweet down to earth character who is unaware of her husbands greed and materialism, as she has the idea that it is true love when it is very much one sided. Finally, the third character of the story is the arm itself, which could be placed in the prize type. The solid golden arm is the main focus of the story and the object of desire for the man, not the woman who wields it. The man takes the arm as a trophy after grave robbing it from his wife. As my story is quite different to traditional fairytales there is a noticeable lack of solid characters bearing other roles, such as the Donor or the Helper. The story only contains two separate characters with the story being more focused on a personal story, not a quest. Thus, there is no character present whose role is to send the hero on a quest, and none to help with it. Character Functions A group of 31 functions were created by Propp that, in a similar manner to characters, group plot points into categories that again generalizes plot structure and makes it obvious that plots are constructed similarly, with very clear turning points, events and solutions being present in a wide variety of fictional plots. Some notable examples of the functions include a quest. While this can be defined in a wide variety of ways, a typical quest is where the hero must set out to wrong a right, collect and item or slay an enemy. Generally speaking a quest is what defines the story, it is what the plot is adhered and focused on instead of what it is like before the quest is started. Reconnaissance The man observes the womans arm and develops a fanatical obsession with it. On page 4 he is seen watching the arm with a sense of lust. Villainy When we learn of the mans desire for the arm and the woman is merely an obstacle. This is learnt on page 4. Difficult Task Stealing the arm from the cemetery. On page 6 the man returns after the funeral and digs up his wifes casket. Return On page 7 with the man returning home with the stolen arm. Punishment The speculated end for the man after he agitates the ghost on page 9.

Character functions can help assign characters to certain tasks and help the story flow, but they are not much use when creating more complex stories or characters who have a lot more depth to them. Structure Todorov, a Russian structuralist, created an Equilibrium structure. It is a 3 or 5-point structure that describes the general flow of a story, and it is found in many different plots as the way of progression. This structure describes a system where a balance (the beginning of the story) is disturbed by an event or an entity, thus creating disequilibrium where things are not as usual. When all has been solved a new equilibrium is created, where balance has been restored but something things may have changed from the previous balance. Equilibrium Chapters 1 & 2, showing the man without a horrible sense of greed and the couple in an unmarried state. Both seem happy and contented in their life. Disequilibrium The couple marry on page 2, and the man begins to lust for the golden arm, fuelling a cruel plot to steal it when his wife dies. The love is entirely one-sided. New Equilibrium when the furious ghost confronts the man after page 9. It is not shown what his ultimate fate is but it can be assumed that he was punished for his crimes and that the arm was returned to its rightful owner. Equilibrium is a good way of setting up a basic layout of the story and while it is true that most stories do follow this system, it can be harder to include when the story has a more complex format as opposed to simpler plots. Binary Opposites Binary opposites were a system created by Claude Levi Strauss, a French theorist. This term is defined by the idea that there can only be a story if there are two warring factions detailed. What drives the story is the conflict and actions of these two sides. My story contains several examples of binary opposites. The most obvious is Man vs. Woman, where the hero and villain are of the opposite sex and oppose each other. The Man The Evil side. Shown to be cunning, greedy, cruel and disrespectful to the dead. The Woman/Ghost The Good side. Innocent, oblivious and taken advantage of, it is this side that wins in the end by confronting the man over the stolen arm. Types Of Structure The narrative structure can be written in several different formats that deal with the flow and construction of a story. Two types of structure are open and closed. Open stories do not reach a conclusion and simply continue on indefinitely. Good examples of open narratives are television programmes and comics, which allow for extended stories with each issue/episode. Closed narratives have a conclusion within the same text as the opening, which typically includes novels and films. Among these are two types of storytelling, single strand and multi strand. Single is where only one story is being told in the narrative, making this format common in childrens literature as they can have trouble following several storylines at once. Multi strand storylines are where several stories take place at the same time. These are most common in literature intended for young adults or adults, and many TV programmes which have a large cast. A good example of a multi strand storyline is Inception, which involves a lot of layered plots in its structure. Furthermore, there is Linear and Non-linear structure, which deals with how the story flows. Linear means that everything happens in real time and in order, meaning that

there are no timeskips or flashbacks. Non-linear stories can include flashbacks or flash forwards to build upon a plot before it actually happens. Finally, Realist and Anti-realist stories make up the final structures. These define whether or not the story takes place in reality, or in an alternate reality/fantasy world where things that dont happen in reality can happen. Examples of an alternate reality include programs such as Star Trek or Firefly, which both feature things that we wouldnt see in reality. Typically, anti-realist stories tend to be adventure or sci-fi novels, and realist stories often are romance, drama or thrillers. My story is a closed, single strand narrative as it has a beginning and an end, and just one storyline. The narrative is linear in all aspects and it takes place in an anti-realist setting, thanks to the presence of a spirit and a working arm made of solid gold. I chose to go for a linear, closed single strand route because this would make my story much more accessible to children who are just moving onto more complex books (my age range is 7-11) and helps to build a story that is easy to read and easy for all ages. Using structures such as non-linear and multi strand would make my story ideal for older readers, but I did not incorporate these, as I did not want to exclude younger or inexperienced readers.