CHAPTER II

ANALYSIS OF THE NARRATIVE FORM

IT is evident from the definition of narration that the main details constituting the occurrence will vary in complexity as the discourse itself varies in length and completeness. The main details of an extended novel, for instance, will be not only more numerous but individually more complex than will those of a brief account like that cited on page 2. And, as the principles of rhetorical structure vary with the complexity of the discourse, we may at this point do well to analyze in some detail the matter of narrative form.

To begin with the simplest complete form of composition, the sentence, let us take the following passage from the Book of Acts:

Now while Peter was much perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men that were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood before the gate, and called and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodging there.

The entire occurrence here presented may be entitled "The Arrival of the Messengers at the House of Simon,” and the essential parts are: (i) Peter's perplexity; (ii) The arrival of the messengers; and (iii) Their inquiry. Of these (i) is temporally subordinate to (ii) and (iii), which are temporally coördinate with each other. A further analysis would show that in (i) there are two narrative subdivisions: (a) Peter's vision, and (b) his con

sequent wonder as to its portent; that in (ii) there are three further units: (a) the dispatch of the messengers by Cornelius, (b) their inquiries as to the location of Simon's house, and (c) their arrival at the gate. Or, to represent the respective coördinations and subordinations graphically:

I. Peter's perplexity.
(a) His vision.

(b) His wonder as to its portent.

II. The arrival of the messengers.
(a) Their dispatch by Cornelius.

(b) Their inquiries as to Simon's house.
(c) Their arrival at his house.

III. Their inquiries at the door.

In this case the stages indicated by the Roman numerals constitute the particulars that make up the occurrence signified by the title, — particulars represented in the original passage by individual clauses. But sometimes the exigencies of composition may suppress clauses into phrasal form, as illustrated in the following:

The apostles, when they were returned, declared unto him what things they had done. And he took them, and withdrew apart to a city called Bethsaida. But the multitudes perceiving it followed him: and he welcomed them, and spake to them of the kingdom of God, and them that had need of healing he healed.

Examination of this passage will show seven main details, or units, coördinated into principal clauses (indicated by the principal verbs, declared, took, withdrew, followed, welcomed, spake, and healed); three others in subordinated form (indicated in the dependent clauses “when . . . returned,' 'what . . . done," and "that ... healing"); and two suppressed into participial

99 66

phrase form (called and perceiving). Of course it would be possible to carry the analysis even farther and to show how the adjectives, adverbs, and other parts of speech are in truth highly condensed predications, in which we can trace ultimate narrative elements. But for practical purposes the examination need go no farther than the complete independent statements, which, therefore, we might term the basis of all narrative discourse. These basal units combine into greater and more complex units, and ultimately take form in narrative episodes, each complete in itself. Beyond that, a number of such episodes may combine in a more extended group, again complete; and these groups in still larger, until we reach a complete narrative form like the novel or the biography.

A good example of the simplest complete form into which the ultimate narrative elements combine is presented in the ordinary paragraph item of the daily paper, as in the following:

An executive session of the Joint Investigating Committee, authorized to investigate and report on the finances of the city, was held in the Murray Hill Hotel yesterday.

The Mountain Ash male choir, a famous organization of Welsh miners, sailed on the steamer Adriatic to-day for a tour of the United States. They have been invited to sing at the White House.

Football practice began at the University yesterday. About forty candidates responded to Captain Young's call. The team is greatly weakened by the graduation of last year's class.

It is not essential to the item that, as in the cases just cited, it should be limited to a single sentence or to a

brief paragraph, but it is essential that it be complete, and, more than that, that it give the impression of oneness, not allowing the attention to dwell on the corporate, individual character of the constituent parts. The account of Wheeler's death, for example, quoted on page 2, although it is composed of four sentences, is a paragraph item, because we do not dwell on the minor particulars that were pointed out as constituting the details of the narrative. Rather we think of the engineer's tragic death, — a central thought, and the various details merge into the one idea. If, on the other hand, the writer had introduced the occurrence with an account of how Wheeler had for days been filled with the sense of impending disaster and how his departure from home on the fatal morning had presented a dramatic scene; if the account had contained a paragraph descriptive of the prostration of Wheeler's wife when friends brought home the news of her husband's death; - then the story would have lost the corporate unity that now characterizes it. Instead of our thinking of the simple clause elements, we should think of the larger group units: the engineer's apprehension; his farewell; his death; the breaking of the news. Narrative of this latter character, in which we are conscious of the somewhat obtrusive unity of the individual particulars of the occurrence, is known as "episodic discourse." The border line between episodic narrative and the isolated narrative item is not clearly defined. One reader will rapidly group the details into a single tableau and lose sight of the parts in the completeness of the whole. Another, more analytical in temper, will dwell upon these very parts and see each in its entirety.

Narrative of the episodic order has already been illustrated by the analysis of Maupassant's Necklace on

page 3. Further analysis would, of course, show that the story, like the passage from the Book of Acts, is composed of ultimate narrative units phrased as simple clauses; but these are not the natural constituent parts into which the story falls. We think of it rather under the seven groups indicated by the sections into which the story has been divided. The minute divisions are lost in the larger group units.

The nature of episodic narrative may well be illustrated by the Parable of the Prodigal Son as contained in the Gospel of Saint Luke, especially if we arrange the paragraphs and general grouping in accordance with modern usage, as follows:

THE PRODIGAL SON

I. The Apportionment of the Property

A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of thy substance that falleth to me."

And he divided unto them his living.

II. The Mis-spent Life

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have been filled with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

But when he came to himself he said, "How many servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will