ABSTRACT
Narrative construction Narrative is the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non-fictional media texts. From our earliest days, narrative is an important part of our lives. For many people, their earliest recollections relate to bedtime stories or stories told by their teacher in primary school. Another reason why narrative is so important to us is that it acts as an organising principle that helps us make sense of the world. To a child the world is a mass of unconnected and incomprehensible events, some pleasurable, some frightening, none of which makes a great deal of sense. Narrative, or storytelling, performs the important function of interpreting the world and shaping it into a comprehensible and comfortable form that allows us to see the forces of light and dark, and good and evil, battle against each other. Usually we are rewarded with the comforting outcome of the triumph of good and the reassurance of an equilibrium in which all will live ‘happily ever after’.
