The Importance of Narrative In Reaching A Desired Audience

In order to understand the importance of narratives in reaching a desired audience, we need to understand what a narrative is and the purpose that it serves. In the text, Comprehension Strategy Instruction: Teaching Narrative Text Structure Awareness, Susan Dymock states, "What is narrative text? Narratives are more than simple lists of sentences or ideas. Narratives are stories. Calfee and Drum (1986) reported that “stories generally tell ‘what happened.’ Who did what to whom and why”," Based on this information, we know that a narrative is a story and has the ability to tell what happened and why. Narrative text uses a structured story line that the audience can follow and, therefore, better understand the message the author is trying to get across. Thus, narrative is important because it provides the audience with an easy way to comprehend the text that is being presented to them. The audience can follow and understand who, what, when, where, and why in a text with little to no problem.
The rhetorical tools, or the effective use of language, used in narrative text is presented in what is called a story grammar. A story grammar is basically a set of grammatical rules used to structure a sentence. It identifies the basic parts of a story and shows how the parts tie together to form a well constructed story. There are four parts to a story grammar: the character, the setting, the plot, and the theme. These four parts work together and compliment each other to help the audience "get the picture". Another key element, or rhetoric, used in narrative writing, is your ability to transition from one topic or idea to another. It states what happened and what happens next, for a clear story line for the audience to follow. A key when using transitions, is incorporating flashbacks or foreshadowing that support the story and focus in on key points and bring the narratives to life. Knowing all of these elements of rhetoric in writing a narrative, you can reach you desired audience by using the right sort of narrative for different age groups and schooling levels. For example, if you were to write a narrative directed to third graders, you would use more simple characters, settings, and plots, that would lead to a simple theme, which is the lesson learned. In conclusion, you can direct every part of the narrative to a specific people, and that is how you are able to reach your desired audience using the rhetoric tools.