Definition and Examples of Narrative Texts – Books of collections of fairy tales, folklore, short stories, novels, to history books are examples of narrative texts that you can find anywhere. Everything is written coherently from the prologue to the epilogue and the unique thing is that anyone who reads it will feel like they are inside the story.
Yes, that’s the greatness of narrative text. The type of text according to Widjono (2007) is a description that tells about actions, circumstances, or events sequentially from beginning to end. The story itself can be taken from a true story (actually happened) or from the imagination of the author himself. In addition to telling an event and its sequence, narrative text is also synonymous with conflict and detailed themes, settings, plots, characters, and points of view so that it seems “alive” in the imagination of the reader.
Overall, narrative text starts from orientation, namely the part that introduces the characters and setting to the reader. After that, move on to the complications or the part where conflicts between characters start to arise. Well, when there is a conflict there must be a solution, dong. This is what appears in the next section, namely the resolution section. Lastly, in closing there is the Koda or part that explains the ending of the story.
Based on the brief description above, in fact anyone can write a narrative text as long as it has events or events that can be retold. However, there are times when difficulties arise in terms of writing techniques.
For those of you who are confused, here is an example of narrative text that you can use as inspiration.
Definition of Narrative Text
Narrative text is an essay about an event, action or situation sequentially according to the time sequence (in chronological detail). Can you make examples of narrative text?
Events told in narrative text can actually happen (non-fiction) or fantasy (fiction). Examples of narrative texts can be short stories, inspirational stories, novels, fables, biographies, fantasy stories. The purpose of narrative text is to provide information, entertainment and knowledge for the readers. It can also be used to share or convey an experience so that the reader can feel it too.
An essay can be called a narrative text if it has characteristics such as containing stories, stories, and certain events that use a narrative language style. The story must have a clear plot from the beginning to the end of the story.
Other characteristics of narrative text, namely containing an event or conflict as well as forming elements in the form of theme, setting, plot, character, and point of view. Narrative text also has certain linguistic elements, such as using figures of speech or metaphors, then transitive and intransitive verbs, then using conjunctions marking time sequences and nouns, traits, phrases or clauses.
To write a narrative text, the initial steps that need to be prepared are finding and determining the theme and message to be conveyed and then determining the target audience. Don’t forget to also plan the main events and form a plot.
Steps to Create a Narrative
Before going into the example section of narrative text, you should know how to make correct narrative text. The goal is that your writing doesn’t get messy and looks attractive. The steps are:
- Choose a theme that you find interesting. If possible, find a theme that has a message to convey
- Determine the target audience who will enjoy your writing
- Prepare a master flow plan.
- Write down the events or events that will be written at the beginning, middle, and end.
- Describe the incident or events in as much detail as possible
- Make settings in detail
Examples of Narrative Text by Type
After knowing the steps in making narrative text, you can start writing. So that you are not too blank and confused, try to find inspiration from the following examples of narrative text:
1. Expository Narrative
Expository narrative is a text that aims to make the reader’s mind affected by the story being told. With the hope that the readers can broaden their horizons after reading the text. Examples of expository narrative text are as follows:
Expository Narrative Text Example 1
In Aachen, I live at No. Preubweg Street. 123, a small apartment consisting of a bedroom, living room, kitchenette and bathroom, above the three-car garage of the Goldman family of a book printer. The Goldmans’ house is very beautiful, the yard and garden are large with beautiful views. The residential area “Villa Goldman” is a luxury in the elite area of Aachen. I got the address on the recommendation of Professor Dr. ing. Hans Ebner since August 1960. I worked as his assistant as well as research. Taken from the book Habibie & Ainun (2010).
Expository Narrative Text Example 2
One day, the office where I work assigned me to make a visit to Auckland which is the largest city in New Zealand. This trip that I will never forget happened in March 2020. Apart from official visits, I also had time to visit Queenstown.
Queenstown is an area that is located between the hills and has little economic value. Quite different from the city of Auckland san Wlington which is on the waterfront. In Queenstown there is only one “S” shaped lake called Wakatipu and a large area of land where people herd livestock and grow crops.
Expository Narrative Text Example 3
On November 10, the battle for Surabaya to expel invaders from Indonesia finally erupted. The assassination of Brigadier General Mallaby, the leader of the British army, sparked this war.
The angry British soldiers then gave an ultimatum to the fighters in Surabaya to surrender. However, the people of Surabaya were reluctant to give up, instead they formed a fighting militia and fought against the British troops who threatened to attack them.
The British army and its allies were furious after learning that their ultimatum had been rejected. On the morning of November 10, they attacked the people of Surabaya by land, sea and air. Unmitigated, they deployed 30,000 infantry, a number of tanks, airplanes and warships.
The big battle was inevitable, all the people and fighters in the city of Surabaya then took to the streets and put up a fight. The heroes got high morale after hearing a speech from a young man named Bung Tomo.
To commemorate this event, November 10 was then designated as Heroes’ Day.
You can see other examples of expository narratives in the book Psychology of Loneliness written by Zahra Erol.
2. Suggestive Narrative
Suggestive narrative is a text that explains the meaning of an event to the reader. In this text, the words used are usually connotative words so that the story conveyed seems imaginative.
Example of Suggestive Narrative Text
“Aryan, come on! I’m sorry for your friend. Don’t regret his death.”
The man’s voice is like my best friend’s voice. I didn’t even turn my head. I’m still stuck on old memories. Saturated greeting my man even made his arms embrace me.
“What do you regret about the death of your best friend, Arya?”
“Oh… Bang Dito.” My lyrics with a sad face full of sweat from the eyelids.
“If only brother knew!” How cheerful our day when chasing dreams. The band that we both formed is the spirit he gave me to continue pursuing my goal as a writer. In our band, he always gave me the opportunity to write song lyrics. “If only you knew.”
Our days on campus, women’s eyes always complain. They glanced at our good looks. But not our wounds. At that time we were happy, hiding each other’s wounded faces because of love. “If only brother knew!” I always cry in front of Dimas. “If only you knew all that.” Only Dimas knows all that Bang.
That’s enough! All that is past. The reality you now see is death. The death of your best friend, Dimas, who is also my brother. The older brother who often cursed him.” Taken from a short story entitled “Friend’s Departure” by Irfan Firnanda in the book The Murai and Crazy People (2010)
3. Artistic Narration
Artistic narrative is a type of text that tells a story and aims to provide an aesthetic experience to the reader. This text can be fiction or non-fiction with figurative language.
Example of Artistic Narrative Text
The Piggy is a small doll made of soft towels. Inside its stomach is a small plastic ball that makes a sound when it is tossed around. The feet are soft, and the size is just right for wiping away tears. Jack the owner always sleeps while sucking Piggy’s ears.
Who would have thought, Jack lost the Piggy, his favorite toy in the snow at Christmas. After that Jack got a new toy to replace Piggy. Unfortunately, Jack doesn’t really like his new toy because he still misses Piggy.
Unexpectedly, all of Jack’s toys come alive and speak like humans when Christmas Eve comes. Including the new toy.
With the kindness of his heart, Piggy’s replacement toy then invites Jack to look for his lost favorite toy. Then the two of them went on an adventure together.
Difference between Suggestive and Artistic Narrative
Sometimes, some people have difficulty differentiating expository narratives from suggestive narratives. Therefore, this time we briefly provide the difference between the two:
| Expository Narrative | Suggestive Narrative |
| Broaden the reader’s horizons | Convey meaning explicitly and implicitly |
| Submit information | Raise imagination (imagination) |
| Use denotative words and informative language | Using connotative words and figurative language |
From this difference, narrative texts are then categorized into two forms, namely fiction and non-fiction narratives. Fictional narratives are generally related to literature such as novels, romances, fairy tales and short stories, while nonfictional narratives are more related to historical events, biographies and autobiographies.
1. Example of Non-Fiction Narrative
You may have read a lot of examples of fictional narratives in your collection of books at home, so you can read examples of non-fiction narratives below:
Example of Biography Narrative Text
Ir. Soekarno was born in Blitar, East Java, June 6 1901. He died in Jakarta on June 21 1970 when he was 69 years old. He was the first President of Indonesia who took office from 1945 – 1966. He played an important role in liberating the Indonesian nation from Dutch colonialism. He is a digger of Pancasila. He is the Proclaimer of Indonesian Independence, with Mohammad Hatta.
Ir. Sukarno signed the controversial March 11, 1966 (Supersemar) Warrant. The contents of Supersemar, based on the version of the Army Headquarters, assigned Lieutenant General Suharto to secure and maintain the security of the state and presidential institutions. Supersemar became the basis for Lieutenant General Suharto to dissolve the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and replace members of parliament. After his accountability was rejected by the Provisional People’s Consultative Assembly (MPRS) at the fourth general assembly in 1967, President Soekarno was dismissed from his position as president. In the same year Suharto was appointed President of the Republic of Indonesia.
Background and Education
Ir. Soekarno was born with the name Kusno Sosrodihardjo. His father’s name was Raden Soekemi Sosrodihardjo, a teacher in Surabaya, East Java. His mother named Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai came from Buleleng, Bali.
When he was small, Soekarno lived with his grandfather in Tulungagung, East Java. At the age of 14, a friend of his father named Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto invited Soekarno to live in Surabaya. Then, he was sent to school at the Hoogere Burger School (HBS). While living at Tjokroaminoto’s house, he also studied the Koran.
In Surabaya, Soekarno met many leaders of Sarekat Islam, the organization led by Tjokroaminoto. Then, he joined the Jong Java (Javanese Youth) organization. After graduating from HBS in 1920, he continued his studies at the Technische Hoge School (now ITB) in Bandung. He completed his education at ITB in 1925. While living in Bandung, he became friends with Tjipto Mangunkusumo and Dr. Douwes Dekker, at that time was the leader of the Indische Partij National organization.
The book One Step Closer to Soekarno written by Adji Nugroho contains more facts about the life of the First President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Sukarno.
Example of Autobiographical Narrative Text
Autobiography is a text about a person’s personal biodata. Usually autobiographical writings are composed by the author himself. It contains the ups and downs of life until finally he was able to achieve the achievements achieved when writing the autobiographical text. Thus autobiographical texts always use the first person point of view – I or me.
Step by step with Ainun’s hard work, encouragement and affection with our son Ilham before his first birthday, the results of my research were deemed to have met the requirements of the Faculty of Engineering RWTH-Aachen, to be submitted as a doctoral work in the shortest possible time.
In September 1964, I officially handed over my doctoral thesis work to the RWTH-Aachen Faculty of Mechanical Engineering for trial at the upcoming faculty plenary session. As the main companion or Referent Professor Dr.-Ing. Hans Ebner and companion or Co-Referent Prof.-Dr.-Ing. Wilhelm Dettmering who recommended my S3 work.
In April 1965, I received a decision letter from the Plenary Session of the RWTH-Aachen Faculty of Engineering, which stated that my doctoral work was accepted after being studied by the world center of research and technology excellence which was conducting research in the field of my doctoral work. I was invited to give a public lecture on my doctoral work on Thursday, July 15, 1965. Taken from the book Habibie & Ainun (2010).
Other Types of Narrative Text
Gorys Keraf in his book entitled Argumentation and Narration reveals several types of narrative texts that are not included in fiction or non-fiction narratives. The text is anecdotes, incidents, sketches and profiles. The example of narrative text is as follows.
1. An example of an anecdote narrative text
An anecdote is a short story that is interesting, funny, and impressive. Generally these stories relate to important or famous people and generally take real events as their basis. Anecdotes also have an element of humor to them, but they don’t have to make the reader or listener laugh out loud.
Initially, an anecdote is a story that represents an event that actually happened. Both from ordinary figures and famous figures. However, as it develops, anecdotes can also be imaginative stories written to fulfill a specific purpose. One of them is to convey criticism to someone or certain parties.
Want to be quoted by the media
One morning an agency head was furious after reading the news in a local newspaper. His statement as a source the day before was only quoted very sparingly, while the news material contained mostly the interviewer’s negative opinion.
“You know, I’m lazy to be interviewed,” he grumbled.
“What news, sir?” One of the senior officials in the agency who is also close to the head of the agency ventured to ask.
“You can’t just quote my statement? Even though the interview was over an hour!”
“Oh, that. If I may give you some advice, sir.”
“What do you suggest?”
“If you want to quote all of your statements, maybe you should change their ink,” said the senior official.
The head of the agency nodded several times.
(Taken from the book Malang Apples Washington Apples & Watermelon: Rujak Humor Ala Corruptor by Eko Sugiarto ).
2. Example of Sketch Narrative Text
A sketch is a short discourse that falls into the category of narrative essay. The elements of actions or actions in this text are not disclosed too clearly so that aspects that are considered important from an incident or incident can be more prominent.
One of the non-medical treatments that is classified as strange, unique, and logically incomprehensible was carried out by Pak Warto. Pak Warto was born in 1942 in Suru Hamlet, Kemadang Village, Tanjungsari Gunungkidul District, DIY. Since the beginning of 1966 until now, Pak Warto has been involved in this absurd treatment. The treatment was said to be strange because the patient was not taken to Pak Warto’s practice. Treatment is sufficient to be carried out at the patient’s home. The patients treated by Pak Warto are specifically for bone sufferers, such as broken bones, fractures, and sprains.
(Taken from Djoka Lodang No. 27, Saturday, 2 December 2007 edition).
3. Example of Incident Narrative Text
This type of text is freer than anecdotes. The attractiveness of incident narrative texts usually lies in the characteristics explained by the act or incident. In addition, the main story presented is also usually exciting.
Last Sunday my cousin and I took a walk at the mall. The mall is very lively. Many people surrounded a large tub filled with clothes. In the middle of the crowd, the words “Sale” appeared. My cousin led me into the crowd. Inside I laughed. Unable to hold back my laughter, I laughed my butt off. I know that my cousin really likes to eat banana sale. Slowly I told him.
“This is not banana lunkhead. However, “sale” is English which means sold on sale. So, what sells a lot is clothes, not selling bananas.”
My cousin was silent while nodding his head. He seemed to have understood my explanation of the writing he had read earlier.
(Taken from Djaka Lodang No. 27, Saturday, 2 December 2007 edition).
4. Example of Profile Narrative Text
Initially, the profile text was not included in the pure narrative category. But along with its development, modern profile text then tries to combine narration, description and exposition proportionally.
The most important part of the profile text is the character sketch written to develop the subject. In addition, the writing process is also carried out carefully by using facts about the life and character of the subject.
The hermitage is located on a land area of approximately 7 hectares to the west of Boyolali City. Exactly about 7 kilometers from Boyolali City to the west via the Solo-Selo-Borobudur (SSB) route.
During the war in 1948, this ancient building was burned down by the Dutch company. Meanwhile, the “U” shaped building is divided into several rooms, namely bedrooms, art room, dining room, garden, pond, and room for Susuhunan Paku Buwana X.
(Taken from Sempulur No. 18, December 2006 issue).
So, friends, that’s an explanation of an example of a narrative text that is quite long, but you can make it an inspiration.