Propp's Narratemes

Vladimir Propp's 31 Narratemes

In Morphology of the Folktale. (1927-28), Russian Vladimir Propp (1895-1970) analyzed folk tales and broke stories down into morphemes (structural units). He identified 31 narratemes (narrative units) that occurred in ordered sequence. No stories contain all narratemes, but most Fantasy and Quest stories contain many, and they occur in roughly the order he prescribed.

1st Morpheme: Introduction

Steps 1 to 7 introduce the situation and many main characters, setting the scene.

• 0. Initial situation
• 1. Absentation: Someone goes missing
• 2. Interdiction: Hero is warned
• 3. Violation of interdiction
• 4. Reconnaissance: Villain seeks something
• 5. Delivery: The villain gains information
• 6. Trickery: Villain attempts to deceive victim
• 7. Complicity: Unwitting helping of the enemy

2nd Sphere: Body of the Story: The hero departs on the main quest.

• 8. Villainy and lack: The need is identified
• 9. Mediation: Hero discovers the lack
• 10. Counteraction: Hero chooses positive action
• 11. Departure: Hero leave on mission

3rd Sphere: Donor Sequence: The hero seeks a method by which the solution may be reached, gaining the magical agent from the Donor. This in itself may be a complete story.

• 12. Testing: Hero is challenged to prove heroic qualities
• 13. Reaction: Hero responds to test
• 14. Acquisition: Hero gains magical item
• 15. Guidance: Hero reaches destination
• 16. Struggle: Hero and villain do battle
• 17. Branding: Hero is branded
• 18. Victory: Villain is defeated
• 19. Resolution: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved

4th Sphere: The Hero’s Return: An optional phase of the storyline.

• 20. Return: Hero sets out for home
• 21. Pursuit: Hero is chased
• 22. Rescue: pursuit ends
• 23. Arrival: Hero arrives unrecognized
• 24. Claim: False hero makes unfounded claims
• 25. Task: Difficult task proposed to the hero
• 26. Solution: Task is resolved
• 27. Recognition: Hero is recognised
• 28. Exposure: False hero is exposed
• 29. Transfiguration: Hero is given a new appearance
• 30. Punishment: Villain is punished
• 31. Wedding: Hero marries and ascends the throne

Characters:

The narrative functions are spread between the main characters. Propp thought a narrative needed to have:

• villain, who struggles with the her
• donor, who prepares and/or provides hero with magical agent
• helper, who assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero
• princess, (and/or her father), who serves as a goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain
• dispatcher, who sends the hero off
• hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero)
• false hero (or antihero or usurper)

Adapted from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/propp/31_narratemes.htm Accessed 1/15/19. Propp, Vladimir.. Trans., Laurence Scott. 2nd ed. Austin: U of Texas P, 1968.