Writers use narrative in literature to present their stories. Narrative can be linear in which events are portrayed in a logical, often chronological, manner for relatively straightforward understanding on the part of readers. Narrative can also be nonlinear in which the reader must piece together the connections between events, characters, or action in the story. The literary devices and approaches that writers utilize to form their narrative styles combine to create varied, meaningful, innovative, and impactful works of literature. 

(“Narrative - Examples and Definition of Narrative.”)

The use of the word narrative isn’t only exclusive to literature. Narratives can be found in music, movies, plays or video games. In all these examples, narratives are used as a basis for storytelling. In order to educate, entertain, share or create meaning you need to have a narrative or a storyline, as it’s also commonly known.

Narratives serve a broader function. They may be a way for a writer to communicate their moral, cultural and political preferences or to tell a lesson.

Examples:

• Animal Farm (George Orwell) → is a modern narrative example known as a “political satire,” which aims at expressing a writer’s political views. It uses animals on a farm to describe the overthrow of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WWII. The actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the Revolution. It also describes how powerful people can change the ideology of a society.  (“Narrative - Examples and Definition of Narrative.”)

• Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes) → is a parody of romance narratives, which dealt with the adventures of a valiant knight. Unlike serious romances, in Don Quixote, the narrative takes a comical turn. We laugh at how Quixote was bestowed a knighthood in his battle with the giants [windmills]. We enjoy how the knight helps the Christian king against the army of a Moorish monarch [herd of sheep]. It is done in order to mock the idealism of knights in contemporary romances. (“Narrative - Examples and Definition of Narrative.”)

Narrator UK /nəˈreɪ.tər/ US /ˈner.eɪ.t̬ɚ/ 

DEFINITION

(according to Cambridge Dictionary)

• a person who tells a story, or a person who speaks during a film or television program not as an actor but to describe or discuss the pictures being shown. 

The definition is already comprehensible, but in other words the narrator is someone who tells the narrative (storyline, plot) from their point of view. There are several types of narrators in literature. A few of them are listed below.

Examples:

• First-person narrator – an active or a full participant of the story.

• Second person narrator – the protagonist or the main characters are addressed by pronouns like ‘You’.

• Third person or Omniscient narrator – not a participant or a character in a story, omniscient - an all knowing being.

• Protagonist narrator – a character who has his/her own opinions, feelings, and thoughts and can be written in first-person point of view and third person point of view.

• Unreliable narrator - child or immature characters whose narration doesn't posses credibility.

(“Narrator - Examples and Definition of Narrator.”)

Examples in literature:

• First person - The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) → The Great Gatsby is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, a man who moves near Jay Gatsby. In the novel, we see everything from his point of view and understand it as he understands it. 

   (“Narrator: Definitions and Examples.”)

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

He didn’t say any more, but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me[.]

• Third person - A tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) → the third person is probably the most widely-used form of narration because it gives authors so much stylistic freedom. In the classic novel A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens uses a third-person narrator who many often consider to be Dickens himself. The story is told from a third-person subjective point of view, where the narrator has access to the thoughts of several characters.

(“Narrator: Definitions and Examples.”)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. 

Narration UK /nəˈreɪ.ʃən/  US /nerˈeɪ.ʃən/

DEFINITION

(according to Cambridge Dictionary)

• the telling of a story, or the work of the narrator

The term narration is easily understood if we know the terms listed above. It is the act of telling a story. Since it's so closely connected to the narrator the same rules apply. 

Sources:

• LiteraryDevices Editors. “Narrative - Examples and Definition of Narrative.” Literary Devices, 8 Oct. 2022, literarydevices.net/narrative/.

• LiteraryDevices Editors. “Narrator - Examples and Definition of Narrator.” Literary Devices, 2 Sept. 2022, literarydevices.net/narrator/.

• “Narration.” Cambridge Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/narration. Accessed 21 Oct. 2023.

• “Narrative.” Cambridge Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/narrative. Accessed 21 Oct. 2023.

• “Narrator.” Cambridge Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/narrator. Accessed 21 Oct. 2023.

• “Narrator: Definitions and Examples.” Literary Terms, 26 Apr. 2019, literaryterms.net/narrator/.

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