Rhetorical Situations in Writing Narratives

Rhetorical Situation for Narratives

• Purpose of writing affects how a process is explained. For example, explaining how a chicken nugget is made will be different from explaining how to fry chicken.
• Consider your audience and whether they need background information to understand the process.
• Genre influences explanations. A lab report requires a detailed process explanation; a profile might need an anecdote to make a point.
• Medium impacts explanations. Print can use words and images, while web options include animations.

Narratives in Writing

• Narratives are stories that support various writing types. They can support position papers, profiles, or other purposes. Narratives should support, not be added just for an interesting story.
• Sequence events chronologically, reversing order, or by using flashbacks.
• Chronological order: Start at the beginning and progress to the end of an event. Maya Angelou's graduation narrative is an example.
• Reverse chronological order: Beginning with the final action and progressing backward. Illustrated by Aldo Leopold's narrative about cutting down a tree.
• Flashbacks: Interrupt the narrative to illuminate the larger narrative. Terry Tempest Williams discusses breast cancer in her family using this technique.
• Use specific time markers. Examples include diary entries, journals, or narratives of exploration (e.g. Robert F. Scott).
• Include transitions (e.g., first, then, meanwhile, at last) for clarity in narratives. Langston Hughes includes time markers and transitions in his "Salvation" narrative.

Including Detail in Narratives

• Select crucial details; remove unnecessary details.
• Background info might be needed for some narratives. The amount depends on your audience and purpose.
• A journalist might start a narrative without background for maximum impact, gradually introducing details later as appropriate. Example: Brent Staples' narrative about being followed by a woman on the street.
• Introduction to narrative with background is sometimes needed, as can be seen in Sherry Turkle's essay about children's interaction with electronic toys. The backstory is on the computer tic-tac-toe game.

Opening and Closing with Narratives

• Stories attract interest and clarify your main point.
• Start or finish with narratives to make an impression on the audience.
• Historical narrative attracts attention to bubonic plague, as shown in Barbara Tuchman's "This Is the End of the World."
• The concluding paragraph in Joan Didion's essay on American values and Vegas weddings uses a short narrative to convey her point. It is about wedding rituals.

Explore the intricate relationship between rhetorical situations and narrative writing. This quiz examines how purpose, audience, genre, and medium influence the crafting of narratives. Understand the significance of storytelling in various writing types and techniques for organizing events effectively.