English 10 / Unit 2: Narrative Structure and Point of View
2.1 Nonlinear Structure
Notes
Many stories do not move in a straight line from beginning to end. Narrative structure is the order and shape in which events are told.
- Chronological order tells events in the order they happened.
- In medias res ("in the middle of things") starts in the middle of the action. Homer's Odyssey opens with Odysseus already years into his journey home.
- A flashback jumps to an earlier time; a flash-forward jumps ahead.
- A frame narrative is a story told inside another story. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) is framed by an explorer's letters to his sister.
- Parallel plots follow two storylines that comment on each other.
Practice
A novel opens with a soldier already wounded in battle, then explains how he enlisted. This opening is:
It begins in the middle of the action and fills in the past later.
In Frankenstein, Victor's story is told to an explorer, who records it in letters. This structure is a:
The explorer's letters frame Victor's story.
Why might an author begin a story in medias res?
Starting mid-action creates curiosity about how things got there.
Ready for more? Take the Unit 2 test.