Narrative Text

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A. Pengertian Narrative Text

Narrative Text adalah satu dari 13 jenis teks bahasa inggris (genre) yang lahir dari kalangan Narration (lihat Types Of Text) sepertihalnya Recount Text, Anecdote Text, Spoof Text dan News Items Text yang mana berfungsi untuk menceritakan kisah masa lampau dan untuk hiburan.

B. Tujuan Komunikatif Narrative Text

Tujuan Komunikatif Narrative Text seperti yang dijelaskan di atas adalah untuk menghibur pendengar atau pembaca tentang suatu kisah atau cerita masa lampau yang bertalian dengan pengalaman nyata, khayal atau peristiwa-peristiwa pelik yang mengarah ke suatu krisis, yang pada akhirnya menemukan suatu penyelesaian.

C. Generic Structure Narrative Text

Setiap jenis teks bahasa Inggris (genre) memiliki struktur teksnya sendiri-sendiri. Struktur dari Narrative Text terdiri dari tiga bagian yaitu :

1. Orientation

 Pada bagian Orientation atau pengenalan berisi tentang pengenalan tokoh dalam cerita serta waktu dan tempat kejadiannya.

2. Complication

Pada bagian Complication berisi tentang gambaran munculnya krisis atau masalah yang di alami oleh tokoh pada cerita tersebut yang harus dipecahkan.

 

3. Resolution

Pada bagian Resolution berisi tentang bagaiman tokoh dari cerita tersebut memecahkan masalah yang ada pada bagian Complication. Biasanya terdapat lebih dari satu Resolution untuk satu Complication.

Pada beberapa referensi tentang Narrative Text, terdapat tambahan generic structure pada Narrative Text, yaitu penambahan Coda setelah Resoultion. Jadi susunan Narrative text adalah Orientiation, Complication, Resolution dan Coda.

Coda adalah bagian terakhir dari structure Narrative Text yang berisi perubahan yang terjadi pada tokoh dan pelajaran yang dapat dipetik dari cerita tersebut.

D. Ciri Kebahasan Narrative Text

Pada Narrative Text, terdapat beberapa ciri-ciri antara lain sebagai berikut :

• Mengunakan Action Verb dalam bentuk Past Tense. Misalnya : Climbed, Turned, Brought, dsb.
• Menggunakan Nouns tertentu sebagai kata ganti orang, hewan dan benda tertentu dalam cerita. Misalnya : the king, the queen, dsb.
• Menggunakan Adjectives yang membentuk noun phrase. Misalnya : long black hair, two red apples, dsb.
• Menggunakan Time Connectives dan Conjunctions untuk mengurutkan kejadian-kejadian. Misalnya : then, before, after, soon, dsb.
• Menggunakan Adverbs dan Adverbial Phrase untuk menunjukkan lokasi kejadian atau peristiwa. Misalnya : here, in the mountain, happily ever after, dsb.

E. Contoh Narrative Text

Banyak sudah contoh mengenai Narrative Text yang telah dibuat , anda bisa melihatnya di Cerita Rakyat Bahasa Inggris Se-Dunia. Tapi untuk lebih afdolnya, penulis hadirkan contoh Narrative Text sebagai berikut beserta contohnya.

Snow White

Orientation

Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Snow White. She lived with her Aunt and Uncle because her parents were dead.

(Suatu ketika, hiduplah seorang gadis bernama Snow White. Dia tinggal bersama paman dan bibinya, karena orangtuanya telah meninggal.)

Complication 1

One day she heard her Uncle and Aunt talking about leaving Snow White in the castle because they both wanted to go to America and they didn’t have enough money to take Snow White.

Snow White did not want her Uncle and Aunt to do this so she decided it would be best if she ran away. The next morning she ran away from home when her Aunt and Uncle were having breakfast. She ran away into the woods.

(Suatu hari dia mendengar paman dan bibinya berbicara tentang rencana meninggalkan istana karena mereka berdua ingin pergi ke Ameria dan mereka tidak mempunyai cukup uang untuk membawa serta Snow White.)

(Snow White tidak ingin paman dan bibinya melakukan hal tersebut, sehingga dia memutuskan akan lebih baik jika dia pergi. Pagi harinya dia pergi dari rumah ketika paman dan bibi nya sedang sarapan. Dia lari ke dalam hutan.)
 
Resolution 1

Then she saw this little cottage. She knocked but no one answered so she went inside and fell asleep.
 

Meanwhile, the seven dwarfs were coming home from work. They went inside. There they found Snow White sleeping. Then Snow White woke up. She saw the dwarfs. The dwarfs said, “what is your name?” Snow White said, “My name is Snow White.”
 

Doc, one of the dwarfs, said, “If you wish, you may live here with us.” Snow White said, “Oh could I? Thank you.” Then Snow White told the dwarfs the whole story and finally Snow White and the 7 dwarfs lived happily ever after.

(Kemudian dia melihat gubuk kecil. Dia mengetuk pintu tetapi tidak ada yang menjawab sehingga dia masuk dan merasa ngantuk.)

(Sementara itu, tujuh kurcaci telah pulang dari pekerjaannya. Mereka masuk. Di sana mereka menemukan Snow White tertidur. Kemudian Snow White terbangun. Dia melihat kurcaci tersebut. Kurcaci tersebut berkata "Siapa nama kamu?" Snow White menjawab, "Nama saya Snow White.")

(Doc, salah satu dari kurcaci tersebut berkata, "Jika kamu mau, kamu bisa tinggal di sini bersama kami." Snow White berkata, "Oh, bolehkah? Terima kasih." Kemudian Snow White menceritakan semua kisahnya dan akhirnya Snow White dan 7 kurcaci hidup bahagian selamanya.)

The Tiger Who Would Be King

One morning the tiger woke up in the jungle and told his mate that he was king of beasts.

"Leo, the lion, is king of beasts," she said.

"We need a change," said the tiger. "The creatures are crying for a change."

The tigress listened but she could hear no crying, except that of her cubs.

"I'll be king of beasts by the time the moon rises," said the tiger. "It will be a yellow moon with black stripes, in my honour."

"Oh sure," said the tigress as she went to look after her young, one of whom, a male, very like his father, had got an imaginary thorn in his paw.

The tiger prowled through the jungle till he came to the lion's den. "Come out," he roared," and greet the king of beasts! The king is dead, long live the king!"

Inside the den, the lioness woke her mate. "The king is here to see you," she said.

"What king?" he inquired, sleepily.

"The king of beasts," she said.

"I am the king of beasts," roared Leo and he charged out of the den to defend his crown against the pretender.

It was a terrible fight and it lasted until the setting of the sun. All the animals of the jungle joined in, some taking the side of the tiger and others the side of the lion. Every creature from the aardvark to the zebra took part in the struggle to overthrow the lion or to repulse the tiger, and some did not knot know which they were fighting for, and some fought for both, and some fought whoever was nearest and some fought for the sake of fighting.

"What are we fighting for?" someone asked the aardvark.

"The old order," said the aardvark.

"What are we dying for?" someone asked the zebra.

"The new order," said the zebra.

When the moon rose, fevered and gibbous, it shone upon a jungle in which nothing stirred except a macaw and a cockatoo, screaming in horror. All the beasts were dead except the tiger, and his days were numbered and his time was ticking away. He was monarch of all he surveyed, but it didn't seem to mean anything.

The Fox and the Crow

A crow, perched in a tree with a piece of cheese in his beak, attracted the eye and nose of a fox. "If you can sing as prettily as you sit," said the fox, "then you are the prettiest singer within my scent and sight." The fox had read somewhere, and somewhere, and somewhere else, that praising the voice of a crow with a cheese in his beak would make him drop the cheese and sing. But this is not what happened to this particular crow in this particular case.

"They say you are sly and they say you are crazy," said the crow, having carefully removed the cheese from his beak with the claws of one foot, "but you must be nearsighted as well. Warblers wear gay hats and colored jackets and bright vest, and they are a dollar a hundred. I wear black and I am unique.

"I am sure you are," said the fox, who was neither crazy nor nearsighted, but sly. "I recognize you, now that I look more closely, as the most famed and talented of all birds, and I fain would hear you tell about yourself, but I am hungry and must go."

"Tarry awhile," said the crow quickly, "and share my lunch with me." Whereupon he tossed the cunning fox the lion's share of the cheese, and began to tell about himself. "A ship that sails without a crow's nest sails to doom," he said. "Bars may come and bars may go, but crow bars last forever. I am the pioneer of flight, I am the map maker. Last, but never least, my flight is known to scientists and engineers, geometricians, and scholar, as the shortest distance between two points. Any two points," he concluded arrogantly.

"Oh, every two points, I am sure," said the fox. "And thank you for the lion's share of what I know you could not spare." And with this he trotted away into the woods, his appetite appeased, leaving the hungry crow perched forlornly in the tree.

The Wolf and the Dog

Once there was a wolf who was nearly dead with hunger. He was very thin, so that the outline of his bones could be seen clearly beneath his thinning coat of hair. With hardly enough energy to walk, the wolf had little hope of finding food. As he lay beneath a large tree, a dog out for a walk noticed him. Seeing how thin and hungry-looking the wolf was, the dog felt sorry for him and said, "You are in terrible shape! You look as if you haven't eaten for many days."

"You're right," said the wolf. "I haven't eaten because you and your friends are doing such a good job of guarding the sheep. Now I am so weak that I have little hope of finding food. I think I will surely die."

Then why not join us? Asked the dog. "I work regularly and I eat regularly. You could do the same. I will arrange it. You can help me and the other dogs guard the sheep. In that way, we won't have to worry about your stealing the sheep any more and you won't have to worry about going hungry any more. It's a good deal for both of us."

The wolf thought it over for a few minutes and then decided that the dog was right. So they went off together toward the ranch house where the dog lived. But, as they were walking, the wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the dog's neck was very thin. He was curious about this, for the dog had such a beautiful coat every where else. Finally, he asked the dog about it.

"Oh, don't worry about that," said the dog. "It's the place where the collar rubs on my neck when my master chains me up at night."

"Chained up!" cried the wolf, "Do you mean that you are chained up at night? If I come to live with you, will I be chained up at night too?"

That's right," answered the dog. "But, You'll get used to it soon enough. I hardly think about it anymore."

"But, if I am chained up, then I won't be able to walk when I want to take a walk or to run where I want to run," the wolf said. "If I come to live with you, I won't be free anymore." After saying this, the wolf turned and ran away.

"The dog called after the wolf, saying, "Wait! Come back! I may not be able to do everything I want to do, but I'm healthy, well-fed, and I have a warm place to sleep. You are too worried about keeping alive to enjoy life. I'm more free than you are."

The Fox and The Cat

One day a cat and a fox were having a conversation. The fox, who was a conceited creature, boasted how clever she was. 'Why, I know at least a hundred tricks to get away from our mutual enemies, the dogs,' she said.

'I know only one trick to get away from dogs,' said the cat. 'You should teach me some of yours!'

'Well, maybe some day, when I have the time, I may teach you a few of the simpler ones,' replied the fox airily.

Just then they heard the barking of a pack of dogs in the distance. The barking grew louder and louder - the dogs were coming in their direction! At once the cat ran to the nearest tree and climbed into its branches, well out of reach of any dog. 'This is the trick I told you about, the only one I know,' she called down to the fox. 'Which one of your hundred tricks are you going to use?'

The fox sat silently under the tree, wondering which trick she should use. Before she could make up her mind, the dogs arrived. They fell upon the fox and tore her to pieces.

A single plan that works is better than a hundred doubtful plans.

The Lion and The Mouse

Once, as a lion lay sleeping in his den, a naughty little mouse ran up his tail, and onto his back and up his mane and danced and jumped on his head, so that the lion woke up.

lion angry and mouseThe lion grabbed the mouse and, holding him in his large claws, roared in anger. 'How dare you wake me up! Don't you know that I am King of the Beasts? Anyone who disturbs my rest deserves to die! I shall kill you and eat you!'

The terrified mouse, shaking and trembling, begged the lion to let him go. 'Please don't eat me Your Majesty! I did not mean to wake you, it was a mistake. I was only playing. Please let me go - and I promise I will be your friend forever. Who knows but one day I could save your life?'

The lion looked at the tiny mouse and laughed. 'You save my life? What an absurd idea!' he said scornfully. 'But you have made me laugh, and put me into a good mood again, so I shall let you go.' And the lion opened his claws and let the mouse go free.

'Oh thank you, your majesty,' squeaked the mouse, and scurried away as fast as he could.

A few days later the lion was caught in a hunter's snare. Struggle as he might, he couldn't break free and became even more entangled in the net of ropes. He let out a roar of anger that shook the forest. Every animal heard it, including the tiny mouse.