Research Guides: ENGL 101E Hogan Piecing Me Together: Narratives In Literature

What is a narrative?

A narrative is the telling of events in a cohesive format. What does that mean in plain English? A narrative is a story. Simple as that. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. A narrative can be fiction or non-fiction and narrative writing is one of the most widely used tools in literature.

Why do writers use narrative storytelling?

People use stories for all types of reasons. Narrative stories can entertain, inform, and even teach. Reading a narrative story allows you to immerse yourself in another person's life, including their culture and their experiences. Narratives are stories about people and they appeal to their readers' sense of empathy and humanity.

Narrative Books @ Your Library

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Call Number: 2nd Floor Book Stacks ; 362.2923 W215g 2009
The extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world's most gifted storytellers. The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing--a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.
Educated by Tara Westover
Call Number: ebook; 2nd Floor Book Stacks ; 270.092 W536e 2018
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Sula by Toni Morrison
Call Number: 2nd Floor Book Stacks ; 813.54 M878s 1982
From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner: Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who become something worse than enemies. This brilliantly imagined novel brings us the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Nel and Sula's devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal--or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Call Number: 813.54 J762o 2021
ISBN: 9781432887414
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From USA TODAY bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a "masterpiece" (Locus Magazine) of a novel about revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition. Labeled "one of 2020's buzziest horror novels" (Entertainment Weekly), this is a remarkable horror story that "will give you nightmares--the good kind of course" (BuzzFeed). From New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a novel that is equal parts psychological horror and cutting social commentary on identity politics and the American Indian experience. Fans of Jordan Peele and Tommy Orange will love this story as it follows the lives of four American Indian men and their families, all haunted by a disturbing, deadly event that took place in their youth. Years later, they find themselves tracked by an entity bent on revenge, totally helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Call Number: 2nd Floor Book Stacks ; 813.6 H233t 2014
Lara Jean's love life gets complicated in this New York Times bestselling "lovely, lighthearted romance" (School Library Journal) from the bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series. What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them...all at once? Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved--five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

Your Narrative Essay

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Who tells your story? Well, in this case, you do! Your assignment is to write about one of the following topics:

General Topics:

Have you ever experienced injustice or discrimination based on how much money you – or someone else – had? How did it feel? What did you do?
Share an experience from your past that taught you a valuable lesson about opportunity.
Share an experience from your past where you "saw" things clearly or in a different way.

Piecing Me Together-related topic:

Have you ever hidden something about your family reality from others? What is/was it and what did you learn from the experience?
Have or when have your “role model (s)” or mentor(s) disappointed you? What happened and what did you learn?

How will you create your own narrative? Don't forget to address your chosen topic and reach out for help if you need it!