Narrative Structure

FLASHFORWARD

FLASHBACK

Breaking Conventions

Structural Techniques

FRAMING DEVICE

IN MEDIA RES

Flashbacks

A transition in a story to an earlier time, that interrupts the normal chronological order of events

In Books

In Films

“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë (1847)

Forrest Gump (1994)

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

Titanic (1997)

Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë

Before I came to live here, she commenced — waiting no farther invitation to her story — I was almost always at Wuthering Heights; because my mother had nursed Mr. Hindley Earnshaw, that was Hareton’s father, and I got used to playing with the children […]

Wuthering Heights begins with Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, narrating in the first person. He asks his housekeeper Nelly Dean to tell him the history of Wuthering Heights, particularly of his inhospitable landlord Heathcliff. Nelly then becomes the narrator of the past narrative — this flashback takes up the bulk of the book. At various points, we return to the present day before flashing back to the past again. This structure adds complexity and richness to the novel.

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

One October day in nineteen-seventeen- (said Jordan Baker that afternoon, sitting up very straight on a straight chair in the tea-garden at the Plaza Hotel) — I was walking along from one place to another half on the sidewalks and half on the lawns.

In this novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses flashbacks to convey Gatsby’s long-running obsession with Daisy. In the quotation above, Jordan Baker tells Nick about Daisy as an 18-year-old woman in 1917, when Jordan was 16.

Forrest Gump

In the first scene of the movie, Forrest Gump tries to strike up a conversation with a lady who sits on the bench next to him: eventually, he gets a response when admiring her shoes. As Forrest closed his eyes, remembering his first pair of shoes, we cut to a doctor’s office with young Forrest closing his eyes tightly too. Flashbacks are used throughout the movie, with most of the story told retrospectively, with Forrest narrating.

Titanic

We first see Rose as a very elderly lady, listening to a news report about items salvaged from the Titanic — including a drawing of herself as a young woman. After a number of brief flashback scenes that Rose remembers, we go back to 1912, as she’s being interviewed about her time on the Titanic.

Flash-forwards

Flash-forward is a literary device in which the plot goes ahead of time; meaning a scene that interrupts and takes the narrative forward in time from the current time in the story. Flash-forward is similar to foreshadowing. However, foreshadowing only hints at the possible outcome in the future, without any interruption. Flash-forward, on the other hand, actually takes the narrative forward in time.

In Films

In Books

'Sherlock Holmes' 2009

'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens (1843)

'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' by Murial Spark (1961)

'Arrival' 2016

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One. He advanced towards it trembling. The Phantom was exactly as it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape. “Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,” said Scrooge, “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?” Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood. “Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!” The Spirit was immovable as ever. Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, EBENEZER SCROOGE.

Probably the most famous example of a flash forward is when Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and sees his own grave. This is such a compelling scene in the book that it finally tips Scrooge over the edge and convinces him to change his ways.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Muriel Spark

“Tell me, Sister Helena, what would you say was your greatest influence during the ‘thirties? I mean, during your teens. Did you read Auden and Eliot?” “No,” said Sandy. “The influences of one’s teens are very important,” said the man. “Oh yes,” said Sandy, “even if they provide something to react against.” “What was your biggest influence, then, Sister Helena? Was it political, personal? Was it Calvinism?” “Oh no,” said Sandy. “But there was a Miss Jean Brodie in her prime.” She clutched the bars of the grille as if she wanted to escape from the dim parlour beyond, for she was not composed like the other nuns who sat, when they received their rare visitors, well back in the darkness with folded hands.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark, makes extensive use of the narrative technique of flash-forward. The story takes place at Marcia Blaine School, where six girls are tutored by Miss Brodie. One of the girls is called Sandy. In the dialogue above we suddenly arrive in Sandy’s future, where she is no longer a teenager but Sister Helena of the Transfiguration. In the scene she is reminded of her old teacher and loses her composure, gripping at the bars of the grille. This flash-forward into Sandy’s future shows the reader that she considers Miss Brodie to be the one who shapes her into the woman she becomes.

Sherlock Holmes

The Flash-Forward technique is used in the 2009 film, 'Sherlock Holmes' to help the viewer understand how Sherlock's mind works. We see him fight in slow motion, working out every move and possibility. We then see the same scene played back at real speed, back in the present time.

Arrival

Arrival is not a chronological film – the narrative is told out of order. In the clip we see a flashforward to a time when the main character has a daughter. The non-linear progression of the story allows the audience to experience the same confusion and discovery as the protagonist.

In Media Res

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Stories that begin in media res often have an urgency to them. They usually suck a reader right into the story with something exciting or shocking.

In Books

In Films

“I am The Messenger” by Markus Zusak (2002)

Star Wars (1977)

“The Tell-tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe (1843)

Source Code (2011)

I am The Messenger

Markus Zusak

The gunman is useless. I know it. He knows it. The whole bank knows it. Even my best mate, Marvin, knows it, and he’s more useless than the gunman. The worst part about the whole thing is that Marv’s car is standing outside in a fifteen-minute parking zone. We’re all facedown on the floor, and the car’s only got a few minutes left on it. “I wish this bloke’d hurry up,” I mention. “I know,” Marv whispers back. “This is outrageous.”

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak opens in media res with our main characters held at gunpoint during a bank robbery. It makes the opening exciting as we wonder what is going to happen next. It also creates a curiosity about the characters who seem overly confident for this situation.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe

TRUE!—NERVOUS—VERY, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is a popular example of a short story that starts in medias res. It opens with a dialogue between a narrator and another character. The narrator claims they are sane, but it’s then revealed that he murdered someone.

Star Wars

A classic example of a film starting in media res, is Star Wars. We’re literally dropped onto a ship that’s being chased by another, much bigger ship. Star Wars originally started down on Tatooine with Luke Skywalker mowing dust. Imagine how much weaker that opening would’ve been!

Source Code

Another example of a film starting in media res is Source Code. We’re thrown into the story of a guy who wakes up in another person’s body on a moving train!

Framing Device

Why?

Why?

Why?

A frame story, or frame narrative, is a type of narrative that tells a story inside of another larger story.

In Books

In Films

"A Thousand and One Nights" a composite work, precise author unknown (early eighth century)

The Princess Bride 1987

"The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks (1996)

Big Fish 2003

A Thousand and One Nights

Composite work - Author unknown

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister said, “Sister, what a lovely and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live! May God grant him long life.”

A Thousand and One Nights, also known as Arabian Nights, is the story of King Shahriyar. His story is the outer frame. After discovering his wife betrayed him by sleeping with other men, Shahriyar kills her. The thought that any woman he marries will forsake him in the same way tortures the king. So, he vows to marry a new wife daily and kill each one until there are no single women left in his kingdom. The eldest daughter of his advisor and an eligible bride named Shahrazad devises a genius plan to save herself and the other women in their community. She offers herself up for marriage. The first night they spend together, Shahrazad tells the King a story. But she doesn’t finish. She tells him he must wait until the next day to learn the end of the story. So, the King delays his plans to kill her so he can hear the ending. Shahrazad continues this pattern each night. This carries on for hundreds of nights.

The Notebook

Nicholas Sparks

There is always a moment right before I begin to read the story when my mind churns, and I wonder, Will it happen today? ... So once again, just as I do every day, I begin to read the notebook aloud, so that she can hear it, in the hope that the miracle that has come to dominate my life will once again prevail

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is an excellent example of a frame story in a novel. The book opens with an elderly man sitting in a nursing home reading to the woman he is visiting. The story he is reading to her comes from a notebook. It’s about two young people, Noah and Allie, who fall in love but are separated by life circumstances. They reunite shortly after World War II, but now Allie is engaged to someone else. While Allie acknowledges her feelings for Noah, she’s reluctant to leave her fiancé. Eventually, the reader understands Allie is the woman in the nursing home to whom the man is reading. But we have yet to find out who the man is. Is he Allie’s first love, Noah, or the fiancé, Lon? While we follow Noah and Allie’s love story, we also learn more about the narrator’s love for the woman in the nursing home.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride uses a framing device, which has a grandfather reading the story to his grandson. The grandson isn’t interested. But he agrees to hear the story, “if it has sports.” The Princess Bride is the tale of two young lovers, Buttercup and Westley, but it’s not only a love story. It’s an adventure. As we transition between the two frames — the grandfather and grandson in the first, and Buttercup and Westley in the second — we see the grandson become fully invested in the mishaps and escapades that await Buttercup and Westley. When Buttercup and Westley’s story ends, the grandson begs his grandfather to read him the story again.

Big Fish

Big Fish is a Tim Burton movie which combines the strange with the heartfelt. The frame story has a father relating his life to his son as he lays dying, and so the movie is about the latter’s attempt to determine just which parts of the story are true, particularly as they are so fantastical.