Closure in narratives (narratology)

CLOSURE IN NARRATIVES( B A S E D O N , C A M B R I D G E ’ S I N T R O D U C T I O N T O N A R RAT I V E , BY H . P O RT E R

A B B O TT )

CHAPTER 5

1.MAHSA NOORI2.SADAF FARAMARZI3.ZIYA AMIRI SADR

RAZI UNIVERSITY, KERMANSHAH, IRAN, APRIL 2015

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CONFLICTS STRUCTURE A NARRATIVE Life is all about power. The will to power and the power of willing to live. Narratives are an instrument of power. In almost every narrative power is at stake, we see this by the emergence of conflicts in a narrative.

Conflict in Greek >>> AGON

Hence:

protAGONist (hero) and antAGONist (hero’s chief opponent)

CONFLICTS CAN BE ANYTHING !

CONFLICT

CHARACTERS

VALUES

NATUREFEELINGS

IDEAS

CLOSURE AND CONFLICT

When a narrative resolves a conflict, it achieves closure, and this logically

must come at the end of the narrative.

A VERY SHORT STORY CALLED “TABOO”

His guardian Angel whispered to Fabian, behind his shoulder:"Careful, Fabian!

It is said that you will die the minute yousay the word doyen."

"Doyen?" asks Fabian, curiously.And he dies.

ENDING AND CLOSURE

These are rather wonderful narratives, and certainly one of the things that makes them work so well is how decisively they end. In

each of these two storiesthere is a clear (though not necessarily simple) conflict which is

resolvedabsolutely with the final words of the narrative. But closure does

not have to come at the end of a narrative; in fact, itdoes not have to come at all. So it is important to keep the two

concepts-the ENDING and CLOSURE-distinct from each other.

CLASSICS VS. MODERN

We’re all familiar with these classical famous words “a well made play must have a beginning, a middle and an ending”

Maybe this principle worked out well for the classics but in modern time narratives, it’s a rather different kind of a story.

EX. MODERN TIME NARRATIVES (THESE NARRATIVES ARE RATHER DIFFERENT THAN THE CLASSIC NARRATIVES)

INDEFINENCY

Soap operas can go on forever !!!-Days of Our Lives (1965–present)-The Bold and the Beautiful (1987–present)

The "prequel” phenomenon -Georg Lucas’s Star wars-Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and its prequel The Hobbit Comic books never end !!!-Man of Steel > Stan Lee-Hellboy > Stan Lee

WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT ?

What so different is that these narratives can be like this:

No ending

No beginning

If there’s a beginning, there is a chance that it can be manipulated later (see prequel phenomenon)

In short, it’s their indefinency that makes them rather different than the classics.

CLOSURE AND SUSPENSE

The term "closure" can refer to more than the resolution of a story's centralconflict. It actually has to do with a broad range of expectations and uncertainties

that arise during a narrative. Closure is therefore best understood as something welook for in a narrative. Something that is either satisfying or frustrating.

If the object is to satisfy this desire which is often the case- it can't be satisfied too quickly, because we seem also

to enjoy being in the state of imbalance or tension that precedes closure. Infact, narrative is marked almost everywhere by its lack of closure. Commonlycalled suspense, this lack is one of the two things that above everything else

give narrative its life.

CLOSURE AND SURPRISE

The other thing is “surprise” . All successful narratives ofany length are chains of suspense and surprise that keep us in an

unpredictablestate of impatience, wonderment, and partial amusement. We are

held thisway until the final moment of closure.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS !

CONFLICT

SUSPENSE and

SURPRISE

CLOSURE

CLOSURE AND “BARTHES”

In the process of understanding a narrative we must refer to the decoding principles of Roland Barthes.

He asserts that; “the reader brings a set of narrative codes to any readable narrative. The author and the reader share two

fundamental codes to make a narrative readable”

1. Proairetic code

2. Hermeneutic code

CLOSURE AND BARTHES CODES In these two codes Barthes is referring to the different ways that a

narrative arouses both expectations (Proairetic) and questions (Hermeneutic) and then either give us satisfaction or frustration.

This is actually where the closure is recognized.

If expectations are fulfilled

And questions are answered

Then closure occurs.

CLOSURE AT THE LEVEL OF EXPECTATIONS

At this level we recognize the kind ofaction or sequence of events that we are reading. Once actions start in a

certain way, we expect what follows to be consistent with the overall code.

Concerning expectations, there appears to be two imperfectlybalanced needs for closures within readers. On the one hand to see the

expectations fulfilled, on the other to see them violated.

Prince Princess Princess

gets rescued

Fall in love with each

otherRomance

“SURPRISE” OR “VIOLATION OF EXPECTATIONS”

Bedtime Story

"Careful, honey, the gun is loaded," he said, re-entering the bedroom.

Her back rested against the corner of the bed. “Is this gun for your wife?"

"No. Its too chancy. I'm hiring a professional killer for her.""How about me?"

He smirked. "Cute. But who'd be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?"

She wet her lips, and looking along the gun barrel. "Your wife."

SURPRISE AND EXPECTATIONS

If narratives were to be just as we expect them always to be and operate in the same way as they always do, then we

would have nothing but stereotypes and wooden clichés for our literature.

What truly gives life to a narrative is the violation of our expectations. This violation is called surprise.

CLOSURE AT THE LEVEL OF QUESTIONS

At the level of expectations we anticipated What will happen. Now at the level of questions we anticipate Enlightenment.

LET’S READ A STORY

For sale: baby shoes, never worn !

CLOSURE AT THE LEVEL OF QUESTIONS

Who did it? Where are we? What's going on? Who are these people? What is their

relationship? What do they want?

This is another kind of suspense in narratives, which is called thelevel of questions and it is also a level of answers. Just as there can be a steady

stream of questions, so too there can be a steady stream of answers in a narrative.

These answers may not be the right answers. Or they may be partial answers. But this thread of information keeps us going until the narrative (in most cases)

providesthe answer and closure comes.

EXPECTATIONS VS. QUESTIONS

Expectations

They are definitely going to catch the murderer !

I think that She will marry Peter at the end !

The wrestler will have a hart attack !

Questions

Who is the murderer ?

Which one she would marry? Peter or George ?

During which fight, is he having a heart attack ?

CLOSURE IS SOMETHING THAT WE TEND TO LOOK FOR IN NARRATIVES !

Powerful narratives, don't tell us what to think but cause us to think. Narrative is a machine for thinking. But most of the times we think

that a narratives must resolve the issues that it raises. The presence or absence of closure by itself can not be taken

as a standard of narrative failure or success.

The fact that closuredoes not have to happen in narrative makes it especially important

to keepclosure separate from the formal concept of an ending.

WE READ IN DIFFERENT WAYS !

Closure brings satisfaction to desire, relief to suspense, and clarity

to confusion. lt normalizes. it confirms the master plot.

But:

At the same time,we don't want closure too quickly. We seem to like the experience

of remaining in doubt while moving toward closure.