Character Types & Narrative Structure

The Character Types:

A Russian formalist scholar named Vladimir Propp analyzed the plot components of a hundred folk tales and found that despite the fact there are a large amount of characters in them they are all broken down into the following 8 character types:

The Hero The Villain The Princess/Prize The Donor The Helper The Princess’ Father The False Hero The Dispatcher

In my book the hero would technically be a combination of all three of the little Martians. However if I was to narrow it down to one character I would say the third little Martian would be the main hero as he is the one that builds the brick house which protects them. He also the one to come up with the idea to drop the Big Bad Alien into the pot of boiling goo to get rid of him. Although it would be unusual to have him as the Hero as he does not show up till very near the end of the story, all of the things he does makes him the most suitable candidate.

The villain in my book would be the Big Bad Alien. This is due to the fact that his main goal throughout the book is to cause distress to the three little Martians and try to destroy their houses. As he has only bad intentions towards the three little Martians he is seen as the bad guy or villain. Also because he is a villain I have made him red so the reader will see the red and think he is evil. This is because although red is associated with being strong, which my alien is, it is also associated with bad things like a “No Entry” sign for instance.

In my book there is no princess or someone in need of rescue. However, there is a prize of sorts. In the story the three little Martians are trying to get rid of the bad alien by any means necessary and so the prizes becomes the three Martians kill/scaring away the Alien. Also as there isn’t any princess then there is no princess’ father as there is no person that the three little Martians need to impress.

The Donor in my book would be the Merchant Martian as he gives each character the materials that allow them to build their houses. This helps advance the story as without the merchant the Martians wouldn’t be able to build and so the alien would have found it a lot easier to eat them. Although the merchant is the donor in my book he is not, unlike many books, the helper as he only shows up three times to give the Martians the materials they need to make their houses and then he is gone again and so this only makes him the donor.

The Helper in my book could technically be the first and second little Martians. This is because the first Martian helps the second Martian escape the stick house as it is being blown down an then the second and first Martians help the third one to get rid of the alien once and for all. So because they help the third Martian who I said was the hero of the book they would be the helpers helping Martian three in his quest.

In my book there is no one who has the traits of the false hero. As the false hero is someone who is suppose to trick the hero into going the wrong way or doing the wrong thing and even a person we could mistake for the actual hero in the story. In my story there is no one who fits this character role as all of my characters are set as The Hero, The Villain or The Donor.

Finally, The Dispatcher. This would be the Mother Martian that we see only once on page one. She is the character that sends the three little Martians out into the world to start their new lives. Although she doesn’t send them out on a quest she does help kick start the plot by telling the three little Martians that she cannot afford to keep them any longer.

The Narrative Structure:

A Russian structuralist named Todorov found that all stories follow a simple structural path. There is a three and five step version.

Three Step:

State of Equilibrium – This is the start of a book or film where it sets the scene of a new day

Disequilibrium – An event happens that throws the character into the story and on the adventure

New Equilibrium – This is at the end when everything is back to normal, but it doesn’t have to be back to the same as before.

Five Step:

A state of equilibrium A disruption of that order by an event A recognition that disorder has occurred An attempt to repair the damage A return or restoration of new equilibrium

In my book there isn’t really a starting equilibrium as the story starts off with the characters being told by their mother that they have to move out and make their own way in the world. However you could argue that this is their equilibrium as the reader has no knowledge of the way these characters use to live and so them moving out and building houses is their normal day or their equilibrium.

The disequilibrium starts when the Big Bad Alien arrives this is something that isn’t apart of their normal daily routine and is an event that causes distress and disorder.

Finally when the alien is gone and the Martians are safe the story goes back to a new state of equilibrium. Everything hasn’t gone back to the way it all was as two of the three houses have been destroyed, but the three little Martians are back in a state of equilibrium, as they have nothing disturbing their lives anymore.

Binary Opposition:

Claude Levi Strauss, a French theorist, came up with the theory of binary opposition. The theory states that in each story there are two opposing sides that come together and is most likely to end up in combat. Some examples would be:

Good vs. Evil Men vs. Women Police vs. Criminals Young vs. Old Humans vs. Aliens Humans vs. Animals

This applies in my book as I have a Good vs. Evil story line. The Martians would be the Good and the Alien would be Evil, all the way through the book from the point the Alien arrives they Good and Evil are in combat with each other and trying to kill/eat each other. In my book I have made it very obvious who is good and who is bad by use of colours. To show the good Martians I used Green for their skin tone, and to show the Evil Alien I used a Red for his skin tone.

Types of Structure:

There are eight different types of structure that are use throughout most books and even movies. These eight consist of:

Open – An open narrative does not have any conclusion to the story. Instead they leave it open so that it can go on and on. Most soap operas and Comic books do this.

Closed – These are narratives that have an ending point and can’t be continued as the story always has some sort of way of saying this is the end. Most films do this as they have a start and an end within the run time of the movie.

Single-Strand – This refers to a movie, book or other type of media that has only a single storyline. An example of this would be children’s book as if there are too many story lines a child could get lost.

Multi-Strand – This type of structure consist of multiple story lines running parallel to each other. Soap operas are a good example of this. Also movies like Pulp Fiction and Sin City are excellent examples of this.

Linear – A linear story is a start that runs beginning to end all scenes in the correct order. This is the most common way of story telling and is used in many films, books and other areas of media.

Non-Linear – A non-linear story is a story that doesn’t go straight from beginning to end and instead jumps around with each scene being way after or way before the last. This is a less common

and less used method but it is still used. Pulp Fiction again is a good example of this type of structure.

Realist – This type of story line consist of real-life event. These are mostly made up from an event that could happen to an actual person but has been amped up a bit to make for a more interesting film. An example of this in film would be the 2013 film Selfish Giant, as this is a situation that, given the right circumstances, could happen to anyone.

Anti-Realist – These are stories that would never happen to anyone and are complete fabricated by the films/books creators. Examples of these would be films such as the 2015 film Ex Machina or the 2014 film Transcendence.

My book has a single-strand. This is because there is only one story within my book, which is the alien trying to eat the Martians and the Martians trying to get rid of the alien. I have done this as I feel it would be too difficult for children of the age range I am aiming my book at to follow multiple stories. I also did this because the original story of the Three Little Pigs is single-strand. The book is also linear which means it starts at the beginning and goes straight through to the end in order. This was done because again the original is like this and because many 5-7 year olds would be confused if the story was all out of order. Finally it is closed and this is simply because there is no sequel to this book and the Alien is gone in the end meaning there is no longer a threat.