Mr. Gunnar
AP English Language and Composition
Assignment:
You will write a narrative essay illustrating a pivotal event in your life.
Before you begin:
Read Lopate: “Writing Personal Essays: On the Necessity of Turning Oneself Into
a Character”: HO
Elements of a Personal Narrative
The more of each element a narrative essay addresses, the more likely that narrative essay will be
effective in communicating the writer's point and effectively developing the essay's rhetorical goal.
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Setting: Place and time –where is it? Be sure your reader can see where the action is taking place.
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Persona: What are some characteristics about you that you want your reader to understand? How
do you want readers to perceive you? Describe your behavior in order to convey these points.
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Tone and voice: How do you want readers to feel? Through voice and tone, you can help readers
share your reactions to the experience you are recreating. Craft your paper with vivid
descriptions, syntax variations and other rhetorical strategies to unveil the nature of the events and
your reactions to these events.
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Plot: You establish the plot by a causal linking of events. One event should lead to another.
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Theme: The theme is the dominant idea expressed in the work. It should also be expressed in your
thesis/controlling idea and developed in the body of your essay. Do your best to make it clear to
your reader. As with any essay, your narrative essay must have a point (thesis).
Burke’s Pentad
Perhaps the best invention strategy for a narrative essay is Burke’s Pentad, which takes into account that
every human action is influenced by five elements: act (what), scene (where, when), agent (who), agency
(how), and purpose (why).
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Act is anything that happens or could happen or is the result of a completed activity.
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Scene is the setting or background of the action.
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Agent is the person or force responsible for or influenced by the action.
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Agency is the method that makes a thing happen.
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Purpose is the reason or motive for the action.
As noted in the invention reading, these elements are useful because they can be used to analyze events,
arguments, characters, or audiences--anything involving human interaction.
Burke’s Pentad Taken Further
Answering these questions will give you considerable detail for a narrative essay. Develop the answers as
fully as possible and you will go a long way toward completing your narrative essay.
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What are you doing?
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How did you become involved?
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What are you trying to accomplish?
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How will you accomplish these goals?
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What obstacles do you face?
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What action are you trying to take?
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What other actions are possible?
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How does the setting, the time of the event and the others involved in it affect your actions?
