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Juie Shah

Narrative Structure in Storytelling


Weekly Story Assessment Lucky Jim
From a readers point of view, Lucky Jim was a very compelling story with a great story
line. There were no paragraphs that I just wanted to skim through and not read in depth.
Through struggles, emotions and the experience of Jim, human behavior was so
beautifully narrated.
In terms of the through line, Jims struggles, experiences and the pendulum
movement between his hope and loss of hope showed a journey to self-awareness and
that was the spine of the story. I could probably think transition or journey was the
through line. It started with a descriptive lede that captured the readers attention by
describing the first accident in a very visual and sensational manner. This lede worked
because while it gave a perspective of the story it did not reveal too much and hence led
the reader on to the rest of the story to know what happened.
In my opinion, there is no nut graf to this story as it does not reveal the entire story in
a nutshell but rather takes the reader through the story, often surprising them, catching
them off-guard and making them look forward to more. There are great ups and downs
and turning points. I dont think the nut graf is necessary in this story as one of the most
charming factors of the story is the way it is revealed part by part to make it compelling.
The narrative structure also follows this theme. It starts with an inciting incident leads on
to give the reader some background, turns into the climax and then exposes the reader to
crisis which includes a secondary turning point, and then ends in a resolution.
The basic structure of the story revolves around Jims experiences, struggles and the
pendulum of his emotions. Its starts with introducing the reader to his first accident, goes
onto giving background and then takes the reader into the second accident which is also
the climax. After the second accident Jims emotional upheavals are described. This
includes his battles to regain his confidence and identity and the atrocities he faced in the
hospital follows. The story then takes a positive route and goes into his hard work to his
recovery and his motivational speeches. This is followed by a turning point where he hits
a low, reaches his peak of recovery and begins using cocaine. This is then followed by a
resolution where he takes control over his life and decides to live gracefully even though
in pain. He thinks spiritually and philosophically and tries to shape this entire accident as
a blessing that helped him reach self-awareness. The ending is a resolution and it works
very well because through the story the reader builds empathy towards Jim and that
aspect is satisfied in the readers mind through the ending.
In this story notably the story arc worked very well as the way the reader was led
through the story in a compelling manner, building suspense in parts and then releasing
suspense. The story was also very visual in description and the details resonated well.
The balance between humor and tragedy and the use of dry humor to make certain
somber parts lighter worked very well.

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