Recount text

Narrative Text
Bayu Na’afi Yolfanda
Fikri Suhariadi
Ganes Wahyutyasto

NASIMA SHS

fikri1996@gmail.com

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10/1/2010
 Recount text Narrative Text

RECOUNT TEXT

The social function of Recount text is to retell past event or something which
happened in the past. The purpose of this text can be only to inform or even just to
entertain. Derewianka (1990) identified three types of Recount text, namely Personal
Recount, Factual Recount, and Imaginative Recount. Personal Recount exposes an
event in which the writer or the author got involved or acted in the event himself.
Belong to this type among others are daily funny incidents, entries of a diary, etc.
Factual Recount is a note of an event, such as scientific experiment report, police
report, newspaper report, history explanation, etc. Imaginative Recount is an unreal
event or story, like reading texts for language lesson, a story about a life of a slave,
etc. Hardy and Kalrwein (1990) divided two kinds of Recount, namely Personal
Recount and Historical Recount.

GENERIC (SCHEMATIC) STRUCTURE

Recount text usually has three main parts, they are :

1. Orientation : identify a person or thing acted or got involved in the

event, including the time, a certain place, the
situation, etc.
2. Series of Events : ordered in a chronological sequence.
3. Re-orientation : not always (optional), it contains personal comments

Pay close attention to Derewianka Explanation below :

The focus is on a sequence of events, all of which relate to a particular occasion.

The Recount generally begins with an

Orientation

Giving the reader/listener the background information needeed to understand the

text. (i.e., who was involved, where it happened, when it happened).

Then, the Recount unfolds with a

Series of events

ordered in a chronological sequence.

At various stages there may be some personal comment on the incident (e.g., We
had a wonderful time).

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 Recount text Narrative Text

Example :

My Holiday

Last week my friend and I were bored after three weeks of holidays, so we rode our
bikes to Smith Beach, which is only five kilometres from where I live. When we arrived at
the beach, we were surprised to see there was hardly anyone there.

After having a quick dip in the ocean, which was really cold, we realized one reason there
were not many people there. It was also quite windy. After we bought some hot chips at the
takeaway store nearby, we rode our bikes down the beach for a while, on the hard, damp part
of the sand. We had the wind behind us and, before we knew it, we were many miles down
the beach.

Before we made the long trip back, we decided to paddle our feet in the water for a
while, and then sit down for a rest. While we were sitting on the beach, just chatting, it
suddenly dawned on us that all the way back, we would be riding into the strong wind.

When we finally made it back home, we were both totally exhausted! But we learned
some good lessons that day.

Narrative Text

Definition of Narrative

Narrative is a text focusing specific participants. Its social function is to tell stories or past
events and entertain the readers.

Generic Structure of Narrative

A narrative text will consists of the following structure:

1. Orientation : Introducing the participants and informing the time and the place.

2. Complication : Describing the rising crises which the participants have to do with.

3. Resolution : Showing the way of participant to solve the crises, better or worse.

Language Features of Narrative

· Using processes verbs

· Using temporal conjunction 2

· Using Simple Past Tense

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Example

Legend :

Lake Toba

Once upon a time there was a man living in the area of the present day Danau Toba
(Lake Toba). He lived in a simple hut in a farming field, did some gardening and fishing for
his daily life. One day he caught a big golden fish in his trap. It was the biggest catch he ever
had in his life.
Back home this fish turned into a beautiful princess. He felt in love with her and proposed her
to be his wife. She said yes with one condition… the man had to promise not to tell a soul
about the secret that she was once a fish, otherwise there would be a huge disaster. The man
made the deal and they got married and had a daughter.
Few years later, this daughter would help bringing lunch to her father out in the fields. One
day, this daughter was so hungry and she ate his father’s lunch. He found out and got furious,
and shouted “You damned daughter of a fish”.
The daughter ran home and asked her mother. The mother started crying, felt sad that her
husband had broke his promise. She told her daughter to run up the hills because a huge
disaster was about to come. When her daughter left, she prayed. Soon there was a big
earthquake followed by non-stop pouring rain. The princess also
ran from the house, and each footprint she left became a natural
spring. The whole area got flooded and became Lake Toba.
The princess turned into a fish again and the man became the

island of Samosir (the big island in the middle of Lake Toba).

Fable :

The Fox and the Hedgehog

A Fox swimming across a rapid river was carried by the force of

the current into a very deep ravine, where he lay for a long time
very much bruised, sick, and unable to move. A swarm of
hungry blood-sucking flies settled upon him. A Hedgehog,
passing by, saw his anguish and inquired if he should drive away
the flies that were tormenting him.

"By no means," replied the Fox; "pray do not molest them."

"How is this?' said the Hedgehog; "do you not want to be rid of
them?' "No," returned the Fox, "for these flies which you see are
full of blood, and sting me but little, and if you rid me of these
which are already satiated, others more hungry will come in their
place, and will drink up all the blood I have left." 3

Fairy Tale :

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Beauty and the beast

Once upon a time as a merchant set off for market, he asked each of his three
daughters what she would like as a present on his return. The first daughter wanted a brocade
dress, the second a pearl necklace, but the third, whose name was Beauty, the youngest,
prettiest and sweetest of them all, said to her father:

"All I'd like is a rose you've picked specially for me!"

When the merchant had finished his business, he set off for home. However, a sudden
storm blew up, and his horse could hardly make headway in the howling gale. Cold and
weary, the merchant had lost all hope of reaching an inn when he suddenly noticed a bright
light shining in the middle of a wood. As he drew near, he saw that it was a castle, bathed in
light.

"I hope I'll find shelter there for the night," he said to himself. When he reached the door,
he saw it was open, but though he shouted, nobody came to greet him. Plucking up courage,
he went inside, still calling out to attract attention. On a table in the main hall, a splendid
dinner lay already served. The merchant lingered, still shouting for the owner of the castle.
But no one
came, and so the starving merchant sat down to a hearty meal.

Overcome by curiosity, he ventured upstairs, where the corridor led into magnificent rooms
and halls. A fire crackled in the first room and a soft bed looked very inviting. It was now
late, and the merchant could not resist. He lay down on the bed and fell fast asleep. When he
woke next morning, an unknown hand had placed a mug of steaming coffee and some fruit
by his bedside.

The merchant had breakfast and after tidying himself up, went downstairs to thank his
generous host. But, as on the evening before, there was nobody in sight. Shaking his head in
wonder at the strangeness of it all, he went towards the garden where he had left his horse,
tethered to a tree. Suddenly, a large rose bush caught his eye.

Remembering his promise to Beauty, he bent down to pick a rose. Instantly, out of the rose
garden, sprang a horrible beast, wearing splendid clothes. Two bloodshot eyes, gleaming
angrily, glared at him and a deep, terrifying voice growled: "Ungrateful man! I gave you
shelter, you ate at my table and slept in my own bed, but now all the thanks I get is the theft
of my favorite flowers! I shall put you to death for this slight!" Trembling with fear, the
merchant fell on his knees before the Beast.

"Forgive me! Forgive me! Don't kill me! I'll do anything you say! The rose wasn't for me, it
was for my daughter Beauty. I promised to bring her back a rose from my journey!" The
Beast dropped the paw it had clamped on the unhappy merchant.

"I shall spare your life, but on one condition, that you bring me your daughter!" The terror-
stricken merchant, faced with certain death if he did not obey, promised that he would do so.
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When he reached home in tears, his three daughters ran to greet him. After he had told them
of his dreadful adventure, Beauty put his mind at rest immediately.

"Dear father, I'd do anything for you! Don't worry, you'll be able to keep your promise and

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save your life! Take me to the castle. I'll stay there in your place!" The merchant hugged his
daughter.

"I never did doubt your love for me. For the moment I can only thank you for saving my
life." So Beauty was led to the castle. The Beast, however, had quite an unexpected greeting
for the girl. Instead of menacing doom as it had done with her father, it was surprisingly
pleasant.

In the beginning, Beauty was frightened of the Beast, and shuddered at the sight of it. Then
she found that, in spite of the monster's awful head, her horror of it was gradually fading as
time went by. She had one of the finest rooms in the Castle, and sat for hours, embroidering
in front of the fire. And the Beast would sit, for hours on end, only a short distance away,
silently gazing at her. Then it started to say a few kind words, till in the end, Beauty was
amazed to discover that she was actually enjoying its conversation. The days passed, and
Beauty and the Beast became good friends. Then one day, the Beast asked the girl to be his
wife.

Taken by surprise, Beauty did not know what to say. Marry such an ugly monster? She
would rather die! But she did not want to hurt the feelings of one who, after all, had been
kind to her. And she remembered too that she owed it her own life as well as her father's.

"I really can't say yes," she began shakily. "I'd so much like to..." The Beast interrupted her
with an abrupt gesture.

"I quite understand! And I'm not offended by your refusal!" Life went on as usual, and
nothing further was said. One day, the Beast presented Beauty with a magnificent magic
mirror. When Beauty peeped into it, she could see her family, far away.

"You won't feel so lonely now," were the words that accompanied the gift. Beauty stared
for hours at her distant family. Then she began to feel worried. One day, the Beast found her
weeping beside the magic mirror.

"What's wrong?" he asked, kindly as always.

"My father is gravely ill and close to dying! Oh, how I wish I could see him again, before
it's too late!" But the Beast only shook its head.

"No! You will never leave this castle!" And off it stalked in a rage. However, a little later, it
returned and spoke solemnly to the girl.

"If you swear that you will return here in seven days time, I'll let you go and visit your
father!" Beauty threw herself at the Beast's feet in delight.

"I swear! I swear I will! How kind you are! You've made a loving daughter so happy!" In
reality, the merchant had fallen ill from a broken heart at knowing his daughter was being
kept prisoner. When he embraced her again, he was soon on the road to recovery. Beauty
5
stayed beside him for hours on end, describing her life at the Castle, and explaining that the
Beast was really
good and kind. The days flashed past, and at last the merchant was able to leave his bed. He
was completely well again. Beauty was happy at last. However, she had failed to notice that

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seven days had gone by.

Then one night she woke from a terrible nightmare. She had dreamt that the Beast was
dying and calling for her, twisting in agony.

"Come back! Come back to me!" it was pleading. The solemn promise she had made drove
her to leave home immediately.

"Hurry! Hurry, good horse!" she said, whipping her steed onwards towards the castle,
afraid that she might arrive too late. She rushed up the stairs, calling, but there was no reply.
Her heart in her mouth, Beauty ran into the garden and there crouched the Beast, its eyes
shut, as though dead. Beauty threw herself at it and hugged it tightly.

"Don't die! Don't die! I'll marry you . . ." At these words, a miracle took place. The Beast's
ugly snout turned magically into the face of a handsome young man.

"How I've been longing for this moment!" he said. "I was suffering in silence, and couldn't
tell my frightful secret. An evil witch turned me into a monster and only the love of a maiden
willing to accept me as I was, could transform me back into my real self. My dearest! I'll be
so happy if you'll marry me."

The wedding took place shortly after and, from that day on, the young Prince would have
nothing but roses in his gardens. And that's why, to this day, the castle is known as the Castle
of the Rose.

Myth :

Callisto

Callisto was another maiden who excited the jealousy of Juno, and the goddess
changed her into a bear. "I will take away," said she, "that beauty with which you have
captivated my husband." Down fell Callisto on her hands and knees; she tried to stretch out
her arms in supplication,-- they were already beginning to be covered with black hair. Her
hands grew rounded, became armed with crooked claws, and served for feet; her mouth,
which Jove used to praise for its beauty, became a horrid pair of jaws; her voice, which if
unchanged would have moved the heart to pity, became a growl, more fit to inspire terror.
Yet her former disposition remained, and, with continued groaning, she bemoaned her fate,
and stood upright as well as she could, lifting up her paws to beg for mercy; and felt that Jove
was unkind, though she could not tell him so. Ah, how often, afraid to stay in the woods all
night alone, she wandered about the neighborhood of her former haunts; how often,
frightened by the dogs, did she, so lately a huntress, fly in terror from the hunters! Often she
fled from the wild beasts, forgetting that she was now a wild beast herself; and, bear as she
was, was afraid of the bears.
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One day a youth espied her as he was hunting. She saw him and recognized him as her own
son, now grown a young man. She stopped, and felt inclined to embrace him. As she was
about to approach, he, alarmed, raised his hunting spear, and was on the point of transfixing

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her, when Jupiter, beholding, arrested the crime, and, snatching away both of them, placed
them in the heavens as the Great and Little Bear.

Juno was in a rage to see her rival so set in honor, and hastened to ancient Tethys and
Oceanus, the powers of ocean, and, in answer to their inquiries, thus told the cause of her
coming; "Do you ask why I, the queen of the gods, have left the heavenly plains and sought
your depths. Learn that I am supplanted in heaven, -- my place is given to another. You will
hardly believe me; but look when night darkens the world, and you shall see the two, of
whom I have so much reason to complain, exalted to the heavens, in that part where the circle
is the smallest, in the neighborhood of the pole. Why should any one hereafter tremble at the
thought of offending Juno, when such rewards are the consequence of my displeasure! See
what I have been able to effect! I forbade her to wear the human form, -- she is placed among
the stars! So do my punishments result, -- such is the extent of my power! Better that she
should have resumed her former shape, as I permitted Io to do. Perhaps he means to marry
her, and put me away! But you, my foster parents, if you feel for me, and see with displeasure
this unworthy treatment of me, show it, I beseech you, by forbidding this guilty couple from
coming into your waters." The powers of the ocean assented, and consequently the two
constellations of the Great and Little Bear move round and round in heaven, but never sink,
as the other stars do, beneath the ocean.

Milton alludes to the fact that the constellation of the Bear never sets, when he says,

"Let my lamp at midnight hour

Be seen in some high lonely tower,
Where I may oft outwatch the Bear."
Il Penseroso

And Prometheus, in James Russell Lowell's poem, says,

"One after one the stars have risen and set,

Sparkling upon the hoar-frost of my chain;
The Bear that prowled all night about the fold
Of the North Star, hath shrunk into his den,
Scared by the blithsome footsteps of the dawn."

The last star in the tail of the Little Bear is the Pole star,
called also the Cynosure. Milton says,

"Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures

While the landscape round it measures.
********
Towers and battlements it sees
Bosomed high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps some beauty lies
The Cynosure of neighboring eyes."
L'Allegro.
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The reference here is both to the Pole-star as the guide of mariners, and to the magnetic
attraction of the North. He calls it also the "Star of Aready," because Callisto's boy was

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named Arcas, and they lived in Arcadia. In Milton's Comus, the elder brother, benighted in
the woods, says,

"Some gentle taper!

Through a rush candle, from
the wicker hole
Of some clay habitation,
visit us
With thy long levelled rule
of streaming light,
And thou shalt be our star of Aready,
Or Tyrian Chynsure."

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