| Chapter 2: | Narrative and Its Structures |
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A much more common motifeme sequence has been described as: ‘Interdiction, Violation, Consequence, and an Attempted Escape from the Consequence’ (Dundes, 1965, p. 209).
Although Dundes’ study did not discuss all the existing motifeme patterns, his few illustrative patterns supported the thesis that American Indian folk tales are structured. Moreover, the significance and use of structural analyses on folk tales was highlighted as a new technique of gaining insight into the cultural determination of content. Analysis of structures was recommended for making typological statements, for predicting an acculturation situation, and for making cross-genre comparison such as the folk tale and superstition. Structural analysis of folklore of different geographical areas was also suggested in order to reveal whether certain structural patterns are universal (Dundes, 1965).
With the designation of a minimal unit of analysis—the function for Propp and the motifeme for Dundes—the identification of structural patterns becomes easier, and presents important theoretical implications for both folk-tale scholarship and the study of narrative structures in general. However, Georges (1970) pointed out that these studies fail to account for the existence and operations of the patterns or, in other words, how the patterns come into existence or how they are generated. Following the procedure used in generative-transformational grammar, Georges (1970) argued that
Georges (1970) defined a folk tale as a traditional narrative composed of a Move and a Countermove, which consist of Initial