The contract

The sender motivates the action, communicating the modalities of desire or obligation to the receiver. A contract is established, the receiver becomes a subject and embarks on the quest. The contract is followed by three tests:

1. The qualifying test

The subject must acquire the necessary competence to perform the planned action or mission. The desire or obligation to act is in itself not sufficient. The subject must also possess the ability to act (pouvoir/aire) and/or the knowledge/skills (savoir/aire) to carry it out. For example, if your intention is to shoot somebody, you first need to acquire a gun. The gun functions as your helper providing you with the necessary ability to act. However, you must also know how to shoot, otherwise the gun is useless. The being-able-to-do and the knowing-how-to-do are also known as modalities.

2. The decisive test

This represents the principal event or action for which the subject has been preparing, where the object of the quest is at stake. In adventure stories or newspaper articles, the decisive test frequendy takes the form of a confrontation or conflict between a subject and an anti-subject.

3. The glorifying test

This is the stage at which the outcome of the event is revealed. The decisive test has either succeeded or failed, the subject is acclaimed or punished. In other words, it is the point at which the performance of the subject is interpreted and evaluated by what is known as the sender adjudicator. The sender-adjudicator judges whether the performance is in accordance with the original set of values (ideology or mandate) instituted by the initial sender. To distinguish the two senders we call the first one the mandating sender and the second the sender-adjudicator. These roles are not necessarily played by the same actor or person.

When applying these fundamental narrative models to texts, it is important to be aware of several points:

— Each individual text exploits these schemas in its own way. It is highly significant which stages of the quest are explicit, or manifested in the text and which are implicit. The media, for instance, tend to foreground the stage of performance (decisive test) and the stage of sanction (glorifying test).

— Correlations can be made with the discursive level: Figurative elements that have emerged as dominant isotopies or determining oppositions may, on the narrative level, take the positions of object or subject of a quest.

— Not all stories or quests are completed. A quest may be aborted through the successful intervention of an anti-subject: if you set out to sail around the world and your boat capsizes, your quest is rather abruptly terminated.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

جمعيَّة العميد تعقد اجتماعًا مع الهيأة العُليا لإحياء التراث استعدادًا ليوم اللغة العربية

استعدادًا لزيارة الأربعين العتبة العباسية المقدسة تعزّز خزين المياه في مجمع أبي الفضل العباس (عليه السلام) عبر خزانات بسعة 900م3

الهيأة العليا لإحياء التراث تنهي استعداداتها لعقد مؤتمر الإمام الحسن (عليه السلام) الثاني عشر في النجف

المجمَع العلمي ينظّم محاضرة توعوية لطلبة مشروع الحفظ في بغداد

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

أخصائية تكشف خطورة عادة "شائعة" في غسل المناشف

دراسة: بيضة واحدة أسبوعيا قد تقي من الإصابة بـ

على عكس الشائع.. هذا هو العدد المثالي للخطوات اليومية !

شهر التوعية بالساركوما... أطباء يحذرون من "السرطان الصامت"

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

ذكر أم أنثى؟.. دراسة تنسف الاعتقاد الشائع حول جنس المولود

بحجم برج بيزا.. تحذير من كويكب يقترب من الأرض في هذا الموعد

أقصر يوم في تاريخ البشرية.. الموعد قريب ؟!!

مايكروسوفت تحذر شركات وأجهزة حكومية من هجوم "يوم الصفر"

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Zoomorphic

Virtualization

Villain

Veridiction

Utterance

Utopic space

Uncertainty

Truth

Transformation

Traitor

Toponym

Topic space