A structural reading asks which relationships and changes make a story work, and which of them could recur in another story. Begin with Todorov’s distinction between an individual work and an abstract structure, then test a small comparison for yourself.
A work can realize a more general relation
an abstract structure, merely one of its possible realizations
On the opening page of “Structural Analysis of Narrative”, Todorov distinguishes describing an individual work from studying the abstract structure of which it is one realization. The article appeared in NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 3.1 (Autumn 1969), pp. 70–76, translated by Arnold Weinstein. The quotations and distinction used here come from the first-page preview, p. 70.
a logical rather than spatial significance
His qualification helps make the idea concrete: structure concerns relations that an analysis can state, beyond the physical arrangement of paragraphs on a page. The following exercise is Yenra’s introductory application of that distinction. Its examples and working terms are our own; Todorov’s article uses stories from Boccaccio’s Decameron.
Start with a miniature story
Original example: the borrowed lamp
A shopkeeper lends a lamp to a neighbor during a power cut. The next morning, the neighbor finds the shopkeeper’s dropped keys and brings them back before the shop opens.
Describe this short narrative in three ways and notice how the question changes:
Plot summary
A shopkeeper lends a lamp; the neighbor later returns lost keys. This preserves the particular sequence of events.
Structural description
A helps B; later B helps A. The recipient of the first benefit becomes the giver of the second.
Thematic interpretation
The story can suggest reciprocity within a neighborhood. This proposes a meaning for the exchange.
Here role means a participant’s function in a relation, such as giver or recipient. Relationship names what connects the participants. Transformation identifies what changes between two moments. A character can occupy different roles as the story proceeds.
Compare “The Lion and the Mouse”
I would be sure to repay your kindness.
In George Fyler Townsend’s translation of the fable, the lion spares a mouse, then becomes trapped by hunters. The mouse gnaws through the restraint and frees him. The two characters exchange the positions of helper and helped.
Both this fable and the lamp story can support the relation A helps B; B later helps A. That shared description makes comparison possible even though the characters, objects and stakes differ. It also shows what the abstraction removes: an animal’s life and a delayed shop opening are very different consequences.
The mouse explicitly promises repayment, and the lion initially treats that possibility with ridicule. The lamp story contains neither that promise nor an expressed doubt about the neighbor’s ability. If your question concerns a reversal of expectations, the broad reciprocal pattern needs those additional distinctions.
Test what the comparison explains
- Name the relation. Use verbs specific enough to check against events: helps, deceives, recognizes or excludes.
- Track a change. State who occupies each role before and after a turning point.
- Try another story. Show exactly which events support the same description.
- Restore a difference. Identify a consequential detail your abstract account set aside.
Now change the invented ending: the neighbor keeps the keys and the shop stays closed. The first helpful act remains, but the reciprocal relation fails. Revising the example is a useful test of whether your proposed structure depends on what actually happens.
A comparison earns its value by answering a defined question. It can reveal a shared relation while leaving tone, historical setting, language and moral judgment for further analysis. End your note with one sentence about the pattern and one about a difference that matters.
For a longer narrative problem, try Brown’s opening scene in Edgar Huntly. Ask how the relation between observer and observed changes as the observer supplies new explanations.
Updated October 8, 2026
About these selections
Source notes identify the wording and edition used. Interpretations and exercises are Yenra’s. Follow the linked text when citing or comparing a passage.