ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Analytic narrative

Analytic narrative is a way to study stories that help us understand why things happen the way they do. Imagine you are playing with your toys, and your friend comes over and takes your favorite toy without asking, and you get very upset. Analytic narrative would try to figure out why your friend did that and why you reacted the way you did.

Analytic narrative is like when you ask questions about a story, like “What happened?”, “Why did it happen?”, and “Why do the characters act the way they do?” For example, in the story of the three little pigs, analytic narrative would ask questions like “Why did the first pig build his house out of straw?” and “Why did the wolf blow down the houses?”

By studying the story in this way, we can learn a lot about the people in the story, the decisions they make, and the consequences of those decisions. Analytic narrative helps us understand why people do the things they do, and how different actions can lead to different outcomes.