1) The document discusses Vladimir Propp's theory of narrative elements in folk tales, including character types. 2) It analyzes the character types present in the author's version of "Puss in Boots", including the villain, hero, prize, helper, donor, and dispatcher. 3) It also examines the narrative structure based on theories by Tzvetan Todorov and Claude Lévi-Strauss, finding the story follows a linear pattern from equilibrium to disruption to new equilibrium, with a theme of good vs. evil.

1. Theory Evaluation
Vladimir Propp had a theory that within the many differentversions
of folk tales there are similar basic narrativeelements that are used
in the stories that included a rangeof plot elements (31)that are
accompanied by 8 main character types. Of these 8 character types
there are 6 that are present within my version of Pussin Boots. These
characters are:
 The Villain(s) – The villains within my graphic narrative could
be seen as the two elder brothers, who at the beginning of the
narrativewill not let the youngestson live with them because
he has only a cat, and therefore he is left homeless and without
food. What the elder brothers do to the younger brother could
be seen as morally wrong, so the readerswill feel as though
they need to turn against them as what they have doneis
wrong. This also helps with highlighting the hero’s morals
(Pussin Boots) and drivesthe audienceto supporthim over
the brothers.
 The Hero – The hero within my graphic narrative would bethe
character of Pussin Boots, because this is the character that
leads the narrativethroughout the story as he tries to earn
some money for his master so that they don’tgo hungry, and
can live in a house. The story that is being told is of the quest
Pussin Boots goes on to catch some food, which the king is
impressed with and gives the cat money so that his master has
somewhereto live.
 Princess/Prize – Within the traditional fairy tale there is
referenceto a Princesswho the youngestson marries after the
king receives gifts from him. Butwithin my version of the fairy
tale there isn’t any princessfor the youngestson to marry
there is a prizeof gold, which is paid to him from the king,
when he receives the gifts.
 The Helper – The youngestson could be seen as the helper
within my story because he is the character who supported
Pussin Boots at the beginningof the story, although he doesn’t
appear at critical pointsthroughout the story he helped Pussin
Boots offer to help, because he was talking to Pussin Boots
about not having enoughfood to feed two mouths.
 The Donor- This character typeis similar to that of the helper
and therefore would be the same character within my story of
the youngestson because he gives the hero (Pussin Boots) the

2. items that he requested which helped him completethe quest
of catching the animalsto give to the king as a gift.
 The Dispatcher – The dispatcher character typewould also be
the youngestson within my story because he is the character
that sendsthe hero on the mission, because he starts talking to
Pussin Boots about nothaving enoughfood and this then
starts the story of the cat going off on a quest for food.
The two character types that aren’t presentwithin my story are:
 The Princess’s Father – The princess’s father, although
presentin the traditional fairy tale because it is the king, isn’t
presentin my version of the fairy tale in the context that he is
in the traditionalfairy tale. Although the character of the king
is present in my story, he doesn’t have a daughter who marries
the son; he gives Pussin Bootsa prizeof money for giving him
the gift of the animalshe caught in the woods.
The Princesses father is a character that isn’t used in TV
shows/films/stories nowadays due to the character being
relatedto an old traditionwhere the hero would ask the
father of the princess for her hand in marriage and would
try to please the father so he wouldagree. The character
type would be hard to incorporate into a modern story
althoughthe TV series calledThe Flash has managed to
use this character calledBarry Allen (the hero) tries to
impress because he has a crushon the father’s daughter
(Iris).As well as the hero trying to impress the father he
also has some competitionfrom the father’s police partner
(Eddie) who also wants to marry his daughter.
 The False Hero – Within my story there isn’t a false hero,
because the story is focused around thehero and there isn’t
any time within the story that a false hero could be included to
compete with him. The quest that the hero is on doesn’tneed a
false hero to competewith because the hero is trying to get
money for his master so that he can live; it isn’t a situation that
would requirean anti-hero to interruptthe quest.
Although there isn’t a false hero within my fairy tale story,
there are plenty of examples of TV shows/films that
incorporate these characters but they are based around a
more complicatedstoryline.An example of a recent TV
shows that has a false hero within the story wouldbe The
Flash and the character of Dr Wells,who seems to be
helping Barry Allen to improve his speed and catchthe

3. man who killedhis mum but turns out to be a villain. He
was mistakenfor a hero.
The narrativestructurecomponentsthat Todorov identified can be
broken down into 3 or 5 steps. My story is a clear example of the 5
steps (the longer version butdescribes the same events as the 3
steps).
1. A state ofEquilibrium (all is well) – This is the first page of
my story wherethe main characters are introduced, the
youngestson, his two elder brothers and his father are a happy
family and everythingis normalfor them.
2. A disruption ofthat order by an event – The eventthat
disruptsthe normallife for this family is the sudden deathof
their father, as the three sonsare left withoutany parentsand
will have to fend for themselves.
3. A recognitionthat disorder has occurred – This is the
section in my story wherethe two elder sonsrealised that their
father left them behind the mill and the donkey, so decided to
live together to get over the disruption of the father’s death.
Butwith this recognition the two brothers wont let their
younger brother live with them so he is left homeless and with
a cat.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of disorder – This is the
section within the story that the cat tries to repair the disorder
of the youngestson having no home and no money by going on
a quest to catch some food.
5. A return or restorationofnew equilibrium – This event is
based around the cat taking the animalshe caught to the king,
the king accepting the gift and in return payinghim for his
services. With the money that the king paysPussin Boots for
catching food, the youngestson and Pussin Boots have a house
to live in and enoughmoney to last them a lifetime.
The narrative structure components couldalso be identified
over a whole series ofa TV show suchas The Flash:
1. A state ofEquilibrium (all is well) – Barry Allen is a typical
boy who although gets bullied at school has a loving
mother and father (family image).
2. A disruption ofthat order by an event – The murder of
Barry’s mother by a man in yellowdisrupts the order and
because of the murder of his mother,Barry’s father went
to prisonfor it and so the perfect image of a typical family

4. has been broken and Barry has to live witha close friend
of his fathers.
3. A recognitionthat disorder has occurred-Barry, although
now living without his mother and father is still going on
with his daily routine of going to school and being bullied,
but with a new temporary father figure to help him.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of disorder – An accident
occurredwhen a particle accelerator explodedand Barry
Allen was struckby lightening and because of this accident
he developed super speed. With this revelationin the
story,Barry Allen with help from Dr Wells, STAR Labs and
his super speed try to find the man in the yellow suit that
killed his mother so that Barry can get his dad out of
prison.
5. A return or restorationofnew equilibrium - Withhis super
speed Barry Allen becomes The Flash, a superhero who
protects his city from other Meta-humans who were
affected by the particle accelerator explosion,trying to
cause havoc. Alongside protecting the city Barry Allen is
improving his speed to try to catchthe man in yellow(The
Reverse Flash).
The binary oppositesthat Strauss identified that drivemy story could
be the idea of good verses evil. The good side would bePussin Boots
tryingto earn some money so that his master has food and a home
verses the evil of the two elder brothers that wouldn’tletthe
youngestson live with them because he had only a cat. The actions of
the two brothers (evil) helped to create the dilemmathat the
youngestson was putin and therefore helped to create the good
within the story (Puss in Boots) because he needed to get money and
food to survive. Asthe story progresseswe see the good trying to
fight off the dilemmathat the evil has set upon the youngboy and the
cat. Aswell as the binary oppositesof good verses evil you could say
that the idea of humansversesanimals also drivesthe story because
of the ideathat the main character of Puss in Boots being a cat is
going against the problem that the two brothers had putthe youngest
son in, and is trying the battle the problem so that his master can
survive.
The narrativefor my story is linear, as the story starts at the
beginning and goes straight through to the end. Allthe events that
occur within the story such as the father’s death, the son going into
the woodsand Pussin Boots helping him gain a living, happen in

5. order and each key event happens oneafter the other in a sequence
untilthe end of the story.
The narrativefor my story is also a closed narrative, as the story
reaches an end within the book, as Pussin Boots managesto earn
some money for his master so that he wontgo hungry. Although
within my issues of the comic book that will be released every week,
the stories within the books released will be closed, the stories will
follow on from the previousissueso the whole collection of books
would be an open narrative because they will be continuingfrom the
last book. Each issue released will contain a closed narrativebut
within the whole collection the new issue would referenceevents
that occurred in the previousissues, therefore making the collection
an open narrative, as they won’t reach a conclusion.
The narrativefor my story contains a single strand, as it focuseson
only onesingle narrativetold of Pussin Boots tryingto earn some
money so that his master won’t go hungry, and wefollow Pussin
Boots through the story as he catches somefood and presentsit to
the king as a gift, in which in return receives gold for his services. My
book contains a single strand narrativebecause it is simpleand it will
mean that the children who are readingthe book would beable to
follow what is happeningwithouthaving a parent there to explain
what is going on. With the one strand narrativethe children reading
the book will be able to recognise the characters and distinguish
between the hero and the villainsof the story.
My story has an anti-realist structure as the eventsof having a talking
cat, which can communicatewith humans, is highly unlikely to occur
in real life. Although the story does contain someelements that could
be seen as realist, such as the death of the father and him giving his
possessionsto his sons, could have happened in the past but the
story would bedescribed as anti-realist and fantasy because of the
use of a talking cat who can walk on two feet. The anti-realist
structuresare popular with children’sfairy tales because it allows
the children reading the book to exploretheir imagination and
creative side as they are readingstories about talking animals, fairies
and hidden islands, and it allowsthem to have the opportunity to
believe that these events could happen in real life, unlikeif the fairy
tales that they read wererealist and based around normalpeople
going to work in a suit and having problemssuch as missingthe bus,
it won’tinterest them and get them into reading. Children loveto

6. read about fantasy and stories that they could imagine themselves
being in as the stories are usually obscureand allow the children to
get inspiration from a youngage that could help them in later life
when at school and doingcreative writing.