Narrative patterns in didactic stories

The study of structure of literary texts can show us the methods of creating concepts in those texts. One of the important genres in the Persian narrative literature is didactic stories. The most important duty of this type of literature is the transformation of moral meanings to readers. The authors of didactic texts employ stories relating to structures accommodated their teleological aims. This paper has introduced and investigated the structure and narrative patterns in the Persian didactic stories. Two types of narrative patterns have a basic function in the story interpretations are as following: Firstly, the pattern of the actor’s obedience to the law and its award and secondly, the pattern of the actor’s refusing to law and its punishment. These patterns are deep structures in most of the didactic stories as well as a direction of interpretation of these stories. Therefore, the narrator’s interpretation is constructed on a linear story telling form which is congruous with one of these patterns. Considering the results of structural researches, this article aims at presenting the dominant patterns in perception of didactic stories. In this article we have investigated the function of these patterns on the plot development, narrative techniques and dominance of the conative function.