The Method

The core of Propp's method was to identify 31 recurring components common to all folktales - he referred to these as the Functions. A particular tale may not make use of every function, but all tales would rely on only these basic components. By identifying which functions a given tale employed, it could be identified as a particular type and catalogued accordingly. The purpose here is to reverse the use of the functions - not to deconstruct an existing story, but to identify a framework for constructing strong original narratives.

The Functions are not plot specific as such; they refer to types of activity which the dramatis personae - heroes, villains, helpers, adversaries - engage in over the course of the tale. For Propp, exactly how the functions are expressed was another matter entirely. For this reason they can be looked at as a simple map, for a journey that could be as dazzling or as mundane as the story-teller might wish to make it; bare bones literally waiting to be fleshed out.