A narrative is intended to entertain, attract, and capture the reader's attention. The types of narratives are fictional, real, or unifying or both. However, they can consist of folktales, mysteries, science fiction; novels, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slices of life and personal experiences ("Narrative", 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (“Narrative and Informational Text,” 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, excellently written narrative literature will present conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of the human event. The essay will cover information relating to the narrative text. First, the essay will discuss the definition of narrative literature. Secondly, the essay will discuss the advantages of narrative literature. Thirdly, the disadvantages of narrative literature will also be discussed. Fourth, the essay will consist of five possible uses of narrative text in middle school language arts. There are several benefits to using narrative text in the middle school classroom setting. The first advantage is that the reader has fun while reading the narrative text. The second advantage implies that the narrative text reaches and holds the reader's interest. The third benefit is teaching or instructing the reader through the narrative text. The fourth advantage focuses on the erratic behavior of the narrative text or the reader's social views. For example soap operas. The Bold and the Beautiful shown in one of the episodes regarding the homeless and how their circumstances have caused these individuals...... middle of paper ...... in the story can increase students' interest helping them understand that history has human perspectives and more individual meaning. Short stories can also help students interpret the story more clearly. Therefore, the teacher can use short stories to help students repeat reading and writing skills. Short stories can enrich a history teacher's classroom and make learning history more enjoyable and meaningful for students. An example of one of the short stories associated with the Civil War period is “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury. This tale distinctly captures the human passions and turmoil during the Civil War period and also deals with real history in human detail. Therefore, “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh helps the reader interpret what it meant to be in the Civil War period in American history (White, 1993).