carrier-bag metaphor

is the idea that to reduce a narrative to some central conflict or battle is absurd. On the contrary, the purpose of conflict (conceived as a carried bundle) is neither resolution nor stasis but continuing process.

One relationship among elements In the novel may well be that of conflict, but the reduction of narrative to conflict Is absurd. (I have read a how-to-wrlte manual that said, "A story should be seen as a battle," and went on about strategies, attacks, victory, etc.) Conflict, competition, stress, struggle, etc., within the narrative conceived as carrier bag/belly/box/medlclne bundle, may be seen as necessary elements of a whole which Itself cannot be characterized either as conflict or as harmony, since Its purpose Is neither resolution nor stasis but continuing process.

carrier bag metaphor, n.Definitions

carrier bag metaphor