Narrative Structure of Pulp Fiction Essay

Words: 1281
Pages: 6

Quentin Tarantino
United States Of America - 1994
John Travolta, Samel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis

Quentin Tarantino’s American crime film “Pulp Fiction” is organized through three separate but interrelated storylines. There is one story that constructed by three distinct stories. At the beginning of the sequences, titles are shown on the black screen which provides a recognizable source for narration.The first story-Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace’s wife- is about Vincent Vega (John Travolta) who is responsible for spending time with his boss Marsellus Wallace’s wife, Mia (Uma Thurman). The second story -The Gold Watch- is about the espace of prizefighter Butch (Bruce Willis) from Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames).

Before the second part there is a prelude. A segment from Butch’s past about how he got the very precious gold watch of his father. So, up to the second story, characters, their traits, goals and expectations are introduced. So the development part where, series of delays and obstacles are shown, starts. In development, Butch does not obey the agreement that he and Marsellus made at the beginning of the first story and by beating his opponent to death, he betrays Marsellus. So the search for Butch begins which constructs the halfway mark, major turning point and this leads to the sequence of events; Butch goes to the Motel near his girlfriend Fabienne, he realizes that the gold watch is missing and he immediately goes back to his apartment. In his apartment he kills Vincent and on his way back to the motel, he confronts with Marsellus. After a foot chase, Butch and Marsellus finds themselves in a pawnshop’s basement with two sadist men. While Marsellus is being raped, Butch unties himself and saves Marsellus that will eventuate in the reconciliation scene between Marsellus and Butch. The second story ends with the escape of Butch and Fabienne which ends the development. Actually, the end of the second part is where the movie should end according to the narrative order. Butch retrieves the gold watch and reconciles with Marsellus. But there are still unsolved points in the plot which will emerge in the