Repetition and Causality The Low Probability Event

Abstract

The event sequences of a narrative are not connected by necessity. There are only low or high probability event sequences the causal connections of which is understood by the reader/viewer’s based on their real-life experience and imagination. The causal coherence of the narrative is dependent on high probability event sequences that most readers/viewers interpret the same way. In most narratives there can be found also one or more low probability events that follow from no common-sense causal rules. The causal plausibility of these events is constructed within the narrative by the varied repetition of high probability event sequences. Low probability events represent the extreme examples of these rules. Although low probability events usually take place around the end of a narrative, they may emerge at any place, and they open up the narrative for continuation.