what's a narrative?

A narrative's purpose is to kind of give a series of events that all tie into one theme. I think the purpose of a story or goal is to give a reader a sense of actually being there and can picture it in their minds. Narratives also shed light on characters and the relationship between each other using dialogue. I myself enjoy a good story from an older individual because a lot of life lessons can be learned and I like to get a picture in my mind of the old days. A narrative should also include though a detailed picture of the setting and surroundings. So like I said the main objective of a narrative is to get that picture going in someone's mind.