What is narrative?

Referring to 7th grade English class, a narrative would ideally consist of the following elements:

Plot, setting, rising/falling action, some sort of climax, and a conflict.

It's not safe to say "if it does not contain one of these elements then it is no longer a narrative," as there are successful narratives out there in which a reader is thrust into the middle of nowhere without any characters or plot- but those tend to take on the feeling of a "documentary" a related genre but separate for a reason. A narrative can be either fiction or non-fiction or some gray area in between. It does not require a conclusion; no story in life ever ends, regardless of how much destruction or construction may occur. However, it helps to tie things up a bit- part of the reason many people enjoy any narrative is to draw some sort of contrast or achieve some level of escape from reality. Otherwise we'd all be reading and experiencing narratives similar to that of a technical report, and the artistic side would be lost.