Sometimes narrative essays are seen in too simplistic terms as just essays which tell stories. However, narrative essays, like short stories, are organized around a central conflict. The essay develops a series of crises related to the central conflict which culminate in a moment of climax. Narrative essays generally conclude by aiming to make sense of the conflict and its resolution. As a rule, narrative essays are personal essays dealing with a significant personal conflict. The thrust of the essay is on the narrator's wrestling with the conflict. If the conflict deals with a universal human condition, readers are drawn into and empathize with the narrator's efforts to make sense out of the situation.
A key means of identifying whether an essay is narrative or descriptive is to determine if a significant change has taken place between the beginning of the essay and the end as a result of a conflict. If so, the essay is narrative. No conflict, no narrative.