A Study On Narrative Strategy In Sour Sweet

Sour Sweet is the masterpiece of Timothy Mo,a famous British Chinese writer,which presents the life of the Chens in London in the 1960s.Sour Sweet establishes Timothy Mo’s status in the British literature and makes British Chinese literature gradually become an important part of the mainstream British literature.Based on Shen Dan’s theories on narratology,the thesis aims to study Timothy Mo’s narrative strategies in Sour Sweet from two aspects of the point of view and speech representation.And it also gives a further analysis of the connection between the narrative skills and the theme.The thesis can be divided into five chapters.Chapter One mainly introduces the author,his Sour Sweet and related studies on this novel abroad and at home,as well as the significance and structure of the thesis.Chapter Two is theoretical framework.It presents the rise of the point of view and its classification,and different modes of speech representation.Chapter Three analyzes the application of the point of view in this novel.Here it shows Timothy Mo’s vivid representation of the characters’personalities through zero point of view,internal point of view and external point of view.Chapter Four explores how Timothy Mo presents the characters’ psychological activities by using direct speech,indirect speech,free direct speech and free indirect speech.Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis.Through the analysis,the study finds out that Timothy Mo adopts the point of view and different modes of speech representation to show the living conditions of Chinese in Britain and then reveal the conflicts of two cultures.With the combination of narrative strategies and the novel’s theme,it enhances the artistic charm of Sour Sweet and broadens the influence of British Chinese literature in the world.