A Study Of Unreliable Narration In The Cement Garden

Ian McEwan is one of the most prominent novelists in modern British literary circle.He is also the most alternative writer in the world.In the past thirty years he has created many works which involve the black themes,such as incest,abnormality,murder,etc.Therefore,he won a nickname which is called “Ian Macabre”.The Cement Garden which was published in 1978 is the first novel of Ian McEwan and it is also one of the works which has received great attention and praises widely.The novel tells a simple story which is narrated by “I”—a fifteen years old boy who is called Jack.Jack shows readers some pictures that violate social ethics in his narration.So it is difficult for readers to believe his narration.However,there are a lot of abundant meanings which the author wants to convey in his unreliable narration.This thesis employs Wayne Booth’s and James Phelan’s unreliable narration theories to analyze the unreliable narration on a discourse level in The Cement Garden,as well as the reasons that lead to the unreliable narration in the novel.The purpose is to highlight the theme that the author wants to convey.This thesis consists of four chapters apart from the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction presents the life and works of Ian McEwan and focuses on the major content of The Cement Garden;it also makes a summary of the literature review of The Cement Garden both at home and abroad;it indicates the innovation of the thesis and elaborates on the central argument and the structure.The first chapter is the theoretical basis,which makes a systematic introduction to the development and connotation of unreliable narration theory from the perspective of rhetorical approach.The unreliable narration theory is put forward by Wayne Booth firstly.He gives a detailed interpretation of the definition of unreliable narration.He also puts forward the implied author theory and two axes of unreliable narration.On the basis of Booth’s theories,James Phelan,Booth’s student,puts forward the third axis and six subcategories of the unreliable narration and other related theories.His theories enrich the study of the unreliable narration.The second chapter makes an analysis of Jack’s narrator identity and character identity by employing Booth’s and Phelan’s unreliable narration theories.As a narrator,he passes readers a kind of transformed information in his own way of thinking.As a character,he is an adolescent who lacks the care from family and society.Besides the analysis of Jack’s narrator identity and character identity,this chapter also makes a further exploration of the relationships between Jack’s two identities and points out that his ethical dilemmas are very important reasons that lead to his unreliable narration.The third chapter analyzes the narrator’s unreliable narration about his family members on a discourse level by employing Booth’s and Phelan’s unreliable narration theories and makes a further exploration of the reasons that lead to the narrator’s unreliable narration about his family members.It proves that family is very important for the growth of children.The fourth chapter analyzes the narrator’s unreliable narration about space and time on a discourse level by employing Booth’s and Phelan’s unreliable narration theories and makes a further exploration of the reasons that lead to the narrator’s unreliable narration about space and time.It proves that nature,society and family are important for the growth of children.The conclusion,the last part,is a summary of the study.This part points out the major findings and the limitations of the thesis and it is expected to provide a reference for subsequent researches.McEwan presents adolescents’ lack of ethics in their growing process through Jack’s unreliable narration in The Cement Garden.Therefore,this thesis intends to make both family and society pay more attention to the growth of adolescents.