Narrative Strategies Of Toni Morrison's Beloved

Toni Morrison is one of the greatest figures in the field of contemporary American literature. She was awarded the 1993 Noble Prize for Literature, which makes her the first female Afro-American writer so honored. Her fifth novel?Beloved, published in 1987, in New York, attracts much attention of the public. And Toni Morrison was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Beloved in 1988. Up to now, lots of critics have made fruitful research on almost every facet of Beloved, including the controversial theme, the poetic and characteristic language, the different and well-depicted characters, the plentiful and significant symbols and the special narrative devices. Among the different criticisms on Beloved, most critics pay attention to the special narrative devices of the novel, but there are few critics who make thorough study on it. There is no critic, at least in China, who has studied the narrative devices of Beloved in the light of one definite narrative theory. So, this four-part thesis attempts to analyze the narrative strategies of Toni Morrison's Beloved in the light of Genette's narrative theory. Part One is a general introduction to Toni Morrison and her novel Beloved. It introduces the life of Morrison, her position in the literary field; the plot, the source, the literary review of Beloved; it also points out the significance of the thesis.Part Two is a brief introduction to the literary theory applied in the thesis. This part gives a general introduction to the narrative theory of Genette, one of the famous French narratologists, and explains some important terms that are employed in the thesis.Part Three is the main body of the thesis. In detail, this part analyzes the special narrative strategies of Toni Morrison's Beloved in the light of Genette's narrative theory. It is subdivided into three sections: the dislocated time of Beloved, the different focalizations of Beloved and the variable narrative discourses of Beloved.Firstly, the thesis analyzes the dislocated time of Beloved, including the non-chronological time order, the disparate time frequency and the unequal time duration, and finds that the time in Beloved is non-linear but spiral, and that the boundaries betweenpast, present and future are blurred or even erased. Secondly, the thesis analyzes the different focalizations of Beloved,including zero focalization, external focalization and internal focalization, and finds that the focalization in Beloved is often changing or even mixed. Thirdly, the thesis analyzes the variable narrative discourses of Beloved,including the narrated discourse, the indirect narrated discourse and the dramatic narrated discourse, and finds that the narrative discourse in Beloved is unstable and variable.Part Four is a conclusion of the thesis. Through the detailed analysis of narrative strategies of Toni Morrison's Beloved from its dislocated time, different focalizations and variable narrative discourses, the thesis comes to a conclusion that Beloved is a very special novel for its unique narrative strategies. And the special narrative strategies of Beloved not only widen but also deepen the theme of the novel. Toni Morrison is really "a master of narrative", who deserves her laurel as a Noble Prize winner.