Narrative Strategies In Beloved: A Study Based On Genere Genet’s Narrative Theories

Beloved is a masterpiece of Toni Morrison, the first Afro-American woman who won the NobelPrize. Since 1987, when Beloved was published, it has attracted critics’attention. Based on the maincontent of Beloved, the thesis uses Genere Genet’s narrative theory to analyze relationship of novel’snarrative strategies and narrative time, narrative focalization and variable narrative discourses, and tomaster Morrison’s superb narrative writing skills.Beloved enjoys the integrated plot structure and pretty narrative language. Although many criticshave a research to unique narration of Beloved, few of them use Genet’s narrative theories. The thesisuses narrative approach to analyze the inner relationship among dislocated narrative time, multi-narrative focalization and variable narrative discourses, and to show Morrison’s narrative skills. Firstly,through the analysis of time sequences of Beloved, it is easy to find that the dislocated time isnon-chronology, disparate and unequal, which points to the skeleton of the blurry demarcation betweenthe past and present while revealing the enslavement and suffering connected with it, and arouses aunique narrative skills. Secondly, the thesis tries to explore the Sethe’s infanticide of Beloved throughthe analysis of Morrison’s writing skills from the perspectives of zero focalization, external focalizationand internal focalization, which play the advantage of perspective art, and enrich the theme of the novel.Finally, the thesis uses variable discourses theory, analyzing the relationship between language andpower from the narrated discourse of Beloved, indirect narrated discourse of Beloved and dramaticnarrated discourse of Beloved. Here are two antagonistic words of slavery and black slaves during themain plot developing process, which affirm the strength of black slaves groups and the hope of thisnation while criticizing the inhuman slavery.According to Genet’s narrative theories, the thesis analyzes the narrative strategies of Beloved;explores its superb narrative skills and eminent theme: recalling Afro-America wretched history underhorrifying institution of slavery and constructing a harmonious relationship between the black and thewhite ultimately.