The "Shifts"in Caramelo

The Mexican American writer Sandra Cisneros, is one of the most influentialChicana writers. In2001her long-awaited novel Caramelo is published and has sincewon acclaims from both critics and readers. However, though noticing the variousissues and themes covered in the novel and its unique narrative form, the studies onthis novel lack serious investigation on the link between story and narrative form.Focusing on the “shifts”, this study aims to apply narratological theories toexamine how, the multiple issues and thematic concerns are weaved in the novelthrough the shifts of narrator types, focalization modes and episodic shifts. Analyzingthe shifts of narrator types, the thesis first discusses the combination ofbildungsroman and genealogy, individuals’ lives and history. And the combinationdelivers Cisneros’s viewpoint on the construction of identity for Mexican Americans,especially for Chicanas. The thesis then analyzes the observation and presentationenabled by the shifts of focalization modes, which exposes the struggles encounteredby individuals in Mexican community, especially the struggles encountered byMexican migrants and Mexican Americans in their searching for identity. The shiftsof focalization modes in the novel meanwhile unfolds a panoramic picture of Mexicancommunity to counter the stereotypes of Mexican race and Mexican immigrantsexisting in the Anglo-American mainstream culture. Based on the analysis of episodicshifts, the thesis conducts a spatial reading of the novel to furthermore demonstrate that Caramelo is a representative Chicana feminist text. Thus summarizing thenarratological analyses above, the thesis arrives at a conclusion of the functions of“shifts” in the novel Caramelo.