Narratological Interpretation Of A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns is Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini’s secondnovel which comes after his first work The Kite Runner. The second novel receivesmuch attention because of the great success of his first novel and it becomes one ofthe best sellers in the list of the nation’s major selling since it was published. Thenovel succeeds in portraying its impressive characters and its realistic and touchingplots, which leave a deep impression on the readers long after reading the novel. AThousand Splendid Suns tells a compelling story of two Afghan women, born twodecades apart, whose lives are brought together through a series of tragic events suchas war, violation and poverty in Afghanistan’s recent history. Therefore，it arouses theworldwide readers’ and critics’ attention to the fate of Afghan women, the war andthe characters’ personality.Hosseini’s remarkable achievement in A Thousand Splendid Suns lies in hisnarrative techniques. However, narrative research on this work has not been studiedwide. This thesis, in the light of Gerard Genette’s theory of narratology, explores thenarrative techniques employed in A Thousand Splendid Suns and analyzes the actualfunction of narrative strategies which contribute to understanding the novel’scharacters and theme. This thesis is divided into four chapters, together withintroduction and conclusion.The introduction contains the brief information of the novelist Khald·Hosseini,his life and his works, the summary of A Thousand Splendid Suns and the criticalreviews on the novel.Chapter One states the development of narratology briefly, introduces thenarrative theories of Genette and explains some terms employed in this thesis fromthree aspects: narrative time, focalization and narrative discourse.Chapter Two draws on various narrative techniques of narrative time in AThousand Splendid Suns. With respect to time order, analepsis and prolepsis are oftenused in this novel. As for time duration, Hosseini is inclined to adopt scene and summary. And with the development of the novel, time duration varies greatly. Asregard to time frequency, Hosseini focuses on repeating narrative.Chapter Three explores focalization in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Hosseinimainly employs zero focalization and internal focalization. The mixture of these twofocalization types provides great convenience to reflect the characters’ inner worldand depict the characters. And the tension formed through conversing of variableinternal focalization and multiple internal focalization helps increase the depth of thenovel and lead the readers to have more comprehension of the theme and characters.Chapter Four analyzes the variable narrative discourses in A Thousand SplendidSuns, such as direct narrated discourse, indirect narrated discourse and dramaticnarrated discourse.The last part is the conclusion. Hosseini’s narrative techniques are a key tounderstand why A Thousand Splendid Suns is a great success. A Thousand SplendidSuns is a modernist fiction. Narratological interpretation of A Thousand SplendidSuns has practical meaning, which makes a contribution to thorough comprehensionof its theme and characters. The analysis of the narrative techniques in the novelmakes the readers understand its artistic effect deeply and helps them have a betterand complete understanding of the story, and finally surpass the superficial meaningto find the real essence of the novel. Hosseini is a real master in representation andnarrative.