The Study Of The Narrative Strategies In Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web is a famous children literature written by Elwyn Brooks White,which was hailed as “the most read and most loved fairy tale in the 20 th century.” There are countless researchers on Charlotte's Web at home and abroad,but most of them studied from the perspectives of children literature,translation or moral education.Only a few scholars had analyzed the narrative strategies of this work.This thesis will study Charlotte's Web from the perspective of narrative strategies.Through the ingenious hiding of the narrator,vivid descriptions of the characters and the detailed descriptions of time and spaces,White presents a simple but profound literary masterpiece for readers.This thesis studies the narrative strategies of Charlotte's Web and shows White's love for life and nature;it also deeply explores White's exploration of the meaning of life.Through White's vivid and lively description of characters,the simple plots express profound connotations and reveal the growth and thoughts of the characters as well as reveal the significances of the current time and society.This thesis consists of three parts: introduction,main body,and conclusion.The main contents are as follow.The first part is introduction.The introduction mainly introduces the research situations of E.B.White and his work on Charlotte's Web at home and abroad.At the same time,it also introduces the research methods,research significances and research innovations of this thesis.The second part was the main body and consists of four parts.Chapter one introduces the development of narratology and the related narrative research of Charlotte's Web.Chapter two mainly analyzes the narrator of Charlotte's Web.Charlotte's Web mainly uses the objective third person hiding narrator.The narrator does not comment on the novel,but objectively and comprehensively describes the natural and social environment in the story world.The narrator also objectively describes various characters and animals from various aspects so that allowed readers to observe the occurrence and resolution of events in Charlotte's Web;thereby generates their own thoughts.The narratee used in Charlotte's Web is a subjective second person narratee,who narrows the distance between readers and the narratee.Chapter two also emphatically analyzes the use of narrative discourse.Whether the direct discourse of characters or the humorous and vivid languages in Charlotte's Web all shapes different and distinct characters objectively and successfully thus summarizes White's thoughts and connotations.Chapter three mainly analyzes the narrative perspectives in Charlotte's Web.In Charlotte's Web,White mainly uses the omnipotent perspective and the multiple internal perspectives to narrate the contents of the story.White also slightly uses the spectator perspective.Therefore,chapter three studies and analyzes Charlotte's Web from three aspects of narrative perspective.Omnipotent perspective means the narrator is omnipotent.The omnipotent perspective used in Charlotte's Web narrates many details,especially the depiction of the natural environment,letting readers as if walk into the story world and clearly see the surrounding environment.The multiple internal perspectives mean characters show what they had known.White expresses a strong contrast and irony through the different attitudes of different characters to the same event.The multiple internal perspectives also highlight the profound connotations of Charlotte's Web.The spectator perspective means the objective observation of the characters' words and actions are from the outside and not bring in the author's feeling,allows readers to independently observe and comprehend the novel.Although there are not many spectator perspectives used in Charlotte's Web,it is also described through some words and actions,letting readers thinking and exploring by themselves,thus deepening the reader's impression of this novel.Chapter four mainly analyzes the narrative time and narrative spaces of Charlotte's Web.The narrative time mainly includes three aspects.Order,as a children literature,Charlotte's Web mainly adopts a simple one-dimensional linear time,through the storyline of saving Wilbur to gradually promote the development of the story.However,it also involves a small part of the flash-forward,allowing readers to know Charlotte in advance so that they will not have a sense of dislike to Charlotte and can better enjoy the novel.Duration means that the author uses different narrative speed to narrate different events.Through the flexible use of duration in Charlotte's Web,the narrator simplifies unnecessary contents and highlights the key points;and allows readers to have different motions and be closer to characters.Frequency means the number of times an event is mentioned or appeared;it may be mentioned only once or frequently be mentioned because of its importance.In Charlotte's Web,the most commonly mentioned events are life and death,friendship and growth.These repeatedly mentioned events allow readers to reflect along with the plots,and ultimately realizes the profound connotations of Charlotte's Web.Charlotte's Web mainly contains two narrative spaces,animal barns,and the human county fair.In Charlotte's Web,the barn is the home of animals.It is described as a clean and warm place where animals live in,and it symbolizes the ecosystem.A county fair is a busy place for human beings.Human beings have excitement and vanity there,and there also symbolizes the capitalistic society that full of materialistic desires.The intersection and contrast of the two spaces deepen the connotations of Charlotte's Web,which are protecting the ecosphere and nature.The last part is the conclusion.This part mainly summarizes the previous analysis and deepens the ideological connotations of Charlotte's Web.