A Study Of Spatial Narrative In Toni Morrison's Home

Toni Morrison,a famous African-American female writer,published her new novel,Home,in 2012.It tells the tough journey that the protagonist saves his sister out of danger and realizes final redemption at the same time.In the novel,Morrison adopts spatial narrative to improve the development of the plot.However,the literature review on Home at home and abroad has shown that these studies mainly focus on the historicism and African culture.Seldom have been made to analyze the juxtaposition of the topographical spaces,the chronotopic features of characters and some narrative techniques adopted to break through the linear narrative and strengthen the spatiality of the text.Based on the above analysis,this thesis,applying the spatial narrative theory of Gabriel Zoran and adopting qualitative analysis and close reading,studies the topographical space,the chronotopic space and the textual space of Home to reveal the importance of spatial narrative in improving the development of the plot.Firstly,this thesis analyzes the topographical space existed in Home,which concludes that the tough journey that the protagonist realizes final redemption is described by juxtaposing the South and the North to further reveal that African American can find themselves and survive bravely only when they accept their past,their history and their culture.Furthermore,this thesis studies the chronotopic space reflected in Home.In synchronic relation,different characters have different chronotopic features.In diachronic relation,through analyzing the directions,axes and powers of the movements of characters,it indicates that continuous movements and explanation are crucial for African American to realize final redemption.Finally,it researches the textual space manifested in Home from three aspects including the selectivity of language,the non-linear narrative and the multiple narrative perspectives.It shows that the narrative skills such as flashback and the shift of multiple narrative perspectives break through the linear narrative,destroy the chronological order and strengthen the spatiality of the text.Hence,spatial narrative has improved the development of the plot.In short,this thesis studies the topographical space,the chronotopic space and the textual space existed in Home from the angle of spatial narrative theory of Gabriel Zoran,expecting to provide a new research perspective.Meanwhile,it also hopes that the analysis and the use of the spatial narrative theory of Gabriel Zoran can make contributions to the application of spatial narrative theory in literature.