A Narrative Analysis Of Samuel Selvon’s Ambivalence In Ways Of Sunlight

This thesis is aimed at analyzing one of Selvon’s early works,Waysof Sunlight,a short story collection.The main content of his early works is related to the peasants’lives in Indian,which seems to be less accessible to post-colonial researches.What is distinctive from other former works is that,in Ways of Sunlight,the two volumes form a striking contrast to each other---the Trinidad as the Volume I and the London as the Volume Ⅱ.By comparing them,a more profound theme can be found during the research.And until now,the researchers at home and abroad mostly focus on the post-colonial themes and the characteristics of the language.Narratology in Selvon’s work is a field seldom probed into.In this sense,narratology is a necessary way to assist us to appreciate and learn more about the profound themes and the feelings of the ambivalence of Selvon.Based on Genette’s Narrative Discourse,this thesis is going to excavate the ambivalence behind various feelings through the research of the narrative time,narrative focalization and narrator in Ways of Sunlight.The first two chapters give an introduction to current research of Selvon,the framework of the thesis and narrative theory.The third chapter turns to the narrative time of the short story collection,including time order,time duration and the repetition of the time.Through the analysis,it indicates that Selvon not only criticizes the colonists but also the Trinidadians.The fourth and fifth chapters concentrate on the narrative focalization and narrator,namely "who sees" and "who speaks" in the stories,trying to reveal the ambivalence of Selvon hidden behind.The final chapter is the conclusion of the all researches in this thesis.