Character · Reader: A Rhetorical Narrative Study Of Midnight's Children

By describing three generations' family history,Midnight's Children reflects the historical situations of the entire Indian subcontinent before,during and after its independence.Depending on American scholar James Phelan's Rhetorical Narratology,this thesis mainly focuses on how does Rushdie's rhetorical narrative techniques worked in Midnight's Children to convey his rhetoric ethics.Based on the narrative triangle of the author,the text and the reader,this thesis analyzed the techniques used by Rushdie that constructs character,progression and reader response in Midnight's Children.Taking character's three components as the start point and foundation,the thesis discussed the development of progression successively and discussed the different reactions of different readers.According to the analysis on the text and the reader,mainly analyzed Rushdie's rhetoric ethics,which is political ethics,and tried to get the conclusion on Rushdie's political ethic principles.Through analyzing,this article shows a new perspective on explaining Rushdie's Midnight's Children,that is the perspective of narrative as rhetoric.The thesis could help distinct audiences to refresh his knowledge of the characters,progression and reader response in Midnight's Children.Through analyzing on Rushdie's rhetorical ethics,this paper concludes four principles of Rushdie's political ethics and reveals Rushdie's expectation for his audiences.