A Narrative Analysis of A Tale of Two Cities_英语论文

摘要

《双城记》是一部历史小说,由查尔斯·狄更斯（1812--1870）所著。小说讲述了两个家庭在伦敦和巴黎于1775年法国大革命背景下的生活。小说揭露了法国大革命前的社会问题，描写了贵族阶级的奢靡生活，对下层阶级的压迫以及革命军的反抗斗争。学界对《双城记》做出了不同方面的许多研究，但在叙事学方面的研究尚为缺乏。本文通过对《双城记》中叙事视角的分析与解读，尝试填补对《双城记》的第一人称视角分析，丰富和深化第三人称视角的解读。研究结果显示，第一人称叙事者通过人物独白和直接引语推动了情节发展、丰富了人物形象、隐含了作者声音；而第三人称叙述者则起到了展现社会背景、构建文章真实性、展现人物心理活动的作用。

关键词：叙事学 叙事声音 叙事功能  

Abstract

A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel written by Charles Dickens (1812-1870). The novel tells the life of two families in London and Paris in 1775 at the French Revolution. It explodes the social problems before the French Revolution, depicts the extravagant life of the nobility and their oppression towards the underclass, and shows the revolt of the revolutionary army. Lots of studies have been done on A Tale of Two Cities from different aspects. However, in the view of narratology, little exploration has been done. This thesis tries to investigate the narrative voices in A Tale of Two Cities, fills the vacancy of first-person narrator voice analysis and further enriches the study of third-person narrator voice. The result indicates that the use of first-person narrator through inner monologue and direct dialogue contribute to the novel’s plot development, character building and author’s voice indication. While the third-person narrator helps present social background, construct story authenticity and show psychological activities of the characters.

Key words: narratology  narrative voice  narrative function  

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  A Brief Introduction to Charles Dickens 1

1.2  A Brief Introduction to A Tale of Two Cities 2

1.3  Purpose of the Thesis 3

1.4  Structure of the Thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 5

2.1  Previous Studies of A Tale of Two Cities 5

2.2  Previous Studies of Narratology Related 6

2.2.1 Previous Studies of Narrative Voice Abroad 6

2.2.2 Previous Studies of Narrative Voice at Home 7

2.3  The Specialties of This Study 8

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 9

3.1  Definition of Narratology and Its Development 9

3.2  Definition of Narrative Voice 10

Chapter Four  Narrative Analysis in A Tale of Two Cities 11

4.1  First-person NarratorVoice 11

4.1.1 Facilitating Story Development 11

4.1.2 Enriching the Personality of Characters 13

4.1.3 Implying the Author’s Attitude 14

4.2  Third-person Narrator Voice 16

4.2.1 Describing Social Background 16

4.2.2 Improving Story Authenticity 17

4.2.3 Showing Psychological Movement of the Characters 18

Chapter Five  Conclusion 20

5.1  Major Findings 20

5.2  Limitations and Suggestions for Future Study 21

Bibliography

Acknowledgments