Abstract

Toni Morrison applied varied narrative strategies in Beloved to form intricate structure and convey profound theme, which makes the novel a masterpiece of narration and a textbook of literary skills. The thesis tries to reveal how the story is told via analyzing the main narrative strategies in the novel from three angles—time, point of view, and voice, and then further explore the contributions of these strategies to the molding of the characters, the sublimation of the theme and the aesthetic appeal of the book.

Key words: Beloved, time, point of view, voice

摘要

   托妮•莫里森在其作品《宠儿》中运用多种叙事手法来塑造复杂的叙事结构，并传递深刻的主题，可谓是一本不朽的叙事杰作和文学技巧的教科书。本文试图通过对叙事的三个主要要素——时间，视角与声音对作品进行分析，以揭示叙述故事的过程，并分析莫里森针对三个要素所运用的叙事策略对作品的人物塑造，主题表达和美学感染力所起的作用。

关键词：《宠儿》；时间；视角；声音

1. Introduction
Toni Morrison, born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio to Ramah née Willis and George Wofford on Feb. 18th, 1931, is an American novelist, editor and professor. As her mother was the leading singer of the church choir and her father an excellent storyteller who was especially fond of the folktales of the black community, storytelling and reading were an important part of her childhood, and the parental influence played an important role in her literary works.
After she graduated from Cornell University, Morrison mainly worked as an instructor at Texas Southern, Howard and Princeton University successively, and also as an editor at the New York City headquarters of Random House. Being the latter, she made great contribution to bringing black literature into the mainstream.