A Study On The Narrative Strategy In Lord Of The Flies

Before Narratology became a specialized subject, it had already developed deeply. Its study deepened from the primary attention on fairy tales or folk stories to the modern literatures. And people began to study the conversation layer instead of the initial layer of the story. some Chinese scholars began to have access to the theory of narratology, especially after Fredic Jameson's speech in Beijing University, the study on narratology in China became prosperous. In 1986-1992, most typical narrative theories in Western literature were translated into Chinese.William Golding (1911-1993) was one of the greatest contemporary English writers. Since his novel Lord of the Flies was published in 1954, he aroused extensive attention all over the world and was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.Critics have done a lot of researches on Lord of the Flies from various aspects. The special plot of the novel has attracted people's strong attention. Unfortunately, more attention has been paid to its plot, its symbolism approach, its human nature, even its feminism; few have done thorough studies upon it from the perspective of Narratology. This thesis is an attempt to probe into the narrative characteristics of Lord of the Flies. The thesis starts from the literature review of William Golding and his novel Lord of the Flies, and then makes a brief introduction to Narratology. Besides, the thesis studies the feasibility of applying the narrative theories to the novel. The next three chapters focus on narrative structure, narrative voice, and narrative focalization to discuss how William Golding constructs the novel. Chapter One puts emphasis on the imbalanced narrative structure in Lord of the Flies. Golding deliberately arranges such an imbalanced way in order to show the following conflicts in modern society. They are the conflicts between democracy and autocracy, humanity and animality, science and ignorance, brightness and darkness, male and female. Chapter Two is the analysis of narrative voice. This chapter analyzes the three main characters'narrative voice as well as the authorial voice. One is Ralph who represents reason, one is Jack who is the symbol of autocracy and animality, and one is Simon, a representative of humanity. Golding tells us that on such a desert island, mankind can not defeat his animality inwardly when facing desire for food and survival. Chapter Three is about the narrative focalization in the novel. Through the shift of different perspective, the novel becomes vivid and attractive. Furthermore, it also leads us to thinking deeply about such questions as which one gains the upper hand in the game between humanity and animality, whether democracy could win in the struggle with autocracy, whether men alone can live forever without women along, and where the society will go. Through detailed analysis of narrative strategies of Lord of the Flies, the thesis comes to conclusion that Lord of the Flies is a novel of delicate narrative strategies which deepen the theme of the novel. The authority of narration has been constructed by this combination of both rich ideological content and delicate narrative form. Politically, to build a perfect democratic system is not easy. There is still a long way to go. Sexually, men alone can not live long without women. Most important of all, Golding overthrows the truth that human nature is good. Golding sounds the alarm for the countries which are developing rapidly after WWII and reminds them that they should inspect carefully such issues as war, democracy and human nature again, or mankind will step on the way of self-destruction sooner or later.