An Analysis Of The Narrative Art Of O Pioneers!

Willa Cather is a popular American Midwestern novelist. She occupies an important position in literary history because of her works about Nebraska prairie and stoic pioneers. Cather's works with fresh pastoral style leave deep impression on the readers. Her second novel O Pioneers! is a successful one which sings highly of persistent pioneers and gives out an intense love for her homeland.In O Pioneers!, Willa Cather adopts the language of economics to depict many beautiful pictures blending scenes with emotions and celebrates the land---the real hero. Critics at home and abroad have made lots of studies on O Pioneers! from different aspects. This novel's unique narrative features have captured people's attention, yet studies on it from the perspective of narratology are not many. This thesis is an attempt at analyzing Will Cather'narrative art in O Pioneers! on the basis of narratology, with an aim to provide new scope for reevaluating Willa Cather's works. This thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One expounds the disjunction in time from two levels: i.e, unbalanced duration as well as diverse frequency. Scenes, pauses and summaries produce both different narrative rhythms and other special effects. Repetition emphasizes the significance of the matters and the characters'emotional fluctuation. The overlapping between duration and frequency provides the readers with freshness and musical aesthetics.Chapter Two discusses the alternation of omniscient focalization. Just like most traditional novels, Willa Cather's O Pioneers! adopts omniscient focalization. The omniscient author tells stories by employing either neutral narrator or authorial narrator, completely satisfying the readers'curiosity.Chapter Three interprets the multiplicity of discourse the characters adopt. Two sorts of discourses are mentioned, namely, direct discourse and indirect discourse. Through detailed analysis of different discourses, the narrative distance gets better controlled. To sum up, through the detailed analysis of narrative art in O Pioneers!, this thesis comes to a conclusion that this novel is a very special novel for its unique narrative techniques. And the special narrative techniques of O Pioneers! not only deepen the theme of the novel but also portray an important American historical era. Willa Cather is really eulogized as a new voice in American literature.