An Analysis Of Narrative Strategies In The Joy Luck Club

With the publication of The Joy Luck Club in 1989, Amy Tan has instantly become famous. The novel is composed of sixteen stories about the conflict and reconciliation between Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters. Through this line, mothers and daughters reconsider and understand each other by telling stories in turn. The Joy Luck Club establishes Amy Tan’s status as a remarkable writer in Chinese-American literature, making Chinese-American literature become an important part of mainstream American literature. Moreover, Amy Tan delves into the living situation of Chinese-Americans in the 20th century, especially Chinese-American women and their fate. This thesis is an analysis of the narrative techniques applied in the novel, a discussion of the connection between narrative skills and motif.The analysis of narrative techniques in The Joy Luck Club is mainly based on the theories of Rimmon-Kenan, Genette and Susan Lanser. This thesis is composed of three parts:introduction, body part and conclusion.Chapter one includes three sections, namely life and works of Amy Tan, literature review and layout of the paper. The body part is divided into four chapters, including characterization, text time, narrative voice and speech representation.Chapter two deals with characterization. Rimmon-Kenan’s theory of characterization is employed for analysis. Direct and indirect presentation (speech and act) in characterization are applied to represent successfully the attributes of Chinese-American women.Chapter three is devoted to the discussion of the novel’s text time, including order, duration and frequency. With Genette and Rimmon-Kenan’s narrative time theories, order (Chinese mahjong structure), unequal duration, disparate frequency and their different functions are analyzed. First, Amy Tan applies originally in the time order the technique of Chinese mahjong structure; second, she skillfully uses unequal durations for different events, which help regulate the pace of narration; third, Amy Tan uses certain event of disparate frequency to reveal conflicts and strengthen the theme of the novel.Chapter four is an analysis of the novel’s narrative voices, by using Susan Lanser’s feminist narratology to examine the novel’s voices, which include authorial voice, personal voice and communal voice. By applying the three voices, Amy Tan reveals the essential identities and living situations of Chinese-American women in her stories.Chapter five is about speech representation, which mainly covers direct discourse and free direct discourse; also the functions of such representation are discussed. The final chapter is a conclusion of the thesis.Through the analysis, we can arrive at such a conclusion:by applying such narrative techniques in The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan presents the readers the conflict and communication among four pairs of mothers and daughters, the living condition of Chinese-Americans in the 20th century, the social reality of China and America in different times, the fate and struggle of Chinese-American women. The Joy Luck Club establishes Amy Tan as an important figure in the Chinese-American literature history, making Chinese-American literature enjoy certain high status in mainstream American literature. By combing the narrative skills with the novel motifs, Amy Tan expands the influence of Chinese-American literature in the world, as well as enhances the artistic charm of The Joy Luck Club.