A Narratological Analysis On Alice Munro’s Short Story “Chance”

Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for her short story collection Runaway in 2013, who was the first Canadian writer winning this award. Munro is a master in writing short stories and she is considered a Canadian Chekhov. She has won the world-wide reputation for her unique narrative style. Before she gained the Nobel Prize, Munro has already been famous in the field of literature at home and abroad. She has won Governor-General’ Awards three times, Giller Prizes twice, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize twice and was awarded as the winner of 2009 Man Booker International Prize. She has published fourteen short story collections, and each of them represents the special features of Munro’s narrative style. Since 1980 s the research abroad, which are based on her early short story collections, mainly focus on two categories: one is feminist themes and the other is narrative techniques, while the domestic study still stays at the initial stage. Compared to Munro’s reputation and influence in the world, the domestic studies on her works relatively lag behind.This thesis attempts to analyze the narrative techniques in “Chance”, which is one of the most typical short stories in Alice Munro’s collection Runaway. Based on French narratology professor Gérard Genette’s and Chinese narratology researcher Shen Dan’s narratological theories, this thesis makes a tentative analysis from the perspective of narrative time, narrative focalization and narrative discourse. Besides Introduction and Conclusion, this thesis consists of three chapters. The Introduction introduces Alice Munro and her works, previous studies of Munro’s works both at home and abroad, narratological theories employed in this thesis, and purpose of this thesis. Chapter One discusses the narrative time in “Chance”, including time order, time duration and time frequency, aiming to analyze the flexible and bouncing narrative time and the function they take in molding the characteristics of the character and revealing the complicated psychology of the character, and summarizes the technique of narrative time in “Chance”. Chapter Two examines narrative focalization in “Chance”, including two typical types, one is the third-person internal fixed focalization and the other is the third-person external focalization, and their functions in portraying the characters’ features. Chapter Three focuses on narrative discourse in “Chance”, including direct speech, indirect speech, free direct speech and free indirect speech. The last part is Conclusion, which draws the conclusion about the narrative techniques in “Chance” and states the inadequacies of the thesis. This thesis tries to make a comparatively explicit narratological analysis on “Chance” from narrative time, narrative focalization and narrative discourse, hoping to appreciate Munro’s marvelous narrative techniques and unique narrative style, which play an essential role in displaying the characteristics of the protagonist and deepening the theme of the short story.