A Narratological Interpretation Of Under The Red Flag

Ha Jin is the first Chinese-American writer awarded the National Book Award.His works received a number of awards once they were published,for example,Ocean of Words(1996)won Hemingway Pen Award and War Trash(2004)won the Faulkner Award.Although Ha Jin has attracted the attention of the literary world,the study of his works is still at the beginning stage at home and abroad.Under the Red Flag is composed of 12 short stories published in different newspapers,and it is considered to be one of the best short stories of Ha Jin.Among which "In Broad Daylight" was awarded the Kenyon Review for Fiction in 1993 and "A Man to be " won the Pushcart Prize in 1995.Under the Red Flag is known for its unique narrative techniques,and it depicts the lives of the villagers in a town called Dismount Fort.The collection of short stories won great popularity among the western readers after it was published.This thesis adopts the narratological methodology to analyze Under the Red Flag in the following three aspects:narrative mode,narrative voice and narrative time.The thesis is divided into six chapters.Chapter one gives a brief introduction to Ha Jin and his works,analyzes and collates the research on Ha Jin and his works at home and abroad,and points out the insufficiency of the existing research,and explains the significance of this thesis.Chapter two elaborates on the theoretical basis employed in this thesis.First,the history and development of narratology are summarized,followed by the important terms of narratology,such as focalization,narrative distance,character discourse,narrator,erzahlendes Ich and erzahltes Ich,unreliability of the character,narrative order,duration and frequency,to provide a theoretical basis for the following analysis.Chapter three analyzes the narrative mode of Under the Red Flag.It summarizes three characteristics of narrative mode in Under the Red Flag through the thorough analysis:the frequent shift of focalization,the variable narrative distances and the flexible usage of free direct and indirect discourse.Chapter four explores the narrative voice of Under the Red Flag.First,it introduces the narrators of the Dismount Fort stories and their functions.Second,it finds out the combination of erzahlendes Ich and erzahltes Ich of the homodiegetic narrator deepening the theme and bringing a sense of "defamiliarization" to readers.Third,it analyzes the unreliability of White Cat by referring to the theory of Wayne Booth.Chapter five studies the narrative time of Under the Red Flag.By employing anachrony,Ha Jin constructs compact plots and produces suspense to arouse the reader's interest.In addition,duration is always under changing and frequency also adopts a variety of forms,so that theme gets highlighted and becomes clear.Chapter six is the conclusion.It summarizes the narrative features of Under the Red Flag.In addition,due to Ha Jin's Chinese-American identity but his insisting on writing in English,it points out that the study of Under the Red Flag from the perspective of narratology is of great significance.Although Ha Jin's work has been criticized for uglifying the Chinese,it is undeniable that the superb narrative techniques used by Ha Jin in presenting characters and expressing the theme.