On Indeterminacy In Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness

Alice Munro is one of the most important contemporary writers in Canada.She is the first Canadian writer to win Nobel Prize in Literature,also the 13^th female writer in the history of Nobel Prize in Literature Awards.So far,Alice Munro has published14 collections of short stories.Too Much Happiness consists of ten stories which vividly show the ordinary and painful life of women in different ages and express their dilemma and deep desire to pursue self-identity.Through the detailed analysis of the text,the thesis draws a conclusion that Too Much Happiness does have the above postmodern features,which greatly enriches the meaning of the work itself and makes the readers have a better understanding of the indeterminate life of the female characters that Munro wants to show.This thesis is made up of six chapters.The first chapter firstly gives a brief introduction to Alice Munro and her Too Much Happiness,then states the purpose and significance of this thesis and introduces the layout of the thesis.The second chapter is about literature review and theories basis.Firstly it is the literature review on the works of Munro at home and abroad.At the same time,the thesis critically comments on the previous studies.Then the literature theory on postmodernism and indeterminacy are briefly analyzed.The third chapter mainly discusses the indeterminacy of narrative strategies of this novel from the following aspects,diverse narrative perspective,multiple narrative choices,nested structure and indeterminate symbolic meaning,to explore the indeterminacy.The fourth chapter mainly elaborates the indeterminacy of plot of this novel,chiefly from four aspects that are open ending,mysterious dreams of character,continuous suspense.The fifth chapter analyzes the indeterminacy of characters.The complicated descriptions about characters'psychology and their living condition show the broken elements in postmodernism.The writer hides her thought beneath the text,which brings the indeterminacy of narrative voice.And female's choice to compromise or pursue self-identity in society reflect the indeterminacy of the image of characters.Thereby,the author goes even further to uncover the conflicted psychology towards female identity and her expectations.The sixth chapter is conclusion.The author of the thesis mainly summarizes the contents of this thesis,many tactful postmodern techniques Munro adopts in Too MuchHappinessfullyembodiedthemaincharacterof postmodernism--indeterminacy.And the innovation of the thesis is also presented.Through the discussion of three chapters,under the premise of the overall care of all of Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness,this thesis tries to interpret the unique artistic charm in it.