A Study Of The Narrative Ethics Of Carson McCullers’ Novels

Carson Mc Cullers was one of the most important American writers of the 20 th century,whose works spanned long and short stories,plays,essays,poetry,and more.Her novels are deeply rooted in the American South,where remote towns are the main places where her narratives are carried out,and themes of loneliness and alienation permeate all her works.But Mc Cullers’ novel narrative is not only limited to the theme of loneliness she wants to express,she also stands in the perspective of all mankind,constantly thinking about the ethics of the real world,all of which shows that the aesthetic and emotional value of Mc Cullers’ novel is trans-epochal.The thesis consists of three parts: introduction,main text,and conclusion,and the main text is divided into three chapters.The introductory part mainly introduces the background and significance of the selected topic,summarizes the research status of Carson Mc Cullers’ novels,and explains the research theories and methods of narrative ethics,especially distinguishing the connotation and essence of narrative and ethics,narrative ethics and ethical narrative and story ethics and narrative ethics.The first chapter of the main text explores the ethics of story in Mc Cullers’ novels.It is developed from the three narrative dimensions of gender,race and family,in which the gender ethical narrative dissolves the traditional gender ethical thought through the emergence of hermaphroditic phenomena and homosexual writing,and achieves the negation of the traditional concepts of mainstream society;The racial ethics narrative presents the problem of racist oppression by describing black identity anxiety and mixedrace identity confusion in society,expressing Mc Cullers’ concern for racial identity and racial equality and his critique of the racial ethics of "white supremacy" under apartheid;Family ethics focuses on the emergence of independent and rebellious wives in the family,breaking the traditional model of "Southern Family Romance" and deconstructing the falseness of the myth of "family angels".Chapter 2 analyzes the ethics of narrative in Mc Cullers’ novels.The narrative ethics of this paper is mainly composed of three parts:narrative perspective,narrative time and narrative space.Specifically,through the overall shooting of the omniscient perspective,the narrative perspective feels the distinct values and ethical positions of the narrative subject from the love and fate of the characters,and expresses the concern for the persecuted Jewish community under the white gaze through the focused gaze of the limited perspective;Narrative time mainly analyzes the ethical presentation of story time and the ethical expression of narrative time;The narrative space part mainly explores the ethical meaning and ethical value behind private space and public space.Chapter 3 examines the causes of the ethical narrative of Mc Cullers’ novels.Starting from both personal and social historical reasons,personal reasons focus on the influence of Mc Cullers’ own experiences of illness and trauma and literary traditions on her ethical values;Social historical reasons mainly show her ethical position in the shadow of war and racism and the development of the feminist movement.The conclusion synthesizes the analysis of the above parts,revealing that Mc Cullers’ novel creation is a personal practice with ethical intentions,about various real-life dilemmas,it is her concern and reflection on the modernity of Southern society,we can further explore the significance of Mc Cullers’ works in connection with the persistent problems in the United States and even human society today.