Context: Narratology

Morrison is known for her distinctive narrative style. Narratology, which is the study of the ways in which "narrative structures our perception of both cultural artifacts and the world around us", can be helpful in interpreting Morrison's work. Because "our ordering of time and space in narrative forms constitutes one of the primary ways we construct meaning in general", narratology is a developed study with influential theorists and concepts.

Peter Brooks is one theorist who promotes the theme of "plotting" in narrative works. In contrast with narratologists who take a "structuralist" or "static" approach, Brooks notes the "temporal dynamics that shape narratives in our reading of them, the play of desire in time that makes us turn pages and strive toward narrative ends". He also sees narrative plot as "the motor forces that drive the text forward, the desires that connect narrative ends and beginnings, and make of the textual middle a highly charged field of force" and looks for "the internal logic of the discourse of mortality" within.

Other narratology theorists, such as Roland Barthes, believe that all narratives are comprised of five codes, which each individual work "weaves" together in unique ways. The five codes include the "hermeneutic", the "proairetic", the "semantic", the "symbolic", and the "cultural". The first of these (hermeneutic) describes techniques that the author uses to withhold information or explanation, invoking questions in the reader. Examples of this include "snares" (deliberate evasions of the truth), "equivocations" (mixtures of truth and snare), "partial answers," "suspended answers," and "jammings" (acknowledgments of insolubility). These devices serve to "frustrate the early revelation of truths" and are evident in Morrison's Love. Proairetic code also relates to creating suspense, however in this case it is done much more simply in the form of action. Any event or action that moves the story on is proairetic. Semantic code involves symbolism and connotation, which Morrison often invokes as she says one thing and suggests quite another. Symbolic code is very similar to semantic, but it is helpful to think of it as "a "deeper" structural principle that organizes semantic meanings, usually by way of antitheses or by way of mediations". Lastly, cultural code, which may be most prevalent in Love, describes shared knowledge and experiences of a particular group. As Morrison's novel explores the reactions of a specific group to the Civil Rights movement, she invokes cultural code.

These are but a few ideas from narratology. For more information (which can be very helpful in interpreting Morrison), visit: http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/