The Dialogue Between Childhood Memories and Reality: On the narrative art of Cries in the Drizzle

School of Literature, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, China

^* Corresponding author: 20230121212@m.scnu.edu.cn

Abstract

The narrative skills used in Yu Hua’s novel Cries in the Drizzle are quite mature. This paper focuses on analyzing the intertwined relationship between memory and reality and how this intertwining deepens the theme expression in the work. By analyzing the reproduction, selectivity, and fictionality of childhood memories in the work, as well as its dialogue relationship with reality, the important role of memory in individual growth and identity construction is revealed. This paper employs a text analysis method to examine how non-linear narrative structure, perspective switching, and language style enhance the emotional expression of the work, while exploring the role of memory in the reproduction and redemption of psychological trauma and its symbolic representation of the interweaving of social environment and personal destiny. The study found that the novel shows the protagonist’s growth path from childhood trauma to self-reconciliation through the multiple functions of memory and its integration with reality, highlighting the reflectiveness and selectivity of memory. This paper concludes that Cries in the Drizzle not only expresses the dilemma and struggle of individuals in their growth but also presents universal human care through the artistic memory, which has profound contemporary literary value.