Stylistic Analysis of The Gift of the MagiWord格式.docx

Stylistic Analysis of The Gift of the MagiWord格式.docx

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StylisticAnalysisofO.Henry'

sTheGiftoftheMagi

姓名：

刘素琴

班级：

08级英语本部四班

学号：

0812010406

学年学期：

2011-2012-1

<

摘要>

欧·

亨利是二十世纪初美国文学史上最重要的作家之一，其作品受到了全世界读者的喜爱和称赞。

本文选择了欧·

亨利的短篇小说之—《麦琪的礼物》作为研究的对象，将从文体学角度出发，在字系、词汇、句法和语义等层面上对其进行分析，找出其在各个层面的文体特征。

在字系层面，频繁使用冒号、引号；

在词汇层面，单词长度较短，名词的百分比大于其他词类；

在句法层面，所选语篇最显著的文体特征是短句、句子片段的使用；

还有多种修辞手法的运用使得文章更加生动。

关键词>

文体；

文体分析；

《麦琪的礼物》

Introduction

Asoneofthethreemastersofshortstoriesintheliteraturehistory,0.Henryisveryfamiliartoandispopularwithreadersaroundtheworld.Hisworksenjoyexcellenttranslationsandsomeofhisstoriesaremadeintopopularmovies.Hisstylehassignificantinfluenceonbothwritersandreadersandthewayhewritesisalwayslovedandpraisedbygenerationsofpeople.Thosegreatworksmusthavetheirowncharacteristics,whichareshowninvocabulary,sentenceandgrammar,etc.Inthisthesis,Iwillselectoneofthefamousshortstoriesof0.Henryandtrytoanalyzeitfromtheangleofstylisticsandtodescribethemostsignificantstylisticfeaturesofit.

AmongO.Henry'

sshortstories,oneofthemostfamousisTheGiftoftheMagi.Iwillmakeananalysisofitbasedonthestylistictheoryandmainlydiscussthefollowingaspects:

graphology,lexicon,syntaxandsemantics.

IAttheGraphologicalLevel

1.Punctuation

PunctuationisusedasoneofthevisualconnectivedevicesthathelptocommunicategrammaticalandotherdistinctionsinwrittenEnglish.Muchquestionmarksandexclamationmarksareusedinthestorytoexpressthefeelingofthecharacters."

IfJimdoesnotkillmebeforehetakesasecondlookatme,"

shesaidtoherself,"

he'

llsayIlooklikeasonggirl.ButwhatcouldIdo--oh!

whatcouldIdowithadollarandeighty-sevencents?

"

Butsheheldthecombstoherself,andsoonshewasabletolookupwithasmileandsay,"

Myhairgrowssofast,Jim!

\ThenDellajumpeduplikealittleburnedcatandcried,"

Oh,oh!

.Throughtheuseofexclamationmarkandquestionmark，theexampleabovereflectstheheroinDella'

scomplicatedmoodandfeelingaftershecutoffherhairandsellsit,aswellasherastonishmentafterseeingthegiftthatisgivenbyherhusband.

2.Paragraphing

Paragraphingreferstothewayinwhichatextisdividedintoparagraphs（consistingofoneormoresentences）.Aparagraphhas,ontheonehandarelativelystrongandtightsenseofinternalcoherenceandontheotherhandarelativelylooselinkagewiththetextualmaterialbeforeandafterit.TheparagraphlengthofTheGiftoftheMagiisrelativelyshortcomparedtosomeothershortstories,fortherearemanyparagraphsconsistingofthecommunicationbetweenthecouplebyspeech."

Youhavecutoffyourhair?

askedJim,slowly,asifhehadnotacceptedtheinformationevenafterhismindworkedveryhard.

Cutitoffandsoldit,"

saidDella."

Doyounotlikemejustaswell?

Iamthesamepersonwithoutmyhair,right?

Jimlookedabouttheroomasifhewerelookingforsomething.

Yousayyourhairisgone?

heasked.

Theparagraphslooksimpleandconcise,anditiseasytounderstandandreadersseemtobeintherealcontextwhentheyreadthestories.

IIAttheLexicalLevel

1.Vocabulary

Vocabularyplaysanimportantroleininfluencingthedifficultyandtheacceptanceofthetexts.Itisknownthat0.Henryisgoodatandfamousforwritingshortstories.Oneofthereasonswhyheandhisworksarepopularisthatthestoriesaresimpleandeasytoreadandunderstand.Itishardlyfoundtherearedifficultandelusivewordsinhisworkssothattheyarewelcomedbyallkindsofreadersaroundtheworld.Wecanfindthatmostwordsinthistextarecommonwordsweoftenuse.

2.WordLength

Wordlengthisanimportantstylisticmarker.Thelongerandmorecomplicatedthewordsare,themoreformalthetextsare.0.Henryusesmoreshortwordstomakethestoriesmorevivid,whichalsohelpthereaderstounderstandwhatthewritertendstoconvey.Ontheotherhand,duetothefamiliarandconversationalwordsareemployedamongcharactersdialogues,awideuseofcolloquialworddecreasethemeanwordlengthtoacertaindegree.Sincethegreatstorytellerdepictsthedailylifeofcommonpeople，theshortwordscanhelptomakethestorymorelivingandclosertotherealsituation,andatthesametime,canalsoattractthereaderstogoonreadingwithease.

3.WordClass

0.Henrymakesaquantityofdescriptionofenvironmentandpeople，whichneedsalotofnounsduringwritingsuchasnamesofcharactersandplaces.Moreemploymentofnounscanalsohelpthewriterstoconveytheideamoreexplicitly,andreducingthepossibilityofconfusionandmisunderstanding.Forexample：

SuddenlyDellaturnedfromthewindowandstoodbeforetheg