Stylistic Analysis of The Gift of the Magi.docx
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StylisticAnalysisofTheGiftoftheMagi
湖南科技大学外国语学院
课程学期论文
课程名称:
英语修辞与文体
论文题目:
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
StylisticAnalysisofO.Henry'sTheGiftoftheMagi
<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