文學(xué)作品評(píng)論飄

1、An Analysis of the novel Gone with the Wind 文學(xué)作品評(píng)論： 飄 英語(yǔ)教育碩士 2006684 黃麗Abstract:The novel Gone with the Wind is set during the times of theCivil War in Atlantic. This article gives a brief account of the novel and its author. Besides, the writer analyses the linguistic presentation of the novel acco

2、rding to the speech of the dramatis personae, Scarlett, from phonological features, punctuations, lexical features and syntactic features.Key words: novel, author, linguistic presentation10XI.If historians were to look back over the 20 th century and ask which single work of art proved to be its mos

3、t popular and enduring, reaching the largest global audiences and achieving most purchase within world culture, there is probably only one choice: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell(1900-1949).Margaret Mitchell wrote only one novel, though she was a prolific reporter for the Atlanta Journal . S

4、he was born in a prominent Atlanta lawyers family. She spent much of her childhood listening to graphic accounts of Civil War battles, the burning of the city, the use of the family house as an army hospital, and the sufferings of the family and their friends during the postbellum Reconstruction per

5、iod. Attending parades commemorating Atlantas Confederate dead, learning by heart Civil War songs and minute details of military skirmishes, battle wounds, and acts of heroism, the young Margaret was well primed to write a defensive, chauvinistic account of the Souths war. She began writing Gone wit

6、h the Wind in 1926, the next year she married John Marsh. The whole writing last almost 10 years. This romantic picture of life in the South during the American Civil War became a best-seller almost immediately and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. It was made into a motion picture that, after

7、 its release in 1939, became one of the most popular and praised of all films. Unfortunately, in 1949, crossing a street to go to a theater, Margaret Mitchell was killed by a drunken driver.The story revolves around Scarlett OHara, daughter of Irish landowner Gerald, who has made the plantation Tara

8、 into one of Georgias finest. She is in love with Ashley Wilkes, who marries his cousin Melanie. As war begins, Scarlett has to protect her family and the pregnant Melanie. Staying in Atlanta with relatives, she faces Shermans army and delivers Melanie s baby as the city goes up in flames. During Re

9、construction, she pragmatically does business with the Yankees and so prospers and restores the fortunes of Tara. During the course of the narrative, she marries 3 times first to spite Ashley, a second time to pay off Taras postwar taxes, and the third time for fun. Her third husband, Rhett Butler,

10、shares her wifes pragmatism, blockade-running during the early part of the war and only later joining the Confederate Army. He engagesin lucrative deals with the Federal Army from the start of the conflict and right through Reconstruction. Enraged at his wife s love for Ashley and selfish disengagem

11、ent from him and their daughter, Bonnie Blue, who dies in a riding accident, he leaves her. The novel ends with Scarlett realizing how much she loves him and resolving to get him back by returning to her beloved Tara to plan her strategy.Gone with the Wind is a long and loving exploration of the tra

12、umatic American Civil War and the devastation of the South. This novel belongs to a long tradition of southern plantation fiction and white apologist historiography. It focuses on the Souths most dramatic historic period:Secession, the Civil War, the bloody demise of plantation culture and the slave

13、 economy, and the violent chaos of Reconstruction. Indeed, a major reason for the continuing success of this work is its huge appeal to women readers and audiences. The figure of Scarlett was willing to move and experiment with the times, and prepared to play dangerous games with her sexuality and l

14、oved ones, which has been appropriated by post-1960s feminists as well as 1980s and 1990s“Me Generation”career women and free spirits. Like all great heroines, Scarlett fulfils a variety of thematic functions: romantic protagonist, epic figure and conservative conformist at war with ruthless iconocl

15、ast.Here, I will take the speech of Scarlett from Chapter 5 set in the scene of preparing for the barbecue to be held in Twelve Oaks to analyse her personality of being a beautiful young girl.“Oh, hurry! Don t talk so much. I ll catch a husband. See if I don t, even if I dont scream and faint. Goodn

16、ess, but my stays are tight! Put on the dress!”“I wish to Heaven I was married,” she said resentfully as she attacked the yams with loathing. “I m tired of everlastingly being unnatural and never doing anything I want to do. Im tired of acting like I dont eat more than a bird, and walking when I wan

17、t to run and saying I feel faint after a waltz, when I could dance for two days and never gettired. I m tired of saying, How wonderful you are!to fool men who havent got one-half the sense Ive got, and Im tired of pretending I dont know anything, so men can tell me things and feel important while th

18、eyre doing it. I can eat another bite.”“Why is it a girl has to be so silly to catch a husband?”“Don t you suppose men get surprised after theyre married to find that their wives do have sense”?“Some day Im going to do and say everything I want to do and say, and if people dontlike it I don tcare.”T

19、his part of neat language well depicts the personality of young girl Scarlett. I try to analyse the linguistic presentation of the theme according to phonological features, punctuations, lexical features and syntactic features.The outstanding features on the phonology is the frequent appearance of /

20、 p /, / b /, / t /, / d /, / k /, and / g /. Such explosions can make an aculeate , harsh and starched voice. There are almost 190 words in the speech above, among which such explosions are nearly 150; there are 22 sentences, among which are 16 sentences ending with such explosions. These aculeate a

21、nd harsh voice right accords with the personality of Scarlett, arrogant and hard-going. Scarlett is confident in her own charm and the slight waist. She is just like a rose with thorns.The salient features of punctuations are also easily seen in the more uses of exclamation marks and question marks.

22、 In the 22 sentences, there are 4 exclamation marks and 2question marks. The more uses of such punctuations can make the words more vivid and lively. To some extent, the figure of Scarlett with the vigour of youth, passion, stubborn and self-will emerges before us.As for lexical features, that is th

23、e repetition of the words with one syllable or syllables, such as dont, want, I, get, catch and / ei /. The repetition of the words and syllable create the beautiful rhyme, just like the beauty of Scarlett beautiful rhyme and beautiful vital force. The special noticeable phenomenon is that there are

24、 20 times of I in appearance in the 22 sentences. That the letteIr makes up the only word can give us the impression of self-glorification. And this exactly corresponds to her personality of self-centredness.On the syntactic layer, there are more simple sentences and complicated sentences, which mak

25、e the sentences easy and flexible. And there are also some parallelisms. There are 4 patterns I m tired of, the subject clauses of which are positive, and the clauses of which or phases are negative. The match of positive and negative makes iambus. Such 4 iambus structures strengthen the vigor of th

26、e language while simultaneously make it witty.From the 4 layers of the language analysed above, we can see it successfully creates the figure of Scarlett, clever, forthright, arrogant and stubborn. We can also find our shadows on Scarlett when we were young. The young always fulfill vital force, ene

27、rgy and illusion. They often believe everything will belong to them as long as they want to.After all, tomorrow is another day. This is the famous saying ending of the novel. Gone with the Wind is truly the simplest, most romantic love story I have yet to read. It is one of those novels that leave y

28、ou speechless and in awe after you have finished it. It made me want to re-read the book and look forward to the sequel Scarlett. I was so drawn to every single character for each of them has an unforgettable personality that makes a deep impression in my mind. I have to say this is an absolutely outstanding book and deserves all the prizes it has won.Reference