卡森·麦卡勒斯《婚礼的成员》主题的元功能分析

Chapter 1 Introduction 

As  one  of  the  most  influential  linguistic  theories  in  the  modern  world,  Systemic Functional Grammar is a semantic and functional grammar with Metafunction Theory as its core  part.  Metafunction  Theory  is  concerned  with  the  functions  of  language  and  holds  that language  has  three  metafunctions,  that  are  ideational  function,  interpersonal  function  and textual  function.  It  is  utilized  into  a  wide  variety  of  fields,  such  as  language  education, translation study and discourse analysis. In addition, it is considered to be a convenient and effective tool to analyze the literary works. As one of the most outstanding American Writers in the 20th century, Carson McCullers is a representative of the female writers in the South of America. Among her numerous works, The Member of the Wedding is regarded as her most mature  novel.  In  order  to  provide  a  general  research  background  for  the  thesis,  this  chapter will  make  a  brief  introduction  of  Carson  McCullers  and  The  Member  of  the  Wedding, Systemic  Functional  Grammar  and  Metafunction  Theory,  the  research  motivation  and significance as well as the structure of the thesis.  

1.1 Carson McCullers and The Member of the Wedding
Carson  McCullers  was  born  in  Columbus,  Georgia  on  February  19,  1917  and  died  in Nyack, New York on September 29, 1967. Her father was an owner of a jewelry shop and her mother was a famous storyteller. Her family name was Smith and her original name was Lura Carson Smith, which was changed into Carson Smith by herself when she was 13 years old. In 1937, she married a soldier named Reeves McCullers and then her name became Carson McCullers. Carson  McCullers  began  her  journey  of  artistic  career  under  the  influence  and encouragement of her mother. She had learned to play the piano from a teacher named Mary Tucker for many years since she was at the age of 5. She got along well with Mary Tuck and they became good friends. Therefore, when Mary Tuck left Columbus, McCullers decided to give up playing the piano and determined to be a writer rather than a pianist. Instead of being interested  in  traditional  education,  McCullers  was  keen  on  literature  and  read  a  number  of books which were all great and famous literary works in the world. At the age of 17, she left Georgia  and  went  to  New  York  where  she  studied  literary  creation  in  Columbia  University. During the years in New York, she encountered many celebrated and great literary giants who had  great  influence  on  her  and  played  a  significant  role  in  developing  her  into  an  excellent writer.  
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1.2 Systemic Functional Grammar and Metafunction 
Theory Represented by M. A. K. Halliday, the School of Systemic Functional Linguistics is one of the most influential linguistic schools in the world today. On the basis of referring to the ideas  of  other  linguistic  schools  as  well  as  inheriting  and  developing  the  thoughts  of  Firth from London School, Halliday came up with the idea of Systemic Functional Grammar. After years  of  Halliday’s  and  other  functional  scholars’  efforts,  the  theory  was  developed  and improved  continuously  and  has  become  a  widely  accepted  linguistic  theory,  which  has significant  influence  on  a  variety  of  disciplines  related  to  language,  such  as  language education, translation, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis.    In the process of founding and developing the theory, the ideas and thought from many linguistic schools have influence on Halliday’s view of language. Firth, who is not only the founder of London School but also the teacher of Halliday, has extremely significant effects on  Halliday.  Firth  contended  that  both  the  meaning  in  the  language  and  the  social  context producing parole were very important. Influenced by the language research of B. Malinowski, Firth  emphasized  the  social  context  in  which  parole  was  used  and  he  aimed  to  establish  a linguistic  theory  according  to  Malinowski’s  “context  of  situation.”  Unfortunately,  Firth  did not  realize  this  goal,  but  his  ideas  were  developed  by  Halliday  who  came  up  with  his  own theory  of  language  under  the  guide  of  Firth’s  thought.  In  addition  to  Firth’s  influence, Halliday also referred to the ideas and theories of other linguistic schools or linguists, such as the  context  theory  of  Malinowski,  structure  theory  of  Robin,  the  prototype  theory,  Prague School’s  functional  sentence,  the  language  hypothesis  and  humanistic  ideas  from  Sapir  and Whorf, etc. Moreover, some Chinese scholars, such as Wang Li and Luo Changpei, also have influence  on  Halliday’s  linguistic  theory.  Zhang  Delu  pointed  out  that  Welter  Simon,  a professor teaching Chinese in London University also affected Halliday (Hu Zhuanglin, 2013: 70). 
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Chapter 2 Literature Review 

In  order  to  present  a  detailed  introduction  of  the  previous  studies  and  expound  the necessity  of  the  research,  this  chapter  will  summarize  and  review  the  studies  on  Carson McCullers  and  her  novel  The  Member  of  the  Wedding  as  well  as  Hallidays’  Metafunction Theory. As a figure of vital importance in the history of the 20th American literature, Carson McCullers has received extensive and persistent attention. Her works have also been studied by many literary critics and researchers. As for Halliday’s Metafunction Theory, it has been studied  and  developed  by  many  scholars  and  widely  applied  to  various  aspects  such  as translation research, language teaching and discourse analysis.  

2.1 Studies of Carson McCullers   
The  foreign  critics’  attention  on  Carson  McCullers  began  in  the  1930s  when  she published  her  first  short  story  Sucker  in  1933,  but  she  did  not  get  much  recognition  at  that time. In 1940, she published The Heart is a Lonely Hunter which was highly praised by the critics and won great success. She was regarded as the most exciting talent of that age by the critics. She successively published other classic works, such as Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Member of the Wedding, The Ballad of the Sad Café, and some short stories, which were also spoken highly of by the critics. However, McCullers was not always praised and affirmed but sometimes doubted and even seriously criticized. She published her last short story The March in 1967 which did not receive good evaluation and was deemed not to reach the artistic level of her masterpieces. 
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2.2 Studies of The Member of the Wedding
As one of Carson McCullers’ representative works, the novel The Member of the Wedding has received extensive and significant attention since it was published in 1946. A number of studies on the novel have been carried out by the foreign critics and researchers. However, the number  of  the  studies  carried  out  by  Chinese  scholars  is  comparatively  fewer  because  the novel was not translated into Chinese before 2005. Moreover, most of the studies focused on McCullers’ other two novels: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Ballad of the Sad Café. According to the focal points, the studies on The Member of the Wedding can be divided into four  types:  studies  on  theme,  gender  identity,  gothic  style  and  other  aspects.  Therefore,  the following content of this section will review the research situation from the four aspects and point out the problems of those studies. 
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Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework and Methodology ........ 25 
3.1 Metafunction Theory ........... 25 
3.1.1 Ideational Function .... 25 
3.1.2 Interpersonal Function ....... 28 
3.1.3 Textual Function ........ 31 
3.2 Methodology ....... 33 
Chapter 4 Thematic Interpretation with Metafunction Theory ........ 37 
4.1 Ideational and Textual Interpretation of Solitude and Isolation .......... 37 
4.1.1 Transitivity Interpretation .......... 37 
4.1.2 Thematic and Information Structural Interpretation ......... 44 
4.2 Ideational and Interpersonal Interpretation of Female Initiation Theme .... 50 
4.3 Ideational Interpretation of Searching for Self-Identity ...... 61 
4.4 Interpersonal Interpretation of Family-Affection Deficiency ..... 65 
Chapter 5 Conclusion ..... 71 
5.1 Major Findings .... 71 
5.2 Limitations and Implications ....... 73 

Chapter 4 Thematic Interpretation with Metafunction Theory 

As one of Carson McCullers’ representative works, The Member of the Wedding reflects her  artistic  achievements  and  contains  multiple  themes  which  are  solitude  and  spiritual isolation,  the  female  initiation,  searching  for  self-identity  as  well  as  family-affection deficiency. As the principal part of the thesis, the chapter will conduct a detailed interpretation of  the  four  themes  from  the  aspects  of  ideational,  interpersonal  and  textual  functions,  and demonstrates the realization of the themes on the basis of text analyses. 

4.1 Ideational and Textual 
Interpretation of Solitude and Isolation Carson McCullers is famous for depicting solitude and her works are full of people who are solitary and isolated. The theme ofsolitude and spiritual isolation is throughout her works, including the novel The Member of the Wedding. The novel mainly shapes three characters: the protagonist Frankie, her little cousin John Henry and the black maid Berenice. Frankie’s mother  died  when  she  was  very  young  and  her  father  does  not  give  her  too  much  love  and care. Although the maid Berenice takes care of her like a mother, Frankie always feels lonely and is not accepted by others. She cherishes the dream of going around the world, but has to spend the days of the summer in the small and dark kitchen with her cousin and Berenice. In Frankie’s world, every lonely people are locked in their own inner space and unable to make any meaningful communication.  
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Conclusion

The Member of the Wedding is regarded as Carson McCullers’ most mature novel which includes multiple themes. Based on the review of the previous studies on the novel, the thesis explores the themes of the novel on the theoretical basis of Halliday’s Metafunctional Theory with the purpose of examining the advantages of Halliday’s theory on the thematic study of literary works and presenting a more objective and comprehensive study on the themes of the novel. As a conclusion part, this chapter will summarize the major findings, the limitations of the study and suggestions for the future research.In  order  to  make  an  objective  and  clear  interpretation  of  the  themes  in  the  novel  The Member  of  the  Wedding  from  the  aspects  of  Halliday’s  three  metafunctions,  the  thesis  first presents an introduction on the research background, the motivation and significance as well as  the  layout  of  the  thesis.  The  literary  review  summarizes  and  reviews  the  foreign  and domestic studies on Carson McCullers, the novel as well as Halliday’s Metafunction Theory in  order  to  provide  a  detailed  understanding  of  the  research  situation  and  illustrate  that  the study  has  a  certain  degree  of  feasibility  and  innovativeness.  The  theoretical  and methodological chapter, which introduces the three metafunctions, the research methods and the  process  of  text  selection  and  analysis  in  detail,  lays  a  foundation  for  the  thematic interpretation  in  the  following  chapter.  Through  the  ideational,  interpersonal  and  textual analyses of the selected texts from the novel in the fourthchapter, the themes of the novel are interpreted more objectively, clearly and comprehensively. The major findings of the research are as follows.  
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