An Analysis Of Personalities Of The Characters In O.Henry’s Short Stories:A Functional Stylistic Perspective

Literary stylistics focuses on the study of linguistic features which are related to literary style.It analyzes and interprets the linguistic information in the literary text.What is more,literary stylistics emphasizes how writers express and strengthen the thematic meaning and aesthetic effect through linguistic choices.Functional Stylistics,also called “Systemic Functional Stylistics,” is based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics,and it is an influential stylistics theory.Functional Stylistics analyzes literary works on the basis of the meta-function theory in systemic functional linguistics,namely ideational function,interpersonal function and textual function.This study selects O.Henry’s short stories The Gift of the Magi,The Cop and the Anthem,and The Last Leaf for functional stylistic analysis.Based on the meta-function theory of the systemic functional linguistics,this thesis analyzes the clauses in the three short stories from three perspectives: the transitivity system in ideational function;mood and modality in interpersonal function;the thematic structure and cohesion in textual function.The analysis aims to explore the personality of the characters,and how the writer portrays their impressive personality by different linguistic choices.Through the meta-function analysis,we have the following findings:The author of these short stories does not directly describe the characters’ personalities,but create a series of typical personalities of characters or different aspects of a character’s personality through well-conceived plots.Through the transitivity analysis,we can see that material processes are much higher than other processes,for the material process is a process of doing,which is the most typical process to describe the character’s actions.The material process can best reflect a character’s personality.Besides,behavioral processes and relational processes are vital to present the personality of the protagonist.The different processes are not equally distributed in the stories.The plot plays a vital role in the choices of different processes.In The Gift of the Magi,the protagonists Della and Jim lived in poverty but still wanted to buy each other a wonderful Christmas gift.So their personalities are mainly reflected in material processes,relational processes,behavioral processes and verbal processes.In The Cop and the Anthem,theprotagonist Soapy was seeking for capture.He took a series of actions and interacted with others.One’s behavior can reflect his personality.Therefore,Soapy’s personality is mainly expressed in material processes and behavioral processes.While in The Last leaf,Johnsy was confined to bed with severe pneumonia.Sue and Behrman’s actions and interactions are all round Johnsy.Thus,verbal processes,behavioral processes,relational processes are higher than other processes.The characters’ personalities are reflected in these processes.Through the mood and modality analysis,we can see the different feature of each character’s personality in the stories: Della is characterized by her liveliness,kindness and thoughtfulness,Jim is characterized by his silence with responsibility,Soapy is anxious for quick results,Johnsy is weak-willed,Sue is patient,selfless and forceful,and Behrman is irascible but warm-hearted and selfless.Thematic structure and cohesion analysis make the image and personalities of the characters unfold before our eyes.This thesis finds it meaningful to analyze short stories from the perspective of functional linguistics.Functional linguistics provides a more useful tool,which is more related to the social function of the language,to analyze the characters’ personalities.It could help readers to get a thorough and all-round understanding of the characters’ personalities.