On The Impoliteness In The Dumb Waiter From The Perspective Of The Theory Of Impoliteness

This thesis attempts to analyze the impoliteness in Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter by adopting Jonathan Culpeper's theory of impoliteness and related notion of "face" and Face-threatening acts.After giving the related theoretical backgrounds of face theory and impoliteness theory, the thesis begins to analyze the causes of impoliteness in the play. Former studies believe that "face" is an "individual's self-esteem" or the "public self-image" that every member wants to claim for (himself/herself). Every social member is endowed with two kinds of face wants: positive face wants and negative face wants. Positive face wants refers to the desire to be approved of, to be liked and respected by others. Negative face wants, however, is the desire to be unimpeded in one's actions, namely, the need to be independent, to have freedom of action, and not to be imposed on by others. In order to communicate successfully, people usually avoid impoliteness in their communication so as not to hurt the other's face. However, the two characters Ben and Gus in The Dumb Waiter frequently speaks and behaves impolitely, especially Ben's ill manners to Gus. Impoliteness not only impairs their face wants, but also deepens the conflict between them and finally leads to the break of their relationship. The thesis further gives a comprehensive analysis from the following three aspects:Ben and Gus's power struggle underneath the broken conversational structure, Ben's power maintenance through impoliteness strategies and Ben's power oppression to Gus through non-verbal impoliteness.The author of the thesis thinks that Ben's impoliteness to Gus seriously sours their relationship and escalates the conflict between them. His impoliteness is for power. He wants to maintain his power by damaging Gus'face want. From the analysis of The Dumb Waiter, it is evident that people sometimes will behave impolitely to each other in their communication to gain power. However, this impoliteness will not only block their communication, but also threatens each other's face. In order to communicate smoothly and maintain each other's face, people should try their best to avoid face-threatening acts in their conversation.