A Systemic Functional Analysis Of Catch-22

Since Halliday established Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in 1960s, scholars both at home and abroad have applied it to many various styles of discourse analysis, such as news, advertising, and translation. In recent years, some scholars begin to make an analysis of literature by the means of SFG and it interests more people gradually.This thesis attempts to take Catch-22 as text and functional grammar as the tool of analysis. Catch-22 is the masterpiece of Black Humor novels. Through a detailed analysis on the transitivity, mood and modality system, and cohesive means, the Black Humor features of characters, themes, structure and language in the novel are revealed.The thesis is structured within the frame of the three metafunctions. In terms of the ideational function, the main processes are analyzed to explore the characters' poor condition in bureaucracy. The theme of absurdity, which is a typical theme of Black Humor is reflected with this transitivity analysis.In respect of interpersonal function, mood system, modality system and mood metaphor are mainly involved to the analysis, which indicates the social positions of different characters and the relationship among them. The linguistic features of Black Humor, like repetition and circular conversation are represented through mood and modality analysis.Finally, as for the thematic function, the thesis mainly analyzes it from the point view of structural and non-structural devices. With thematic analysis, the logic structure of the novel becomes clear. The non-structure analysis also proves that the novel is in good logic under the disorder of the surface.In addition, during the analysis, the thesis testifies that SFG is of great power of application and manipulation in literature study. It provides a better understanding and appreciation of Catch-22 as well as a new platform for the literature study.