Meta-functional Analysis Of Dangling Man

Saul Bellow, the winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize for Literature and the recipient of three National Book Awards, is considered one of the classic writers in American contemporary literature. Bellow's first novel Dangling Man labels the successful beginning of his entry into the circle of literature. In this novel, Bellow successfully depicts an idle, alienated, dangling protagonist in the form of diary with sharp and cutting language.Systemic Functional Grammar holds that language is a network of semantic systems, which provides meaning potential via ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. These three metafunctions of language comprise the three parts of language at the semantic level, for the meaning expressed is an indiscerptible integrity. Any text or discourse actualizes semantic systems by means of delivering the three semantic functions of language to express meaning. Therefore, Metafunction is generally the important theoretical basis for discourse analysis to explore the deep meaning of a text. Under the theoretical guide of Metafunction in Systemic Functional Grammar, this thesis attempts to analyze the semantic structure of the novel's language, disclosing how the protagonist's language expresses meaning and thought. The thesis is laid out in three chapters to undertake discourse analysis within the framework of Metafunction to explore the significance of language endowed with the protagonist Joseph. Chapter 1 takes an analysis from ideational aspect. The ideational function of language is to represent the matters that occur in the objective and subjective world, the people and things involved, and environmental factors concerned, such as time and place. It is reflected by transitivity system and voice system. This chapter is to explore characteristics of the protagonist's action, psychology, and the environmental factors around him by means of a dynamic transitivity analysis of the selected diary. Voice explains that a given process sets relation with which participant firstly, and the analysis of voice system of the novel discloses the protagonist's living state. Chapter 2 concentrates on the interpersonal functional analysis. Interpersonal function reveals the role and attitude of speaker in language activities. It is equal to the social function in society. Mood, modality and polarity represent interpersonal function of language. This chapter illuminates the vital role of character language in characterization from interpersonal aspect by means of respective analysis of mood, modality and polarity. Chapter 3 probes into the analysis of textual function. Textual function is mainly represented on the combining means of semantic information in a given context. It is composed of the structural systems, thematic structure and information structure, and the non-structural, cohesion system. As the aim of this thesis is to study the semantic structure of the novel, this chapter only emphasizes thematic structure, which is represented on theme-rheme structure on the level of clause and thematic progression on text. By means of the analysis of thematic structure of the novel, it is expounded that the structure of the novel is consistent with the characterization, and that the peculiar choice of themes and thematic progression of the novel in form and structure are quite appropriate for the image of the character that Bellow intends to depict.This thesis attempts to interpret and appreciate literary works from the perspective of Meta-functional Grammar. The analysis of novel language is to explore the writer's writing intention, the motif as well as the profound connotation transferred by text. Meanwhile, this thesis ulteriorly proves that Meta-functional Grammar provides a brand-new perspective for interpreting literary works, which is of strong practicability and maneuverability.