The interaction among the concepts of language, ideology and power has always been the focus of CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis). Discourse, ideology and power are inseparable from one another. According to Fairclough (1989), the practice of power is always achieved through ideology, or rather through the ideological workings of language. CDA is supposed to reveal the covert ideologies laden in discourse, such as hierarchies, power relations, inequality between genders, etc. Among all the topics, gender discrimination has been one of the focal points for critical analysts. However, the study of gender relations within the framework of CDA has been mostly involved in public discourses so far but seldom in literary discourses. This present thesis attempts to have a critical analysis of gender relations in the novel The Age of Innocence. And the analysis will be carried out within the framework of Halliday's systemic functional grammar (SFG), among which the transitivity system, mood and modality system will be drawn on to analyze the mixed-gender conversations between the hero Archer and two heroines May and Ellen respectively. Through the analysis the author attempts to prove that language form serves language function, which can manifest the point that certain language structures are used to establish, maintain and strengthen the unequal power relations between men and women, and that language can also be used by women as a weapon to resist against social inequalities and strive for the equal social status with men. |