A Comparative Study Of The Literary Significance Of Color Metaphors In Lu Xun’s Call To Arms And Joyce’s Dubliners

Color is an important part of human experience. Color cognition has been an important aspect of the conceptual metaphor in cognitive linguistic.At present, many comparative studies on color metaphors in English and Chinese have been done. However, most of the comparative studies on color terms and color metaphors are confined to the analysis of the structure and semantics of color terms in general and non-literary texts. The universal features and values of color metaphors in literature are still a new area. As to the literary works, there has been research works done concerning the employment of color metaphors mainly in novels by Lu Xun, Joyce and Fitzgerald. There have also been researches which compare the novels of the two authors. However, the researches on Lu Xun and Joyce are mostly the comparison of their experiences and the themes in their works. The cross-cultural comparison of the employment of color metaphors in Lu Xun’s Call to Arms and Joyce’s Dubliners has been a new topic and is worthy of systematic study. This thesis is an attempt in the comparative study of the literary significance of color metaphors in the two works. The theories this thesis used are the conceptual metaphors in cognitive linguistics and archetypal criticism in literature. The major objective of the study is to find out the universal features and cross cultural differences of color metaphors in Chinese and English literature with statistics and examples in the two works. The thesis further explores the cognitive, cultural and individual causes of the similarities and differences of color metaphors.The thesis consists of six parts, including the introduction, the four chapters and the conclusion. The introduction reviews the latest progress and research on color metaphors in the two works in China and abroad.It briefly introduces the background of the study and the theory of color cognition and color archetype. It also states the purpose and the research questions of the study. Chapter one expounds the reasons for choosing Call to Arms and Dubliners as the text for comparison. The related researches in China and abroad fully indicate that the use of color metaphors is an important feature in the works of Lu Xun and Joyce.The background and the themes of their works have much in common. And their life experiences also share many similarities. Chapter two focuses on the employment of color metaphors and its values in the two works in terms of the creation of environment and the portrayal of characters. In chapter three, the similarities and differences are discussed by analyzing the examples of color metaphors in the two works. In chapter four, the causes of the similarities and differences are explored from five aspects:bodily experiences, color archetypes, national cognition, cultural cognition and individual cognition. The last part provides a brief summary and conclusion. Based on the analysis in the preceding chapters, the thesis offers the readers a better understanding of the values of color metaphors in literary works. Furthermore, the study can guide the readers to understand the themes and the emotion of authors from a deeper level.Meanwhile, it can help us to know more about the color metaphors in English and Chinese and improve literary and cultural exchange between China and the west.