A Study Of Olive Kitteridge From The Perspective Of Communicative Action Theory

Elizabeth Strout is a contemporary American writer.Her masterpiece Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 2009 and has its shares of critics.It is a collection of thirteen linked tales which happen in an American small town centering on Olive.Borrowing from Habermas' communicative action theory and focusing on his conceptions of strategic action and communicative action,this thesis attempts to interpret Olive's communicative performances,and analyze the reasons causing her moral dilemma,and how she changes her communicative behaviors and thus gains moral awareness.This thesis analyzes the characteristics of Olive's behaviors in different communicative forms.In strategic action,she lacks communicative competence and violates the validity claims with harsh utterances and reproachful tones abound in her expressions,disregarding of the acceptability of and the negative effects on her hearers.Thus,the communication would either break down or cause misunderstandings.In such form,Olive is indulged in her own world with a reluctance to listen to others,feeling a sense of isolation and frustration,losing social connections with the town people due to the inevitable social conflicts.While in communicative action,Olive is communicatively competent with acceptable utterances and tolerant with various voices.Also,her engagement with discourse improves her achievement of self-examination and moral consciousness,enabling her to recognize her cognitive faults and make corrections accordingly.Through this critical reflection,she overcomes the idea of egoism and accepts the existence of others,achieving a common understanding and consensus.Devoting to the practice of providing assistance by means of communication,she linguistically establishes an interpersonal relationship and actively assumes her moral responsibility.From the perspective of Habermas' communicative action theory,this thesis interprets Olive's change of communicative behaviors,demonstrating that strategic action as an egocentric pattern may cause linguistic dominance and violence that lead to interpersonal conflicts.Instead,communicative action that oriented in understanding could balance between self and others,helping to build an open,democratic and tolerant language context.Such linguistic interpersonal relationship could deconstruct language hegemony and improve rational communication,resolving social conflicts and inspiring moral awareness.Through the analysis,this thesis elaborates communicative action as a rational communicative method,admitting its positive effects in establishing interpersonal relations and promoting personal and social moral development.