Carnival In A Funeral Journey

Written in 1996,Last Orders,the sixth novel published by Graham Swift,who is regarded as one of the most highly renowned novelists writing in contemporary Britain,is the winner of the 1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and the Booker Prize in 1996.The novel is centered on a one-day journey,led by the three aging friends and the adopted son of deceased Jack with the purpose of carrying out Jack's last order that his ashes be scattered at the Margate Pier.As current studies on the novel concentrate only on its narratives and intertextuality,this thesis intends to analyze the characterization,setting and theme in Last Orders under the guidance of Mikhail Bakhtin's biblical carnival theory so as to reveal carnivalized features of the novel.Last Orders constructs a carnivalized world,which embodies rebel,fool,rogue and dual images,as well as a carnival square,where the characters linger on and savour an atmosphere of equality,freedom and merriment there.During the course of the funeral journey,Jack's death,which is supposed to be burdened with gloom and lamentation,compels a journey of spiritual quest for revelation,reconciliation and hope for his relatives and friends in the face of the enigma of life and death,accompanied by their reflection on the past,grasp of their present situation and reconciliation with the people surrounding them.The study can provide readers a fresh insight into the novel and offer readers a deeper understanding of its theme of life and death.