A Study On The Protagonist’s Personality In Tender Is The Night From The Perspective Of Attitude In Appraisal Theory

In 1934,Fitzgerald’s last novel Tender Is the Night was published.This half-autobiographic novel reflects the mental state of the people in America after the World War I.It is also a portrait of Fitzgerald’s own family life.Since the publication of this novel,domestic studies on Tender Is the Night have mainly focused on the aspects of the American dream and the tragic fate of Dick,psychoanalysis and feminists,and only a few studies were conducted from the linguistic perspective.This thesis focuses on following three questions:(1)What are the distribution and frequency of the Attitude resources in Tender Is the Night?(2)What kind of personality of Dick has been constructed through these Attitude features?(3)What are the distribution and frequency of the parts of speech of the Attitude resources?Under the guidance of Appraisal Theory,Attitude resources that are related to Dick will be classified and analyzed with some appropriate examples.Based on the analysis,this thesis mainly draws the following conclusions: Firstly,in terms of the distribution of Attitude resources,affect resources appear most frequently,occupying 66.5% of the entire Attitude resources.Judgment and appreciation resources take up 25% and 8.5% respectively.Secondly,in terms of affect resources,positive inclination and negative inclination resources take up 17.1% and 16.7%respectively,showing Dick’s resistance and obedience of his inner desires.In terms of judgment resources,positive capacity,propriety and tenacity resources take up the most proportions,which indicates that Dick is a reliable and capable person with good personal qualities.In terms of appreciation resources,positive reaction and negative reaction resources occupy 45% and 47.5% respectively,which shows that Dick is sensitive to things and events around him.From this,it can be found that Dick a kind,considerate,reliable and self-disciplined person who indulges himself sometimes.Thirdly,the most commonly used parts of speech in Attitude resources are adjectives and verbs.Fitzgerald employs adjectives or adverbs as judgment resources to directly describe Dick’s personality,and verbs or verb phrases are used as affect resources to reflect Dick’s personality from the mental activities.This research discusses the protagonist’s personality in Tender Is the Night,which provides an alternative perspective on the analysis of this novel and proves the practicability of Appraisal Theory in the analysis of literature works.