The Dove With Broken Wings

As an outstanding writer between the late 19th and the early 20th century, Henry James distinguishes himself from his contemporaries not merely by his prolificacy, but by his persistent effort into experimenting new literary theories and practicing them in his artistic creation. Thus he is regarded as a well-known stylist. Since The Wings of the Dove is one of his most significant works created in the main phase of his creative life, it is worth our great attention.Mainly based on the stylistic framework put forward by Roger Fowler, Leech and Short, W. B. Booth, this thesis attempts to demonstrate that the two aspects of the text, that is, its surface structure and deep structure, are well-unified with each other, which contributes to conveying the thematic meaning of the text, and to transmitting the given mind style of the author in creating The Wings of the Dove. In specific, under the certain culturally constituted social reality between the end of 19th Century and the beginning of 20th Century, aided by his superb language skills of his vivid characterization of his characters, James creates a mini-society in that temporal scope which mainly figures selfishness, arrogance, and money-worshipping, and which cruelly bursts the flamboyant bubbles of dreams for people without an advantageous social background (a combination of gold and status). Furthermore, because a sense of anxiety and restlessness exists universally, Henry James, as a sensitive and responsible writer, takes this fact into account seriously, and he transforms it into his creation of The Wings of the Dove, warning people of the anxiety under the influence of"modern civilization". In such an age, one with dreams is doomed to be a dove with wings broken, like Milly Theale, there is little possibility for them to"stretch out their wings"to fly into the sky freely, and most of the time they have to"fold their wonderful wings"(377).