Comparison Between William Faulkner’s And Margaret Mitchell’s Views Of Women From The Perspective Of Functional Stylistics

William Faulkner and Margaret Mitchell have been attracting the attention ofcritics for their work in The Sound and the fury as well as Gone with the Wind. Thecomparative analysis between the heroines in the two books has been conducted in thebeginnings of the century but there is a gap as for the research of the authors’ view ofwomen. Besides, the two books are mainly studied from the perspective of literaturecritics and literature appreciation. There are few researches conducted from theperspective of linguistics. My paper uses SFG as the theoretical foundation, includinginterpersonal metafunction, ideational metafunction and attitude from Martin’s appraisaltheory. Qualitative and quantitative studies are carried out, with quantitative ensuringthe objectivity and qualitative finding out the difference and commonness. Four layersare conducted, lexico-grammar level, semantic level, context of situation and context ofculture. Since race is an important variable that probably influences authors’ view onwomen, a pair of black women and a pair of white women are chosen.Six chapters are included in this essay. First chapter introduces the content,objectivity and structure of this paper. Chapter two reviews the foreign and domesticresearches conducted on authors’ view of women and the development of FunctionalStylistics. Chapter3introduces the theoretical foundation as well as the framework.Chapter four is the methodology used for studying authors’ views. Chapter five is themain body of the paper with four parts, lexico-grammar level, and semantic level,context of situation and context of culture. Chapter6is the conclusion part showing theresults and giving conclusionsStudy shows that both of the two authors have complex feeling towards women.They both think white women are brave, but their opinions are conditional. Faulknerthinks only women with innocence will have the virtue, while Mitchell thinks womenshows the virtue in front of men weaker than her. They are influenced by southernculture and image of women is stereotypical. The difference is that Mitchell thinkswomen are cognitive and has freedom in mentality while Faulkner thinks women do notthink. Their opinions towards black are mostly in common. They both think blackwomen are loyal and resigned to their role as servant. However, black woman inFaulkner’s book is wiser than that in Mitchell’s book. This study reveals thecommonness and difference of the two authors’ view of women and further proves thefeasibility of FS in feminist study.