Semiological Analysis Of Snow Flower And The Secret Fan

Since the publication of Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, scholars both at home and abroad have been attracted by the unique cultural phenomena of nu shu and foot binding, which have become the focus of most of the researches related to this novel. This paper would start with the presentation of the basic structure of the characters’ relationship and then proceed to the analyzation and interpretation of the deep meaning of the text by applying the related theories of Structuralist Narratology and Greimas Semiotics. This paper is divided into four parts:The first part is an introduction containing some basic information on the author Lisa See’s life experience and her works as well as the background knowledge and a brief view of the plot of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.The second part is literature review, including both the domestic and foreign literature review, as well as the theoretical basis of this writing, including the theory of surface structure and deep structure in Structuralist Narratology, and the theory of Semiotic Square and actantial model in Greimas Semiotics.The third part is the body conducting text analysis from the perspective of semiotics. This paper has chiefly studied Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by applying the Greimas Square theory and actantial model to explore the deep structure hidden beneath the surface structure through text analysis so as to grasp the deep meaning of the novel behind the text. Thus, the analysis of this paper will be carried out in two stages. Firstly, based on the growth and life experience of the two heroines, this paper displays and explains the surface structures of the relations among certain characters in different contexts by applying Greimas Semiotic Square. The contexts analyzed in the paper contain the respective family life of the two heroines(before marriage and after marriage), the period the two heroines staying together(before marriage, after marriage) and the life apart after their breakup. Within each square, there are three types of relations among the characters, including contrariety relation, contradiction relation and implication relation. Secondly, analyze the symbolic meanings of different characters on the deep level based on the surface structure. In this process, the changes of the six actants in the actantial models are available for the interpretation of the theme of binary oppositions embodied in the changing emotions and relationships amongcertain characters in different environments. The contrariety relation and contradiction relation contributed to the opposition between the "opposer" and the "helper" in the axis of "subject" in the actantial model. And the implication relation represented the correspondence of "sender" to "receiver" in the axis of the "object". It has been excavated that the binary opposition of love and apathy, exaction and devotion hiding behind the novel’s plot, as well as the patriarchal oppression and gender discrimination women suffered in the old feudal society.The last part is a summary of the entire paper. By means of analyzing the surface structure and deep structure of the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, this paper reveals the deep meaning hiding behind the text:as the only source of love and comfort in an indifferent environment, the female friendship is of great significance to women under the domination of the feudal patriarchal system; on the other hand, either simple exaction or uni-lateral devotion would lead to emotional deficiency. Only through the combination of the two, could individuals harvest the perfect happiness from the relationship of love. This paper can be taken as a useful attempt to apply theories of Greimas Semiotics into the practice of text analyzation in the hope of enlightening the comprehension of the novel’s theme in the deep sense.