A Thematic Analysis Of Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding From The Perspective Of Appraisal Theory

Eudora Welty is regarded as one of the most outstanding novelists in the South of theUnited States. Her first novel Delta Wedding has drawn great concerns of many critics, whomade their researches from such perspectives as myth criticism, feminism, humor, philosophyand dialogism. However, there are fewer researchers who have carried out their studies fromthe perspective of Appraisal Theory. As a result, this thesis will explore the writer’sunderlying purpose and the themes of this novel by using Martin’s Appraisal Theory.The appreciation of literary works cannot be separated from the thematic discussion.People have defined the themes of the novel from the perspectives such as literary criticism,psychology and thematology. According to the traditional theory, this thesis takes themes aswriters’ viewpoints and evaluations towards certain characters or social phenomena, whichare conveyed through realistic life and artistic portrayal in literature works. It is the core andthe spiritual element of literary works. It can be seen from this definition that the themesoriginate from evaluation.Appraisal Theory was set up by James R. Martin in the1990s, which was the newextension of the Systemic and Functional Linguistics in the aspect of interpersonal function. Itis concerned with the different attitudinal resources embodied in the discourse, the intensity ofthe emotion expressed in the discourse, the different ways of embodying values and aligningreaders. In order to explore its application in literary works, this thesis chooses the appraisingresources in Delta Wedding as linguistic data and divides them into different evaluatingcategories. Then the sub-system of Attitude is used to analyze emotional resource, thesub-system of Engagement to analyze interpersonal relationships, and the sub-system ofGraduation to the writing focus of the novel.In Delta Wedding, environmental and psychological descriptions can be seen everywhere,among which the former shows the natural landscape and the human landscape like farms,bridges and mills in the Mississippi area while the latter centers on the movements of thestream-of-consciousness of main characters. The descriptions contain many inner emotionsand judgments toward the people and the things concerned, which are evaluated under thesub-system of Attitude in the first part. The analyses confirm the theme that Welty is determined to embrace a new future of the South. Except the net weaved by the peacefulsurroundings and the inner activities mentioned above, Welty also designs an interpersonalrelationship net of the Insiders and the Outsiders, which are evaluated under the sub-system ofEngagement in the second part. The analyses show that the Insiders and the Outsiders, thoughincompatible on the surface, have actually been on the way of mutual reconciliation. The lastsub-system of Graduation has been applied to explore the real focus of this novel, which is theFairchilds family and their way of life, instead of the wedding itself.This thesis consists of six parts. Chapter One is divided into two sections. The firstsection illustrates Welty’s life and the story in Delta Wedding. The second section mentionsthe emergence of Appraisal Theory and its application in different texts. Chapter Two presentsthe literature review, which includes the previous studies on Eudora Welty and Delta Weddingand the previous studies on the Appraisal Theory both at home and abroad. Chapter Threepresents the theoretical framework of the Appraisal Theory, which consists of the conceptionsand subcategories of the three sub-systems, that is Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation.Chapter Four presents the evaluative process of this thesis. By means of analyzing appraisingresources under the sub-systems of Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation, this thesisrespectively investigates Welty’s attitudes towards the past, the present and the future, herskills in the description of interpersonal relationships, and her real focus in the novel. The lastpart is the conclusion, which summarizes the major findings, the implications as well aslimitations of this research. It can be concluded that Welty in Delta Wedding presents thetraditional way of life of the South in a very meticulous way, expressing not only her ardentlove for family life, but also her criticism for their dogged life style. The themes she conveysare that a new South must be built on the combination of modern lifestyle with traditionalinheritance.Therefore, this thesis provides readers with a new perspective to interpret the emotionsand judgments of writers in literary works and offers practical references for futureresearchers.