A Functional Stylistic Interpretation Of The Female Initiation Theme In Joyce Carol Oates' Novels

Joyce Carol Oates, the famous contemporary American female novelist, has never ceased literature writing for more than 50 years since her work By the North Gate was published in 1963. Her remarkable literary achievement has got wide attention of scholars both at home and abroad. There are many themes involved in her works, such as violence, death, urban unrest and growth. Among them, the theme of growth has always occupied an important position in the history of American literature. Oates' Missing Mom and Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, as her representative works of initiation novels in recent years, describe the American females' living state and growth process in different ages with unique perspective and exquisite brushwork. The previous studies analyze the female characters in these novels from the literary perspective of bildungsroman, lack of support in the linguistic level. This thesis attempts to make a tentative analysis on the theme of female initiation of these two novels with the application of functional stylistics, expecting to make up the related linguistic study.Functional stylistics, based on Halliday's systemic functional linguistics, as a widely used branch, explores the linguistic characteristics from three aspects: ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. This thesis will select some typical materials from these two novels and then adopt the methods of descriptive analysis and data analysis to make a detailed analysis from transitivity, mood and modality, thematic system, and cohesion devices, aiming to reveal how the female initiation theme is expressed through linguistic characteristics. This will provide an objective and brand new perspective for interpreting novels.Through functional stylistic analysis on these two novels, it can be seen that there are many psychological descriptions in Missing Mom. The abundant utilization of mental processes in transitivity system gives a vivid depiction on Nikki's rebellion and regression and this forms the distinct growth change of Nikki before and after her mom's death. However, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang tells the story that girls rise up to revolt against the male-dominated society and it is full of violence. The frequent application of material processes in transitivity system has a good effect on producing a living and authentic picture. Through interpersonal analysis, the characters' emotional changes and judgment in their different processes of growth are revealed, highlighting the theme of novels. Then, thematic structure and cohesion devices make the narration of whole story much more clear and coherent.In conclusion, Oates' works have presented American females' initiation problems in different ages, which reflect her close attention to the females and profound consideration on this problem. Meanwhile, functional stylistics is also proved to be an effective method for stylistic analysis with strong practicability and operability, providing an objective and brand new viewpoint for Oates' study.