| Ian McEwan is one of the most distinguished writers in contemporary literature circle.His works cover various topics with profound ethical thoughts.Saturday(2005)is one of his representative novels,which marks a new cha nge of his ethical themes and is also rich in powerful expressiveness and attraction.So far scholars at home and abroad have obtained abundant achievements on studies of McEwan and his works.As to Saturday,studies are conducted primarily from certain perspective such as narratology and ethics.The theory of transitivity system in Systemic-Functional Grammar is of great logic,the application of which can not only provide a relatively new perspective for the analysis of this novel,but help to dig out attitudinal changes of the protagonist towards his family and work.This thesis aims to analyze the life and work of the protagonist Henry Perowne on Saturday with ethics and the method of transitivity.Some typical scenes centering on Perowne and his interactions with other main characters will be selected to represent the spousal relationship,father-children relationship,and physician-patients relationship.Through exploring the distributions of type,number,and percentage of each transitivity process,changes in mental and emotional states of the protagonist after two outside conflicts will be demonstrated from ethical level.Based on the analysis,it can be found out that the novel presents readers a really harmonious marriage life,in which the couple are in love and faithful to each other.Perowne is not a good father at first,but due to the conflicts,he has gradually realized the importance of communication and become more inclusive to children.Besides great changes have also taken place in his attitude towards patients in that finally he can learn to respect others and shoulder his responsibilities.Thus,transitivity system can play a significant role in text interpretation. |
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