The Language Reflection Of Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam Trilogy

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam trilogy includes Oryx and Crake,The Year of the Flood and Maddaddam.The core plot is to conceive a man-made extinct plague sweeping all mankind,which connects the story of human beings in the technological world going to the end and the coexistence of survivors and new life after apocalypse.The end of the world is a classic topic of science fiction.But Maddaddam trilogy is unique in the discussion of language and,by extension of,human nature,which deeply introspect the human world under the cloak of doomsday science fiction.This highlights the humanistic reflection of Maddaddam trilogy.Therefore,this paper will interpret Maddaddam trilogy from the perspective of language,including language phenomena in the plot,language strategies of novel text and the language view expressed in the novel,in order to analyze the apocalypse’s reflection on language and human nature,and its realistic warning significance.This paper is divided into the following five parts:The introduction introduces the significance of the selected topic,current research in the academics,the innovation and research ideas of this paper.The first chapter analyzes the human language in eschatological society,focusing on the social diseases hinted in human language,and the doomsday plan hidden in the key figure Crake’s language,in order to discuss how language exposes the hopelessness of human society and the inevitability of apocalypse.The second chapter discuss the ingenious language strategies of novel text,focusing on word-building like homophony or similarity in form,the clash of languages of different style,the repeated narration’s influence on meaning and the plot.From the sense of split and the overturn of meaning created by those language strategies,this paper further discussed the author’s satire on human language and despair of eschatological society.The third chapter examines Atwood’s ideal language view expressed in inventing the language system of new life,mainly analyzes Atwood’s step towards language view beyond anthropocentrism,which subverts the particularity and superiority of humankind,requires reshaping the ideal living order of all natural things.Therefore,it puts forward a warning to human society in reality,which shows the writer’s sense of responsibility and the realistic enlightenment of Maddaddam trilogy.The conclusion summarizes the thesis,and further analyzes the special features of Atwood’s science fiction writing,as well as its effect of causing strong vicarious feeling and realistic reflection.