A Study Of Transgression In Everything I Never Told You From The Perspective Of Cultural Semiotics

Chinese American writer Celeste Ng got wide attention for her work Everything I Never Told You.The work topped the annual fashion poll since it has published in the United States in 2014.In 2015,it was published in China and it has been enthusiastically adopted.In her novel,Ng showed the readers themes such as family education,feminism,racism,etc.Based on Close Reading,the thesis employs Juri Lotman’s(1922-1993)theories of cultural semiotics to analyze the transgressions in the novel.Semiosphere is the key point in Lotman’s theory,which is defined as the semiotic space necessary for the existence and functioning of codes.On this basis,characters are discussed in Lotman’s semiosphere in this thesis.The first chapter talks about the reasons for characters’ transgressions,embodying the oppression marginalized group suffered in family relationships,gender relationships,and racial relationships.The second chapter is about the approaches of characters’ transgressions,revealing the efforts characters paid to resist oppression.Characters shift from the periphery to the centre,trying to cross the boundary of the central sub-semiosphere.The third chapter explores the reflections brought by characters’ transgressions,putting emphasis on the boundary as a connector and illuminating the importance of communication in establishing equal social laws.The characters’ transgressions in the novel have different meanings at various levels.Transgressions symbolize defiance of parents’ stressful expectations,a struggle against patriarchism,as well as resistance against racial discrimination.The cultural semiotic interpretation of Everything I Never Told You aims to provide a new feasible reference.