The Process of Awakening: An Analysis of Transitivity in Kate Chopin's Novel The Awakening
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This essay investigates transitivity in extracts from Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening. The
system of transitivity belongs within systemic functional linguistics and is used for analyzing
experiential meaning in language, that is, the way in which we talk of our experiences. The
method can be used for analyzing literary texts. The aim of the essay is to investigate how the
transitivity in the extracts reflects the process that the main character Edna goes through, and
if it reflects the subject of conflict between human nature and culture. The results show that
Edna’s representation in the transitivity changes as she develops. They also show differences
in sentence structures between the parts of the extracts that describe Edna’s feelings and those
which describe her actions. When it comes to her feelings they are repeatedly cast as forces,
filling the doer-role of subject in the sentences. In the sections which describe Edna’s actions,
on the other hand, Edna is often an agent, and a medium-initiator. These patterns give an
impression of Edna as being in control of her actions, but not of her feelings. The recurrent
use of feelings as forces is regarded as reflecting the subject of conflict between human nature
and culture.
Keywords
Transitivity, Systemic functional linguistics, Kate Chopin, The Awakening, Stylistics