英语论文网

the grammatical structure they constitute is called thematic (胡壮麟 2001: 153). The meaning to research the theme-rheme system is to get the distribution of the message which relates to the central content in a context (胡壮麟, 朱永生, 张德录 1989: 142). Cohesion refers to the relationship between one component and the other one that can explain it in a context. There are four ways by which cohesion is created in English: by reference, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical organization. Reference means a participant or circumstantial element introduced at one place in the text can be taken as a reference point for something that follows. Ellipsis refers to a clause or a part of clause, or a part of a verbal or nominal group, may be presupposed at a subsequent place in the text by the device of positive omission, that is, by saying nothing where something is required to make up the sense. Conjunction means a clause or a clause complex which maybe related to what follows it by one or other of a specific set of semantic relations. Lexical cohesion means continuity may be established in a text by the choice of words. Lexical cohesion maybe maintained over long passages by the presence of keywords, words having special significance for the meaning of the particular text (Halliday & Hasan 2001: 309 - 310). Based on the theory mentioned above, the next part will analyze the functions of the first person narration in Invisible Man. III The Functions of the First Person Narration in Invisible Man Systemic-functional grammar gives a way to analyze any text by evaluating some particular usage of the language. In Invisible Man, Ellison uses first person narration to unfold his story. Why Ellison chooses first person narration instead of third person narration ? How does the special narrative way functions in this novel ? What advantages does the perspective have in this novel ? In this chapter, the author makes a brief analysis of the functions of the first person narration in Invisible Man by applying the framework of three metafuncions. 3.1 Ideational Function of the First Person Narration in Invisible Man It is said in Chapter II that the ideational function aims to convey new information to the hearers, consisting of experiential function and logical function. It serves for the expression of content: that is, of the speaker’s experience of the real world, including the inner world of his own consciousness. In Invisible Man, Ellison uses first person narration to convey new information to the readers and expresses the narrator’s own experience. This part analyzes some paragraphs in Invisible Man based on the theory of transitivity. In prologue, the narrator tells us what he is thinking in his hole and recalls something happened in his life. He has mentioned an accident at one night like this: One night I accidentally bumped into a man, and perhaps because of the near darkness he saw me and called me an insulting name. I sprang at him, seized his coat lapels and demanded that he apologize. He was a tall blond man, and my face came close to his he looked insolently out of his blue eyes and cursed me, his breath hot in my face as he struggled. I pulled his chin down sharp upon the crown of my head, butting him as I had seen the West Indians do, and I felt his fresh tear and blood gush out, and I yelled: ‘Apologize! Apologize!’ But he continued to curse and struggle, and I butted him again and again until he went down heavily, on his