Stylistic Analysis on Oliver Twist Written by Charles Dickens

【Abstract】Oliver Twist belongs to realistic social critical novel.It is one of the very famous novels written by Dickens.Many books and works have been made to study it.However，few of them study it style，and in this novel，many stylistic means are used.Therefore，in this paper，the author chooses chapter ten as an example to analyses the style of the novel from stylistic view.

【Key words】Oliver Twist； realistic social critical novel； stylistics

【摘要】《霧都孤兒》是一部批判現(xiàn)實主義小說，是狄更斯主要代表作之一。研究它的作品有很多，但很少有人文體學(xué)角度研究它，然而這部作品用了大量的文體學(xué)手法。在論文中，作者以小說的第十章為例，從文體學(xué)角度評析這篇小說。

【關(guān)鍵詞】《霧都孤兒》 現(xiàn)實主義批判小說 文體學(xué)

Chapter 1 Semantic Deviation in Chapter Ten of Oliver Twist

1.Satire.Satire refers to the way of using humor to that someone or something is foolish，weak，bad，etc.It is a popular writing method widely used by Dickens in writing Oliver Twist.Let see the following instants in the chapter ten of Oliver Twist.

“Although Oliver had been brought up by philosophers，he … is the first law of nature.”Here the author uses it to satire the old Jew and his boys and maybe the previous churchwardens and oversees who brought little Oliver up and gave him a “perfect” tender.Those people have their own philosophy in dealing with people，but their philosophy is not the one we mention that in academic.The “Philosophy” used here to criticize the people who are good at stealing and dealing with people and thing in a filthy way.“…when the old gentleman was officiously dragged and pushed into … the pursuers.”“Stopped at last！ A clever blow！”The people are so kind that they “dragged” and “pushed” the old gentleman into the circle.This sentence satires the good intention of the people.The phrase “clever blow” was used to satire how rude and callous the lubberly fellow to the little poor boy.The word “clever” should be used to describe the human beings.However it is used here to describe a blow.So the sentence uses personification method to satire the blow on the little poor boy.

2.Metaphor.Metaphor refers to a figure of speech containing an implied comparison，in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is implied to another.Here，in chapter ten，there are also some metaphors.Take the following sentences as the instants.“In an instant the whole mystery … rushed upon the boys mind.”At this time，Oliver got know the real career of the old Jew and his boys.What they are doing is just like mystery.Here，the author used mystery resembles the water in the river，rushing upon the boys mind.The word “rush” vividly and exactly describes the power of the mystery.

3.Simile.Simile refers to a direct comparison of one thing to another.The comparison is usually brought out by using “l(fā)ike”，“as”，“as if”，more than，resemble，suggest，may，what，more than，remind of，compare to.The followings are the examples taken from the chapter ten of Oliver Twist.“He had taken up … as hard as if he were….”This sentence is used to describe how the old gentleman concentrated on his book.As we have explained in the previous，the old man saw nothing and what he cares about is only his book.He was so fascinated with the book that he forgot where he was and as if he were in his elbow-chair in his own study.“He stood for a moment … he felt as if he were … to the ground.”This sentence vividly describes how confused and frightened the little boy was at that time.He at first didnt know what his companies are doing.So at the time when he got know the truth，he was frightened and doesnt know what to do.The only reflect is running away，leaving away and never come back.

Chapter 2 Unusual Clause Theme in Chapter Ten of Oliver Twist

Unusual clause theme belongs to grammatical deviation.Grammatical deviation is departures from normal grammar.The followings are some examples taken out of the chapter ten of Oliver Twist.“…so away he went like the wind …behind him.”In this sentence，the word “away” should follows after “went”，but the author put it ahead.This can emphasize how quickly Oliver ran.At the same time，it also indicated the fear of the little poor boy.Because he didnt know at first what his companies do，and when he recognized the truth，he was frightened and didnt know what to do.“Away they fly … out run the people … the cry.”In these sentences，the preposition of every sentence was put ahead the sentence.The author wrote them in this way to describe how fast and actively the people of all kind are interested in running after the thief.Through reading these sentences，we can image the scene vividly.

References：

[1]Dickens，Charles.Olives Twist[M].上海：世界圖書出版公司，2008.

[2]狄更斯.霧都孤兒[M].黃雨石譯.北京：人民文學(xué)出版社，2001.

[3]劉世生，朱瑞青.文體學(xué)概論[M].北京：北京大學(xué)出版社，2006.

[4]秦秀白.文體學(xué)概論[M].長沙：湖南教育出版社，1990.

作者簡介：

李文風(fēng)，1989.12.06，女，漢族，山東青島人，遼寧大學(xué)，英語專業(yè)，英語語言文學(xué)專業(yè)，碩士。