Analyzing 'The Yellow Wall-Paper' using Critical Discourse Analysis, Study notes of Linguistics

Download Analyzing 'The Yellow Wall-Paper' using Critical Discourse Analysis and more Study notes Linguistics in PDF only on Docsity! REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 | 1 REPRESENTATION OF HEGEMONY IN THE SHORT STORY “THE YELLOW WALL-PAPER”: A BRIEF INVESTIGATION UNDER FAIRCLOUGH’S CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS THEORY Thaina Caroline Frankiw1* Abstract: In this paper we analyse the 1892 short story The Yellow Wall- Paper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman under Fairclough’s (1992) critical discourse analysis approach, specifically under the three-dimensional model he proposes. The choice of such theory is justified by the story’s autobiographical trace, which creates a parallel with the historic context of production of such short story, elucidating social problems that Gilman used to fight against. The conclusion is that with this story Gilman could achieve the critical discourse analysis main goal: to cause some change in society. Throughout this article we will see how she did it. Keywords: The Yellow Wall-Paper; critical discourse analysis; Fairclough. Resumo: Neste artigo, o conto The Yellow Wall-Paper, escrito por Charlotte Perkins Gilman em 1892, foi analisado através da abordagem de análise do discurso crítica de Fairclough (1992), especificamente, através do modelo tridimensional que ele propõe. A escolha da teoria foi feita em razão do caráter autobiográfico da história, o qual cria um paralelo com o contexto histórico de produção do conto, elucidando as problemáticas sociais contra as quais Gilman costumava lutar. A conclusão feita foi que Gilman atingiu o principal objetivo da análise do discurso crítica: causar mudança na sociedade. Ao longo desse estudo será possível observar como a escritora conseguiu tal façanha. Palavras-chave: The Yellow Wall-Paper; análise do discurso crítica; Fairclough. 1 * Undergraduate student of Letras at UFPR. This paper was written in the subject Escrita em Língua Inglesa 3 at UFPR under the supervision of Msc. Janice Inês Nodari. | REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 | 2 3 The non-emotional relationship with her mother compiled with the neglect feeling stemming from her father’s absence played a huge effect on Gilman’s personality, a trace which appears in her writings. In addition, as a consequence of the financial issues, Ms. Fitch moved a lot from city to city. As a result, Gilman attended various public schools during her childhood. Nevertheless, she used to do autonomous readings, which helped her balance the irregular education she experienced. The children’s magazine Our Young Folks, the novels of Adeline Dutton Train Whitney and Louisa May Alcott are some examples of what Gilman used to read; she considered these readings extremely powerful in the creation of moral values as well (KESSLER, 1995). As a young lady, Gilman worked as a governess, art teacher, and trade cards designer (WARD, 1996). In 1878 she entered the Rhode Island School of Design and in 1883, when she finished her design degree, she had her first works, such as poems and articles, published in journals (KESSLER, 1995). In the following year, she married the artist Charles Stetson and some months later gave birth to their daughter Katherine. Right after Katherine’s birth, Gilman went through postpartum depression. Persuaded by her husband, she started the Rest Cure treatment with its creator, the well-known physician S. Weir Mitchel. According to Mitchel’s prescription, Gilman should have a domestic life and stay with her child constantly, while abolishing any mental or rational stimulation (WARD, 1996). However, it did not take much time until she realized the treatment’s inefficiency; in fact, it was making her situation even worse instead of making it better. In the year of 1892, Gilman divorced Stetson – in a time that divorce was not well seen in society –, moved to California, USA, with Katherine and published the semi-autobiographical short story called The Yellow Wall-Paper (KESSLER, 1995), in which she tells, through a fictional voice, the harmful and catastrophic Rest Cure treatment which results in a woman, ironically, going crazy by the care of her loving husband. In order to dedicate more time to her writing career, Gilman, in the end, sent Katherine to be raised by Stetson. As a result, she became very famous in her time, being a social theorist and defending women’s rights2. Eventually, she married again. Her second marriage was to her 2 I chose not to describe Gilman as a feminist, because she did not use this term to describe herself. 1. Introduction Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a woman ahead of her time. The domestic life – that the society from the 19th century imposed on women – did not satisfy her. In fact, she was aware that the women’s role is not restricted to only one function. In this article her short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, which brings out exactly these problematics, was analysed by the light of a linguistic theory, aiming at exposing social issues in the same way Gilman did. Anchored in Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis theory (1992) – that correlates linguistics with social aspects – it was possible to see and emphasize the power of language. On the one hand, language can be used as a tool to oppress and dominate people. On the other hand, it can be used to help people and change society. In the short story, as well as in the analysis that follows, we will observe both facets of language in the context of the aforementioned short story. For this reason, this paper provides Gilman’s social background, followed by a summary of her short story: “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, an introduction to Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, the analysis of the short story, and it is finished with a conclusion that summarizes the thesis defended here. 2. Social background: the author and her journey Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860 – 1935) was born in Connecticut, USA. Daughter of Frederick Beecher Perkins and Mary Ann Fitch, she was abandoned by her father and raised by her mother, who had to move to Rhode Island, USA, owing to financial issues. Because of this, Ms. Fitch apparently became a cold woman believing that, to protect her child from others, she had to ban affection from the raising process in order to make Gilman an independent woman. In her autobiography, that was published posthumously, Gilman claims that: having suffered so deeply in her own list of early love affairs, and still suffering for lack of a husband’s love, she heroically determined that her baby daughter should not suffer if she could help it. Her method was to deny the child all expression of affection as far as possible, so that she should not be used to it or long for it. [...] She would not let me caress her, and would not caress me, unless I was asleep. (GILMAN, 1990, p. 10) | REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 | 8 9 The interpersonal function assigns social roles to people in interaction (for instance, as we will see in the short story: husband x wife, doctor x patient) and allows comprehension and articulations of feelings, actions and judgments. The textual function refers, basically, to the language importance in specific situational contexts. Hence, Fairclough’s first theoretical-methodological mechanism to the CDA was the so called three-dimensional model (FERNANDES, 2014). He argues that his method’s goal is “to bring together linguistically- oriented discourse analysis and social and political thought relevant to discourse and language, in the form of a framework which will be suitable for use in social scientific research, and specifically in the study of social change” (FAIRCLOUGH, 1992, p. 62 apud Fernandes, 2014). The three dimensions that the model consists of are: the textual, the discursive practice, and the social practice. In addition, it is possible to say that the dimensions work as three layers; in other words, the textual dimension would be the internal layer, followed by the middle one: the discursive practice, and the social practice, by its turn, would be the external layer, which embraces the other two. Fairclough (1992, p. 73) represented it in a figure (this figure is present in Fernandes, 2014 as well): 5. An applied analysis: The Yellow Wall-Paper and critical discourse analysis The textual dimension is constituted by two metafunctions: the interpersonal and the ideational, where they, respectively, illustrate “social construction of relationships and entities”5 and “social construction 5 In the original: “[...] construção social das relações e das identidades” (FERNANDES, 2014, p. 95) 4. An overlook through critical discourse analysis: Fairclough’s three-dimensional model Critical discourse analysis consists of a transdisciplinary project with two connected faces: a linguistic and a social one. It puts certain concepts in evidence; some of these concepts are also approached in The Yellow Wall-Paper, being a few examples: hegemony, ideology, social practice, and stratified social world. Yet, according to Fairclough’s transdisciplinary framework, this theory studies the relation between discourse and society aiming at discussing the role of discourse in the conservation and transformation of power relations (FERNANDES, 2014). However, there are many critical discourse analysis approaches and the one used in this article is just one of them. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA) has a dialectical/ relational approach, which can also be characterized as a “textually oriented discourse analysis”4. However, to understand his theory, it is necessary, firstly, to understand his notion of “discourse”. Fairclough refers to discourse as considering language as a social practice, in opposition to the idea of language as an individual activity. Therefore, when he mentions discourse, he can be citing writing, oral and multimodal texts. Moreover, Fairclough uses systemic-functional linguistics (SFL) as the analytical instrument to CDA. Thus, the SFL has a self-explanatory name; it is called ‘systemic’, because the language is seen as a potential resource arranged in systems, and it is ‘functional’, because the language is also seen as an action in context, since it is the language that enables people to act in daily social contexts. Nevertheless, when people use the language, either in writing or speaking, they simultaneously perform three phenomena: i) they portray the world, other people, events, objects; ii) they relate to other people; and iii) they organize the discourse in order to make it coherent. For this reason, Michael Halliday, one of the main forerunners of systemic-functional linguistics, developed three language metafunctions, which are: the ideational, the interpersonal, and the textual. The ideational function symbolizes and expresses both the concrete and the abstract as well as people’s thoughts, beliefs and values. 4 In the original: “(...) uma análise de discurso textualmente orientada.” (FERNANDES, 2014, p. 42). | REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 | 10 11 In CDA, the use of transitional words consists of examining how meaning is created according to the semantic relations that are produced by transitional expressions (FERNANDES, 2014). Then, what called my attention in Gilman’s short story is the fact that “but” is used sixty-two times in the composition. The Cambridge dictionary (2011, p. 52) defines “but” as a conjunction “used to introduce something new, especially something that is different from what you have just said”. The narrator frequently used this transitional word to point out how John always had an opinion contrary to hers or to show that she disagreed with him. She did not have the right to think properly or have an opinion because John had authority over her, oppressing her and relativizing her situation. Let us consider the three following excerpts: 1. “[...] but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house.” (p. 75, emphasis added); 2. “I am afraid, but I don’t care – there is something strange about the house – I can feel it. I even said so to John one moonlight evening, but he said what I felt was a draught, and shut the window.” (p. 75, emphasis added); and 3. “[...] he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don’t want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like John and my brother, only more so!” (p. 79, emphasis added) Transitivity and theme are associated with grammar. Transitivity resides in the inspection of which processes are used in the composition visualizing how people and events are represented. Theme contemplates how the sentences start, because it usually shows how people manipulate the discourse (FERNANDES, 2014). Following this assumption, it is possible to observe the excessive use of the verb “say” in the story. It illustrates the power of discourse, since dialogue reports predominate and there are not many actions. Also, the narrator was, frequently, persuaded by John’s speech, revealing once again the power relation between the two characters. The fragment that best represents this assumption is found in the fourth part: “He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well. He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me.” (p. 81, emphasis added) Discursive practice discusses the production, distribution and consumption of texts. The production of The Yellow Wall-Paper was in of reality”6. Moreover, according to the CDA, there are categories to be applied in the analytical process of each metafunction, given the interpersonal ones: interactive control, modalization, politeness, and ethos. And the ideational one: the use of transitional words, transitivity and theme, words meaning, and lexicalization (FERNANDES, 2014). I will not explain each category; instead I will explain the ones relevant to my analysis of the short story while I carry it out. The interactive control is related to communicative interaction elements. These elements (shift take, topic control, agenda-setting) can elucidate asymmetric power relations through guiding questions, such as “which participant seems to have more power?”7 and “on this specific interaction, is the shift take control being challenged? By who? How?”8. The Yellow Wall-Paper seems to be, superficially, a common narrative that follows a diary form. However, most of the times, when there was a dialogue between the narrator and her husband or when she described things John said, it is possible to observe the power relation that he exerted over her. The strongest example of it – in my opinion – happens in the fifth part of the short story, in which, despite of the power relation, the shift take control is also challenged, since the narrator is interrupted when she started talking. John’s position exercises such a powerful domain that just a look made the narrator feel insecure and oppressed: “Better in body perhaps –” I began, and stopped short, for he sat up straight and looked at me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could not say another word. “My darling”, said he, “I beg of you, for my sake and our child’s sake, as well as for your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind! There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?” So of course I said no more on that score. (p. 82, emphasis added) 6 In the original: “[...] construção social da realidade” (FERNANDES, 2014, p. 95) 7 In the original: “Qual participante parece ter mais poder?” (FERNANDES, 2014, p. 97) 8 In the original: “Nessa interação específica, o controle da tomada de turno está sendo desafiada de alguma forma? Por quem? Como?” (FERNANDES, 2014, p. 97) | REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 REVISTA AO PÉ DA LETRA - VOLUME 19.2 - 2017 | 12 13 establish and support power relations in the contexts they are produced, transmitted and received. For this reason, Thompson elaborated five modes of operation of ideology – legitimation, dissimulation, unification, fragmentation, and reification. Moreover, each mode is composed of some symbolic strategies (FERNANDES, 2014). The legitimation mode tries to legitimize power relations. One of its strategies is the rationalization that consists of the development of a train of thought that “defends or justifies certain actions, people or institutions”10. That is what John did over the story. He tried to justify his oppressive conduct by his status of a high standing physician, clamming that because of it, he knew what was right and what was wrong, leaving the narrator with no options. This can be seen in excerpts taken from the first and fifth part of the short story: You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency – what is one to do? My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing. (p. 74, emphasis added) “[...] It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?” So of course I said no more on that score. (p. 82, emphasis added) Unification, by its turn, refers to power relations that can be sustained through the development of a unity that connects individuals in an entity. In its strategy named ‘standardization’, standards are produced in order to create, by reuniting individuals, a sense of collectivity (FERNANDES, 2014). In this way, in The Yellow Wall-Paper the category “physicians”, constituted by John and the narrator’s brother besides the physician who had suggested the Rest Cure to the narrator – Weir Mitchell, is a form of standardization 10 In the original: “[...] defender ou justificar determinadas ações, pessoas ou instituições.” (FERNANDES, 2014, p. 125) a predominantly misogynistic historic time. Nevertheless, Gilman was a social theorist who defended women’s rights; her intention, probably, was to cause an impact on society and delegitimize the regent hegemony. Additionally, it was distributed in a book, therefore, it stayed at people’s disposal for a longer period, allowing more time for reflections around it as well. In regards to the consumption of a tent, Fernandes (2014) highlights that several actions can result from it. The consumption of this short story by the physician S. Weir Mitchel, who treated Gilman, made him change his mind and, as a consequence, change his treatment methodology (KESSLER, 1995). For this reason, in some way Gilman’s and the CDA purposes were achieved, because the author could cause some changes in the social background of her time. The social practice represents how hegemony and ideology are created and developed in discourse. Fairclough defined hegemony as: [...] leadership as much as domination across the economic, political, cultural and ideological domains of a society. Hegemony is the power over society as a whole of one of the fundamental economically-defined classes in alliance with other social forces, but it is never achieved more than partially and temporarily, as an ‘unstable equilibrium’. (FAIRCLOUGH, 1992, p. 92 apud Fernandes, 2014). In short, hegemony is the domination of society by a group that defends certain ideas – ideologies, however it never stays on power forever; in different periods of time, different groups will hold the regent hegemony. Thus, discourse, as emphasized by Fernandes (2014), is the vehicle to maintain or achieve hegemony, because it is through discourse that power relations are “reinforced and naturalized, becoming part of the common sense; and becoming, therefore, supposedly, incontestable” (FERNANDES, 2014, p. 141)9. By ideology, Fairclough follows John Thompson’s approach line, which is committed with the investigation of symbolic forms in social uses; i.e. Thompson studies if, to what extent and how these forms are used to 9 In the original: “[...] reforçadas e naturalizadas, passando a fazer parte do senso comum; e tornando-se, assim, supostamente, incontestáveis.”