Luận văn a study on theme rheme and cohesive ties in the short story the last leaf by o’henry

A STUDY ON THEME — RHEME AND COHESIVE TIES IN THE SHORT STORY “THE LAST LEAF” BY O”’HENRY NGHIÊN CỨU VẼ TỎ CHỨC DẺ THUYẾT VA CÁC MỖI LIÊN KET TRONG TRUYEN NGAN CHIEC LA CUOI CUNG CUA O'

A STUDY ON THEME — RHEME AND COHESIVE TIES IN

THE SHORT STORY “THE LAST LEAF” BY O”’HENRY

NGHIÊN CỨU VẼ TỎ CHỨC DẺ THUYẾT VA CÁC MỖI LIÊN KET

TRONG TRUYEN NGAN CHIEC LA CUOI CUNG CUA O'HENRY

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60.22.15

Hanoi — 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FALCULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ THỊ THANIINGA

A STUDY ON THEME — RHEME AND COHESLVE TLES LN TITE SIIORT STORY “TITE LAST LEAF” BY O?TTENRY

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ TÔ CHỨC ĐÈ THUYẾT VÀ CAC MOI LIEN KET

TRONG TRUYÊN NGÀN CHIEC LÁ CUÔI CÙNG CỦA O'TIENRY

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Kicid: English Linguistics

Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoang Van Van

Ilanoi— 2013

DECLARATION

I, hereby certify the thesis entitled “a sTUDY ON THEME - RHEME AND CONTESIVE TIES IN TITE SITORT STORY “TIE LAST LEAF* BY O'TIENRY” is {he resull of my

own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Language

and International Studies, Vietnam National University, [fanoi, and this thesis has not,

wholly or partially, been subimitled for any degree al any olher universilies or

institutions

Hanoi, 2013

Vit Thi Thanh Nga

ACKNOWLEDGE!

T would like to express my deep gratitude towards my supervisor, Prof Dr Hoang Van Van, for his constant and invaluable assistance without which my study would be far from finished

T greatly wish to acknowledge my thanks to Dr BS Tuin Minh whose research on

Thematic Structure in English and Vietmamese has helped me much during my study

Tam also greatly indebted to all my colleagues at Ben Tam High School who provided

me with valuable materials and enthusiastic support on the aspect of my research

Finally, my sincere thanks go to my beloved family for their love, encouragement, and support while I was carrying out this research

Tlanoi, August 2013 Via Thi Thanh Ngo

ABSTRACT

This study is an altermpl lo apply systertic functional grammar lo investigating a short

story “Ihe Last Leaf” by O’Henry in terms of the theme theme structure and cohesive ties Based on the theory of systemic fimetional grammar as developed by Halliday, the study focuses on the analysis of O’Hemy’s story “The Last Leal” in terms of the textual metafunction which is represented via theme - theme pattern, and cohesion (grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion) of the text The findings show that in torms of theme - sheme pattem, topical theme which forms unmarked one is the most striking feature of the text We can also realize how the author develops the text and oreales @ surprise ending wlrich makes th slory one of O'Henry’s masterpicoe Moreover, grammatical cohesion represented by reference and conjunctive devices and lexical cohesion shown via repetition, synonyms, meronyms and antonyms make the text more cohesive and coherent The analysis proves that systemic functional grammar is the smartest choice for those whose concern is for the structure and

meaning of a particular text

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF MARKERS AND ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIƠN ‹ 22-255 {5< eeeeeeesne el

1.2 Aims of the Study

1.3.Scope of the Smdy

1.4 Method of the Study

1.5.Data Collection

1.6 Design of the Study

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.4.2.2 Lexieal Cohesion " fe ee LE

I CHAPTER 3: THEME — RHEME AND COHESIVE TIES IN THE

SHORT STORY “IHE LAST LEAF” BY Q7HENRY

3.1, Introduction " cae eee ¬—¬ sen re crete 9

3.3 The Analysis of the text terms of There — Rhee 19

TV CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION

REFERENCES các Sun nhhehehieeeerriererrerserer 46

F i0 8n 1

LIST OF MARKERS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Collocation, Personal Reference

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1; Mood Type and Unmarked Theme Selection (Halliday, 2001: 78)

Table 2: Reference of the Text

Table 3: Substitution of the Text

‘Table 4; Llipsis of the ‘Text

‘Table 5: Conjunctive Devices of the Text

Table 6; Lexical Devices Summary

CTIAPTER 1

TRODUCTION

1.4 Rationale of the Study

The theory of systemic Cunclional linguistics was originally formulaled by MAK

Halliday in the early 1960s This is a new model and method of description of language

known as Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in which everything can be explained,

ultimately, by reference to how language is used Different from formal grammar which focuses on written language and deals with rules of correct usage rather than with

meaning and context of the text, functional grammar centers on both written and

spoken language and emphasize how linguistic structures express meaning and views language as a communicative resource, not as grammatical rules It is considered “an

effective tool of analysis, which solves the issnes left out by traditional grammar” as it

helps understand human language more deeply

Systemic |'untional Grammar is a system of meanings associated with three

Metafunctions, each indicating how the language was structured to be used These three

Mobtafuchions are relaled lo 1) Inerpersonal meanings, which [ocus on the soctal

function of language, more spevifically, the participants, 2) Ideational meanings,

foousing on how language is used, that is, the verbal choices, and, 3) Textual meanings, which focus on how the message is organized, that is, what information 1s chosen to

appear first (or last) in a sentence or text

It is the third metafuntion (Textual) that involves the concepts of Theme and Rheme which is one in two things of the basic for my research Theme has been studied by many grammarians such as Mathesius (1975); Lalliday and Llasan (1976); Fries (1981), Firbas (1986), Halliday (1985, 1994); Downing (1990); Davies (1987), Begins (1994),

Matthivssen (1995), Thorgpson (1996) and many olhers Accodinys lo Halhday (1994

3), ‘theme is “what the message is concemed with, the point of departure for what the

speaker is going to say” “The Theme is what E the speaker, choose to take as my point

of departure Theme + Rheme is speaker — oriented” (Halliday, 1994: 299) For

Ilalliday, the thematic organization of clauses is the most significant aspect for the

development of a text By analyzing the thematic structure of a text it is possible lo

observe its nature and understand how the writer exposed his concems with the

organization of the message Eggin (1994: 273) also says that thematic meanings are

relaled to the paterdial which the vlause confers fo its constituents to be chfferently

organized in order to reach different purposes Based on these theories, many researchers have tried to analyze a text clause by clause to gain an insight into its texture and understand how the writer made clear to us the nature of his underlying concerns I would like to try myself to analyze the theme-theme structure of the short

story “The Last [eat by Q’Henry who is famous for short stories and their unexpected

endings with the hope of exploring how the writer develop the text and what the purpose is

Cohesive ties of the text are also of great concern to me in this study Cohesion relates

to the “sernanitic thes” withim text whereby a Lic is made when there is some dependent

link between items that combine to create meaning Using the short story “fhe Last

Leaf” as a basis, the textual aspect of ineaning through cohesion will be analyzed

As regards practical purposes, understanding the theme-rheme structure and how cohesion functions within text to create semantic links could be beneficial to students

of English as a second or foreign language to help “decode” meaning

For those reasons, I have decided to choose “A study on Theme-Rheme and Cohesive Ties in the short story “The Last Lea by O’Henry” as the titke of my

MA Thesis, using Halliday’s functional grammar as a theoretical framework,

1.2 Aims of the Study

The aim of this stury is to use systemic functional framework to explore how O’Tenry organized and developed his story “The T.ast Leaf” in terms of the theme — rheme pattorns and cohesive tics, To realize this aim, the following two questions are raised for exploration

1 Llow is the text organized and developed in terms of theme-rheme pattems?

2 Low are the different cohesive ties of contexts hung together to make the text

cohesive?

To answer these questions, T will review some fundamental concepts for the study

linguistic system, motafunctions and cohesion in chaptor two In chapter thres, I will

analyze the theme-rheme patterns and the main cohesive ties in the story

1.3 Scope of the Study

As a minor thesis, not all aspects of functional grammar are explored but only some of them such as linguistic system, mctafunctions and cohesion The focus of the study, however, does not lie in the theoretical findings but hopefully, on this fundamental theory, will enlighten the text analysis

1.4, Methods of the Study

With a view to analyzing theme-rheme and cohesive ties of an English text, descriptive

and analytical methods are used The former is concemed with the description of the main areas of functional grammar and the latter deals with the analysis of the text for discussior,

1.5 Data collection

The text is taken from one of the most famous short stories by O’Ienry “The Last Leaf” in his collection “The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories” which was first published by Philips & Co in 1907 in New York

1.6, Design of the Study

This thesis is civided into four chapters as follows

v Chapter one Introduction presents the rationale of the study, the aims of the study, scope of the study, methods of the study, data collection, and the research design

¥ Chapter Iwo — Theoretical Background — supplies some fundamental and theoretical concepts for the study: linguistic system, metafimctions and cohesion analysis

Vv Chapter three — The Analysis of the short story “The Last Leaf” by O*Henry

focuses on its thematic structure and cohesive ties

*⁄ Chapter four — Conclusion — summarizes the results of the study and offers some suggestions for teaching and learning as well as for further studies.

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS

2.1, Introduction

This chapter will explore some basic concepts that are considered to set the theoretical

orientation for the study the linguistic system, metafunctions and cohesion Examples

are taken from grammar books by such famous linguists as Lalliday (1985, 1994),

Halliday and Hasan (1976), Geoff Thomson (1996), Hoang Van Van (2002, 2005 & 2006), and other researchers like BS Tudn Minh (2006), ete

2.2 The linguistic system

Language is viewed as systems of meaning potential in human interaction that are

realized by various structures formed in certain contexts which are studied under

register In systemic grammar, register 15 conceptualized in terms of three parameters

field, tenor and mode

= Field of discourse refers to what is happening, to the nature of the social action that

is taking place: what is it that the participants are engaged in, in which the language figures as some essenlial components?

+ Tenor of discourse refers lo who is taking parl, lo he nalure of the parlicipants, their statuses and roles: what kind of role relationships of one kind or another, both the types of speech role that they are taking on in the dialogue and the whole cluster

of socially significant relationships in which they are involved?

- Mode of discourse refers to what part the language is playing, what it is that the participants are expecting the language to do for them in that situation: the symbolic organization of the text, the status that it has, and its function in the context,

including the channel (is it spoken or writlen or some combination of the two?) and

also the rhetorical mode, what is being achieved by the text im terms of such

categories as persuasive, expository, didactic and the like

(Halliday in Halliday & Hassan, 1989:12)

These three contextual variables are deemed Lo be the only aspecls of the conlexl of

situation of a text that arc linguistically relevant to accomplish a particular social goal

It will be embedded in the text by being realized in the semantic and grammatical structures of the text

2.3 Metafunctions

From the sociological point of view, Halliday (1970, 1985) developed a theory of the

fundamental fimctions of language into three broad metafunctions: ideational,

interpersonal and textual Each functional component corresponds to cach parameter register as the working hypothesis: field - ideational; tenor - interpersonal; mode -

textual, The third one, textual metafunction, will receive more allertion dus to dhe

purpose of this study

on the transfer of information and how language is used to get things done, to produce a rosull in real-life terms Here lies the concept of System of Transilivity, thal is, the representations we have of world are shown through the language and can be perceived

by the verbal choices we make, the kinds of “processes” (including verbal, weaterial,

behavioural, mental, relational and existential) chosen by the participants (actor,

goal; senser, phenomenon; carrier, attribute, etc.) according to the circumstances

(cause, location, manner, vlc.) they arc involved with Below are some examples

(2) “The exhausted bushwalker dropped his pack

2.3.2 Interpersonal Metafunction

‘The interpersonal metafunction is concemed with the interaction between the speaker and addressee(s) — the grammatical resources for enacting social roles in general, and speech roles in particular, in dialogue interaction The speaker is using language as the means of his own intrusion into the speech event: the expression of his comments, attitudes and evaluations, and also of the relationship that he sets up between himself and the listeners - in particular, the communication role that he adopts of informing, questioning, preeting, persuading, and the like (alliday, 1994)

Mood and Residue, two components of a clause, are often used to cxpress the interpersonal function The Mood shows what role the speaker selects in the speech

silualion and what role he assigns to the addressee The mood clement makes the

clause “negotiable” and in English it consists of Finite, Subject and Modal Adjunet(s), The Finite makes a clause negotiable by coding it as positive or negative and by grounding it, cither in terms of time or in terms of modality The Subject is the clement

by reference to which the proposition can be affirmed or denied (Llalliday, 1994: 76) Modal Adjuncts add meanings related to speaker's judgemem or to the

posilive/negative aspect of the Finite The Residue is “the remmmnder of the clause”

(ialliday, 1994: 74) which comsigs of three functional elements: Predicator, Complement and Adjunct Here are some illustrations:

‘These flowers have just | been given my aunt out of pity

Predicator Complement | Adjunct

23.3 Textual Metafunction

The textual metafunction is about the verbal world, especially the flow of information

in a text, and is concerned with clauses as messages The textual metafunction acts to

organize the flow of interpersorml and idgalional meanmgs as they unfold im a text

‘The textual meta-function reflects the meanings according to the choices for placing

the imforalion in the senlences, that is, whal he/she chooses 1o sayAvrile first

(Theme} The textual meaning is described through the system of Theme Thematic structure “gives the clause its character as a message” (Ilaliday, 1994: 37) and thus,

creates ‘relevance’ to the context

As a message structure, a clause consists of a Theme accompanied by a Rheme It is

useful lo make a dislinction between Theme and Rheme The Theme serves as the

point of departure of the message, which in English coincides with the initial

element(s) of the clause and the Rheme is the part from which the Theme is

developed Lalliday (1994: 34) proposed a definition for ‘Theme in the Systemic Functional model of discourse analysis where Theme is “what the message is

concerned with: the point of departure for what the speaker is going lo say”

Aeoording to Halliday (1994), it is the Thome Structure that supplies the clause with its characteristic of message (the other structures are: Transitivity — representation, and Mond - exchange) In other words, dhe clause is organized as message where one of ils elements is called Theme and the other Rheme the two parts together constitute a message The thematic organization of clauses is the most significant aspect for the development of a text By analyzing the thematic structure of a text, it is possible to observe its nature and understand how the writer exposed his concerns with the organization of the message

The Theme may be realized by a nominal group, a prepositional phrase, an adverbial

group or ever a clause in predicated theme The elements that go into the Theme are

the first experiential element in a clause (Participant/process/circumstance) and any

element preceding the first experiencial element in the clause (modal/connective

adjuncts, conjunclions, finite, vocative) The Theme may be single or multiple, marked

ot unmarked lt is single when the thematic element is represented by just one constituent — a nominal group, an adverbial group, or a prepositional phrase On the contrary, it is multiple when more than one element occur together in a clause in the

position of Theme

There exist thro types of theme: topical theme, textual theme and interpersonal one

Topical theme is the one that is conflated with an experiential element of the clause; it

may be participant, circumstance or process Textual theme shows {he meaning

relevant to the context, both the co-text and context of situation It can be (1) continuity

adjuncts (continualives) like “yes, no, well, now, etc.” (11) structural adjuncts

(Structurals) like “and, or, either, then, so, but, suppose, given that, although, which,

who, where, etc.” and (iii) conjunctive adjuncts (Conjunctives) such as “that is, in

other words, briefly, actually, moreover, beside, as a result, in that case, despite, etc.”

Taterpersonal theme indivaics the kind of interaction between speakers or the positions which they are taking The most common interpersonal Theme in English is

the Finite in interrogative clauses Others are medal adjuncts as “perhaps, abvays, usually, of course, surely, in my opinion, honestly, kindly, wisely, etc.” and vocatives,

An unmarked theme is onc thal is usual or typical and it ollen conflates wilh the Subject whereas a marked theme is one that is unusual In Linglish, for instance, for a declarative clause the standard structure is where the Theme is the subject of the clause But when the clause is organized differently, it presents a marked ‘Theme, such as a conjunction Accarding to Ilalliday (1994: 47), “the question which element of the clause is typically chosen as the Theme depends on the choice of Mood”

Table 1: Mood type and unmarked Theme selection (Lalliday, 2004: 78)

Mood of clause Typical (“unmarked”) Theme

declarative ‘Nominal group functioning as Subject

Interrogative: yes/no rst word (finite operator) of verbal group plus nominal

group functioning as Subject

Interrogative :wh- Nominal group, adverbial group or prepositional phrase

functioning as interrogative (Wh-) clement Imperative: “you” Verbal group functioning a3 Predicator, plus preceding don’t

Followings are some examples to illustrate thematic structure:

(3a) I don’t believe | that pudding ever will be cooked

Thlerpersonal Theme Topic Theme

2.4, Cohesion

241 The Concept of Cohesion

The concept of cohesion in text is related to semantic ties or “relations of meanings that

exist within the text, and that define it as a text” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 4) Tt

occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of

the other

another, the one presuppost

Actualization of cohesion depends on both selection of some option from systematic resources (reference, ellipsis, substitution, and conjunction) and the presence of some

other elements (repetition, synonym, antonym, meronymy and collocation) which

resolves the presupposition that this sets up We relatively refer to two types of cohesion: grammatical and lexical which will be explained in the following parts

identily which exists between units m discourse Tt can be divided into anaphori

cataphoric, and exophoric Anaphoric reference refers to any reference that “points

backwards” to previously mentioned information in the text Cataphoric reference

rolers to any referenwe that “poinls forward” to information (hat will be presented later

in the text Exophoric reference refers to any reference within the same nominal

group or phrase which follows the presupposed ite For cohesion purposes,

anaphoric reference is the most relevant as it “provides a link with a preceding portion of the text” (Ilalliday and Hasan 1976: 51); hence it is the most common

usage For cxamples

(4a) Three blind mice, three bling mice

See haw ‘they run! See how inky run!

(anaphoric reference)

(4b) T would never have believed if, They’ve accepted the whole scheme

(cataphoric reference) Functionally speaking, there are three main types of cohesive references: personal, demonstrative, and comparative Personal reference keeps track of function through

12

the speech situation using noun pronouns like “he, him, she, her, eto.” and possessive

determiners like “nine, yours, his, hers, etc.” Demonstrative reference keeps track of

information through location using proximity references like “dhis, these, that, those,

here, there, then, the” Comparative reference keeps track of identity and similarity

through indirect references using adjectives like “sume, equal, sunilar, different, else,

better, more” etc and adverbs like “se, such, similarly, otherwise, so, more”, etc

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 37-39) For instance:

(Sa) Can you hand Mary a program Hers has got lost

(personal reference) (Sb) They broke a Chinese vase That is valuable

(demonstrative reference)

($ ¢) I didn’t expect John to beat Peter I never thought he wn strong,

(comparative reference)

2.4.2.1.2 Substitution and ellipsis

Whereas referencing functions to link semantic meanings within text, substitution and ellipsis chiles in that it operates as @ linguistic link al the Iexicogrammatical level In Bloor and Bloor (1.995: 96), substitution and ellipsis are used when “a speaker or writer wishes to avoid the repetition of a lexical item and is able to draw on one of the grammatical resources of the language to replace the item” The three types of classification for substitution and ellipsis: nominal, verbal and causal, reflect its grammatical function When something in text is being, substituted, iL follows thal the

substituted item maintains the same structural funetion as the presupposed item,

In nominal substitution, the most typical substitution words are “one” and “ones” and

they substitute nouns ITere is an illustration:

(6) ‘These biscuits are stale — Get some fresh ones

In verhal Substitution, the most common substitute is the verb “do” and is sometimes

used in conjunction with “so” as in “do so” and substitute verbs Halliday and Hasan (1976; 125-126) point out that “do” often operates with the reference items “it” and

“that” but still have the main function as a verbal substitute because of its prammatical

role

(7) Has anyone fed the cat? — Somebudy must have done

In clausal Substitution, an entire clause is substituted and though it may seem to be similar to either nominal or vebal substitution, the difference is the presupposed anaphoric reference The linguistic items used as substitutes are “so, not” For

example

(8) Has everyone gone home? —I hope not

‘Though substitution and ellipsis are similar in their function as the linguistic link for cohesion, ellipsis deffers in that il is “substitution by vero” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976:

142),

Nominal Ellipsis occurs within nominal group It is the ellipsis of a Head with

optional modification (premodifier / postmodifier) For example:

(9) Four other Oysters followed them and yet another four (Oysters)

Verbal Ellipsis appears within verbal group An elliptical group presupposes one or

more words from a previous verbal group For example:

(10) Have you been swimming? — Yes, I have (been swimming)

Clausal Ellipsis takes clause as the point of departure It relates to the question and

answer in a dialogue There may oxisl Yes /No Bllipsis or Wh — Ellipsis For instance:

(11) Is he at home? — Yes (He is at home.)

2.4.2.1.3 Conjunctive Cohesion

Another type of cohesion is conjunction that “constitutes a cohesive bond between two clauses” (Halliday, 1994: 180) Cohesive conjunction is the logical-semantic organization of propositions within a discourse, It allows the speaker’ writer to sct up relationships between ideas It is viewed in different ways, however, in this thesis: I would like to pul an emphasis on Halliday’s classification: Blaboralion, Extension and

Enhancement

In elaboration, “one clause claborates on the meaning of another by further specifying

or describing it” (Ialliday, 1994: 225), A clause can be elaborated by apposition (in which some element is represented or restarted like “for example, in other words, to

Wusirate ) ov by clarificafion (in which some clement 1s summarived, remstaled,

made more precise or clarified for purposes of discourse, for example, “actually, to sun

up, at least, in particular, etc.)

In Ilalliday’s view when “one clause extends the meaning of another by adding somthing new lo il’, il is called extension It is displayed by (i) addition which

consists of positive (and, moreover, ), negative (nor), adversative(but, yet, on the

other hand, however ) and (ii) variation that is made up by replacive (on the contrary, instead), subtractive (apart from that, except for that), ond alternative

(alternatively)

Halliday (1994) also states that in enhancement, onc clause cnhances the meaning of

another by “qualifying it in one of a number of possible ways” There are four elements thal constilule crihaneement: (i) spatiotemporal (then, nexi, before that, in the end, al once, soon, meanwhile, etc.); (ii) manner (similarly, in a different way, thus, by such means, etc.); (ii) causal-conditional (so, therefore, in consequence, as a result, for that

purpose, though, nevertherless, etc); and (iv) matter (here, there, in that respect, in other respects, ete.)

2.4.2.2 Lexical Cohesion

Lexival cohesion difers from the other cohesive clements trí lexL in thal it is tion-

grammatical Lexical cohesion refers to the “cohesive effect achieved by the selection

of vocabulary” (ITalliday and Ilasan, 1976: 274) The two basic categories of lexical

cobesion are reiteration and collocation

Repetition refers to the same lexical item with the same meaning occuring more than

one in the same discourse

(12) 1 thought it would surely fall during the night I heart the wind, It will fall today and I shall die at the same time

2.4.2.2.1.2 Synonymy

Synonymy refers to the relation between different words bearing the same meaning or

nearly the same meaning for a particular person, ohjecl, process or quality

(13) Accordingly I took leave, and turned ta the ascent of the peak The climb

is perfectly easy

2.4.2.2.1.3, Antonymy

Antonymy describes opposite or contrastive meaning between two word items

(Ale used to be thin Now, he is fat

lá

2.4.2.2.1.4 1lyponym and co — hyponym

The main idea of hyponymy is “inclusion”; that is, a lower term (hyponym) is included

in an upper term (the superordinate)

(13)There are many kinds of fruit in the garden He likes apples and oranges

the best

In the example above, “apples, oranges” are hyponyms of “fruit” and “apples” and

“oranges” are co-hyponyms

2.4.2.2.1.5 Superordinate and meronymy

Superordinate is known as co-occurence of the same or some higher level of

generalily Meronymy is where lexical ilems are in a “part-whole” relationship with

each other Consequently, the relation between two parts is one of co-meronym

(16)Henry’s bought himself a new Jaguar He practically lives in the car

(27) The house is big He lives upstairs and she lives downstairs

In the cxamples above, “car” is superordinate of “Jaguar”; “upstairs, downstairs” are meronymy of “house”; “upstairs” and “downstairs” are co-meronymys

2.4.2.2.1.6 General word

General word is known as a class of general nouns which have generalised reference within the major noun classes, such as “hmman nouns”: people, person, man, woman,

boy, “object nouns”: thing, objcet; “place nouns”: place

(18)There’s a boy climbing that tree The idiot’s going to fall if he doesn’t take

the same semantic relationship but rather they tend to occur within the same lexical environment (Halliday and Hasan, 1976) The closer lexical items are to each other

between seriicnces, the stronger the cahesive effect

2.8 Concluding Remarks

To this chapter, some fundamental concepts relevant to the purpose of the sludy have

been discussed They are field, tenor and mode that make up the contextual system and also three functions of language that serve to express three largely independent sets of

semantic choice: (i) the transitivity pattem shows representational meaning: what the

clause is about, which is typically some process, with associated participants and circumstance; (ii) the mood pattern expresses interpersonal meaning: What the clause

is doing as a verbal exchange belwecn speaker / writer and audienes/ reader; and (iii) the theme pattem represents the organization of the message: how the clause relates to

the surrounding discourse, and to the context of situation in which it is being produced

Cohesion concepts and types are also taken into consideration in the study so as to provide a brief framework of systemic functional grammar for analysis ‘Ihe following chapier focuses on the analysis af theme-stheme and cohesive lies of the short story

“The Last Leaf” by O’Henry based on the systemic functional approached mentioned

before hand.

CHAPTER 3

THEME — RHEME AND COHESIVE TIES IN THE SHORT

STORY “TITE LAST LEAF” BY O’TIENRY

3.1, Introduction

In this chapter, an effort is made to explore the thematic structure and cohesive ties of

a short slory as a lexi, using the concepts which have boon explored in the previous chapter as the theoretical framework ‘The analysis will be carried out from the context

of the text chosen, the theme-theme pattern to the grammatical and lexical cohesion analysis

3.2 The Context of the Chosen Text

The text is the short story “The Last Leaf” by O’Henry published in 1907, in his collection “The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories” Set in Greenwich Village, which was known in the late 19" to mid 20" centuries as an artists’ haven, it depicts characters and themes typical of ©’Henry’s works The author is O’Henry, who is onc

of the greatest American short story writers his story is one of 381 short stories he

wrole in New York Most of them were about the lives of the common people there

“The Last Leaf” is one of the most famous short stories of O’ Hemy, appearing, in the New York World Sunday Magazine The targeted readers, therefore, are firstly New Yorkers and then people all over the world

It is an English text and it carries its own features in meaning and structure

3.3 The Analysis of the text in terms of theme - rheme

‘The thematic organization of the clauses {and clause complexes, where relevant) is the

most significant factor in the development of the text As mentioned in chapter 2, the theme is the starting point of the message A part of the meaning of any clause lics in

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which element is chosen as its Theme 1/xamining the theme to find out the reason for that organization is hoped to reveal the ideological meaning underlying the text As

can be

cen in Appendix T, there are 270 clauses which make up 178 clause complexes in the text Of 250 clauses analyzed for theme, there exist all kinds of theme as pointed oul by Halliday (1994): Topical theme, Textual theme and

Interpersonal one

33.1 Topical Theme

Because the Theme is the starting poit from which expericnees unfolded in a clause,

it must include the whole of the first item in the experiential meanings Liggins (1994:

276) states that “When an element of the clause to which a Transititvity function can

be assigned occurs in firsl position ina clause, we describe il.as a topival theme” The topical theme consists of element(s) that represent a process, a participant in the

process or a circumstance Looking al the table of the thematic analysis (see

Appendix II: The Theme — Rheme Pattern), we can see that topical themes in the

text account for the highest percentage in which 212 are participants, 26 are

circumstances and 12 processes, For example,

(Clause 197)

Circumstance: Manner —_| Participant: Actor Material process

The most frequently used clements in the position of a topical theme are Johnsy, Sue and Behrman As can be seen in Appendix II (The Theme — Rheme pattem), Johnsy appears as the topical themes of 47 clauses (approximately 19%), Sue functions as the topical themes of 44 clauses (approximately 18%) and Behrman, ranks third with 25 clauses (about 10%) Short stories or novels aim to transfer “information” (author’s thinking) mainly through charaters The writer focuses on developing the characters and from that the story unfolds It can be drawn from this analysis that the main characters of the story are Johnsy Sue, and Behrman

Clanse by clanse, the development proceeds as follows:

From the frst clause to the 11" clause, of which there are 8 clauses analyzed for

theme, the topical themes are mainly adverbs of place and nominal groups referring to places which are “In a little district west of Washington Square”, “he places”, “One

street ", “To quaint old Greenwich Village”, “At the top of a squatty, three-story

2L

brick” ‘he author wanted to start the story with its setting: an old village in a little

district west of Washington Square, where poor artists live From this setting, the

readers wait for whal will happon next

From the 12" clause to 139% clause, “Suc” and “Johnsy” are transferred inte the

dominant ‘Theme In this portion of the text, obviously, the author wanted ta focus on these two main characters Johnsy and Sue met by chance and became close friends Jolmsy was a girl painler who was dying of pneumonia, She kept watching the ivy leaves fall outside the window and believed that when the last one fell she would die Sue is a loving, kind-hearted, sympathetic artist paving her way to Art who is the best friend of Johnsy She felt very sorry about Jobnsy’s illness but still tried whatever te comfort and encourage and take care of her

From the 140™ clause to 154 clause, the topical theme which appears mainly is “Old Behrman”, so “Behrman” now hecomes the Theme In fact, this old artist is one of the thre main charactors and the hero of (he story However, al he beginning of the story, the other two main characters appear instead of Old Behuman He doesn’t turn up until the middle of the story Moreover, in this paragraph, he only appears as the theme of

10 clauses, which makes him unimportant in readers’ eyes In most eases, the thematic structure is not arranged at random; instead, there is usually some meanings behind it

O’Henry’s stories are perhaps best known for their surprise endings Here he wants to

insure the surprise ending, heightens the impact we feel when we found this man

suddenly and unexpectedly sacrifies himself for Johnsy

From here, “Sue” and “Johnsy” return to be the dominant theme As the “last” leaf

staying on the tree, Johnsy realized that “It’s a sin to want to die” and became

optimistic that sho was going to gct well and make her dreams come true Eventually she recovered “Qld Behrman” only becomes the theme again in clauses 242 and 244

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where the readers are informed about his illness, and then at the end of the story from clause 257 where through Sue, the author tells us that Behrman painted the leaf when the lasl one on the ivy vine fell on the dreary and extremely vold night to restore the dying Johnsy’s hope to live Ile appears to be the theme of only four clauses at the last

paragraph of the story

- Mr Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital (Clause 257)

- He was ill only two days (Clause 258)

- His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cald (Clause 260)

- He painted it there the night thal the last leaf fell (Clause 269-270)

The (wo last themes are “Old Belmman” and “the last lea? (Clause 269, 270) The story reaches its climax and ends there The writer holds back important information until the last moment The last image which remains in readers" mind for a long time is

OW Behnnan and his masterpicee: The Last Teal The last leaf, also the theme of the

story, speaks highly of the sincere lasting friendship just as the evergreen ivy leaf and

the noble spirit — selfless sacrifice

3.3.2 interpersonal Theme

Interpersonal themes also play an important part in the text Dialogic portions between

characters in “The Last Teal” account for nearly ball of the whole story The reason is

the type of discourse of this text- telling a story, in which there is a lot of interaction

between charactors Tn the text, there are all kinds of interpersonal themes lisled by

Halliday (1994: 53) which are “vocative”, “modal”, and “mood-marking” Twenty

clauses contain interpersonal themes and of which fourteen are mood-marking in clauses 36, 40, 43, 70, 75, 92, 97, 100, 105, 116, 122, 138, 163, and 265, five are

vocatives such as “dector” in clause 44, “Johnsy, dear” in clause 116, “Adr Behrman’

in elause 172 and only two zøođøls which express the speaker's attitude to the content

of the massage in clause complexes CKV, and CKKXVL Here are some examples:

Sudie, some day T hope to paint the Bay of Naples

Interpersonal theme: Vocative | Topical theme

(Clause complex CXV)

Textual Tnlerpersonal theme: | Topical

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more cohesive and coherent, expressing the logical relations of addition and enhancemen For example:

- It will fall today, and I shall die at the same time (Clause complex CXXXVUD)

- There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital to-day to be made mor

comfortable (Clause complex CLXTI)

- Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking (Clause

complex CXXXV)

‘There are only 2 coufinuatives which signal a new move: a response in dialogues (“well” in clause 25 and “oh” in clause 93) Conjunctives also appear in the text

(“besides” in E26 and “for the resi” m 152) whuch together with siruclurals and

continuatives make the story more coherent and easy to follow,

33.4 Marked and Vamarked Theme

As can be seen in Appendix H, of 250 clause analysed for theme, 27 are øtarked themes and 223 are unmarked anes According to Halliday (1994: 38), unmarked

themes are those that follow the standard structure, “the form we tend to use if there is

no prior context leading up to it, and no positive reason for choosing, anything else” In

English, for instance, for a declarative clause, the standard structure is where the there

is the subject of the clausc But when the clause is organized differontly, it presents a

“why” in clause 167, “Didn't the doctor” in clause 92, and “Couldn't you” in clause

122 The rest ones are predicators and “Let’s” in imperative chiuses, for inslance,

ye ờ

“tell” in clause 86, “Don’t be” in clause 97, yy” in 104, and “/et’s” in clause 100

For example

(in a declarative clause)

One street crosses itsclf a time or two (Clause 4)

{in an interrogative clause}

Couldn’t you draw in the other room? (Clause 122)

{In an imperative clause)

Don*t try to move (Clause 138)

Tu the text, there are 27 marked themes When the author put his word in an abnormal

way, thore must be something unusual he tries to express, for instance, he wants to

make an emphasis and draw the reader’s attention, or he intends to show his personal

emotion or altitude In the text, al the very beginning of the slory, circumstances af place are used as marked theme, which create the setting of the story: an old village in

a little district west of Washington Square, where poor artists live For example,

- In a little district west of Washington Square, the streets have rum crazy and

broken themselves into small strips called “places”.( Clause 1)

- To quaint old Greenwich Villape, lhc art poople soon came prowling , hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics and low rents (Clause 8)

- AC the top of a squatty, three -stury brick, Suc and Johnay had their

studio.(ClauseI1)

Circumstance of time are also widely used as marked theme, for example, “In

November” in clause 18, “One morning” in clause 27, “three days ago” in clause 80,

“now” in clause 82, “For half an hour” in clause 181, “Through the neilling” in clause

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217, ‘That is because of the kind of the text — telling a story ‘Thanks to these

circumstances, the readers will find it easy to follow the events happening in the story

In clause 200, “still dark green near its stem, with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay” are used as marked them which emphasizes the image of the last leaf- the masterpiece of Mr Old Behrman, and the theme of the story

Your little ludy has made up her mind

That she is not going to gct well

Tlas she anything on her mind?

She - she wanted to paint the Bay of Napples some day

Theme ———> Rheme

27

was not what you would call a chivalric old (clause 22,23)

was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer

As can be seen in the Theme-Rhene analysis above, “Mr Paeumenia” is the theme of

2 clauses 19 and 20 then in clauses 21, 22, 23, if 1s transferred milo the theme, and

then settles down again in the rheme in clauses 24 and 25 So, we can have the

“thematic progression” as follows:

‘Theme —_» Rheme

Thernc ———+ Rheme

Theme ———> Rheme Theme ———+ Rheme

‘Theme — , Rheme

Theme ——+» Rheme

38

‘This is the method of text development to carry the story toward and it is what

Halliday (1994: 2) calls “the text with a stepwise structure”

It can be said in summary that in the text, there are all kinds of theme mentioned by

Halliday (1994) in which Topi

| themes play the most important part in the text

development, “By analyzing the Theme-Rheme structure of the text clause by clause,

we can gain an insight into its texture and understand how the writer made clear to us the nature of his underlying concerns” (Halliday, 1994; 105) (For inere detail, seo Appendix I.)

3.4 The Cohesion of the Text

The text is very cohesive, mainly due to lexical cohesion and referencing

Cohesiveness in lex creates texture and lexlure is due to the semantic lies thal, exist

between clauses and sentences Halliday and Hasan (1976: 297) refer to texture in text

as either being “tight”, which means that there are many cohesive ties, or “loose”,

which means that there would be fewer cohesive lies, willt variances of both m the

same text within and across paragraph boundaries Starting with referencing and finishing with lexical cohesion, the textual analysis will prove that cohesion is an important aspect for creating meaning within text

the text ‘Ihe first column represents the cohesive devices, the second one is about

interpretative source, the third gives the phoriec status of the tie and chain relation (the

address of all the preceding members in the chain) is present in the last column

Table 2: Reference of the Text

These (‘place’) | 2.“places™ anaphoric 3-2

‘This (street) [4 street anaphoric 5-4

This (route) _| 5 street anaphoric 6-5-1

They 8 the art people anaphoric 9-8

They 11 Sue and Johnsy anaphorig 15-11

‘heir 11 Sue and Johnsy anaphoric 16-15-11

This (ravager) | 19 Pneumonia anaphoric 20-19

Tis 20 this ravager anaphoric 21-20-19

The (maze) 2 nave of the narrow and

moss-grown “place” calaphonic

doctor}

‘That (chance) | 28 chance anaphoric

She 37 Tohnsy anaphoric

30

The (doctor) |31 the busy doctor anaphoric 46-31-30-27

(worlroom)

The (figure) _ | 62 the hero cataphoric 62

36-35-34

37-36-35-34-32-28-26-

25

wall)

its 72 an old, ald vy vine anaphoric

The (vine) 72 an old, old ivy vine anaphoric

its 73 an old, old ivy vine anaphoric

they 87 leaves (on the ivy vine) — | cataphoric

them 87 leaves (on the ivy vine) calaphone

The (doctor) _| 52 the busy doctor anaphoric

such 89, 90 When the last one fall, | anaphoric 93-90.89

I must 29

That (vine) 73 an old, oldivy vine anaphoric

The (doctor) _| 92 the busy doctor anaphoric

he 98 the busy doclor

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anaphoric