an investigation into stylistic devices commonly used in the novel to kill a mockingbird by harpe

NGUYỄN VÕ THÙY DƯƠNGAN INVESTIGATION INTO STYLISTIC DEVICES COMMONLY USED IN THE NOVEL TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE MASTER THESIS IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN CO

NGUYỄN VÕ THÙY DƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STYLISTIC DEVICES

COMMONLY USED IN THE NOVEL

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE

MASTER THESIS

IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES

OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Da Nang, 2020

NGUYỄN VÕ THÙY DƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STYLISTIC DEVICES COMMONLY USED IN THE NOVEL

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE

Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Code: 822.02.01

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I declare that this thesis contains no material published elsewhere, and that tothe best of my knowledge it does not use either in the whole or in part from anymaterials previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; exceptwhere due reference is made in the text

Moreover, no person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement inthe thesis

Dancing, 2020

Nguyen Vo Thuy Duong

This thesis examined the stylistic devices frequently used in Harper Lee‘s

novel To Kill a Mockingbird An analysis was made to find out the commonly used

stylistic devices and and point out the devices used the most The data of the study

were the original work of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird and were described and

analyzed on stylistic aspects under qualitative and quantitative approaches Theanalysis was based on the collection of 240 examples which were taken from thenovel The thesis tried to find out commonly used stylistic devices in the novel,

namely simile, metaphor, personification and repetition The author hopes to prove

the important role of stylistics and stylistic devices to literary analysis In general,

simile is used at the highest frequency, then comes metaphor Repetion and personification have smaller numbers.

On the basis of the findings, this thesis set out some implications andsuggestions for learning and teaching English The research result could be useful forreaders, learners and teachers of English, especially those who are interested inliterature

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF CHARTS vi

Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 RATIONALE 1

1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 2

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 3

1.3.1 Aims 3

1.3.2 Objectives 3

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 3

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY 3

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

2.1 PREVIOUS STUDIES 5

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 7

2.2.1 Stylistics and Stylistic devices 7

2.2.2 Metaphor 8

2.2.3 Simile 10

2.2.4 Personification 11

2.2.5 Repetition 11

2.3 THE AUTHOR AND HER NOVEL TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 12

2.3.1 The author 12

2.3.2 The novel 13

2.4 SUMMARY 16

Chapter Three RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 17

3.2 RESEARCH METHODS 17

3.3 DATA COLLECTION 17

3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 18

3.5 RESEARCH PROCEDURE 18

3.6 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY 18

Chapter Four FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 19

4.1 SIMILE IN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 20

4.1.1 Structural features of stylistic devices embodying simile 20

4.1.2 Semantic features of stylistic devices embodying simile 26

4.2 METAPHOR IN TO KIIL A MOCKINGBIRD 33

4.2.1 Structural features of stylistic devices embodying metaphor 33

4.2.2 Semantic features of stylistic devices embodying metaphor 41

4.3 PERSONIFICATION IN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 48

4.4 REPETITION IN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 54

4.4.1 Repetition of structures 54

4.4.2 Repetition of phrases and words 56

4.5 SUMMARY 58

Chapter Five CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 60

5.1 CONCLUSIONS 60

5.2 IMPLICATIONS 61

5.2.1 For learning English 61

5.2.2 For teaching English 62

5.3 LIMITATIONS 62

5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 62

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

QUYẾT ĐỊNH GIAO ĐỀ TÀI LUẬN VĂN (Bản sao)

LIST OF TABLES

Number

4.1 Frequency (%) of stylistic devices investigated in thenovel 194.2 Frequency (%) of Stylistic devices embodying simile 214.3 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying simile 274.4 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying metaphor 344.5 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying metaphor 414.6 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying repetition 54

LIST OF CHARTS

Number of

4.1 Frequency (%) of stylistic devices investigated in thenovel 204.2 Frequency (%) of Stylistic devices embodying simile 214.3 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying simile 274.4 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying metaphor 344.5 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying metaphor 424.6 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devicesembodying repetition 54

Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE

Literature is the art of written work It is also considered a mode ofexpression of life and the reflection of feelings and emotions with the help oflanguage Language is an essential material source in literature because any piece ofliterature is a work of language Writers use language to create their masterpieces Itallows us to observe, to enjoy and then to learn the style and languages of peoplefrom the past; it shows sincere emotions and arouses sentiments among readers; ithelps them recognize the realities of life, brighten their minds and broaden theirvisions Furthermore, literature can help open up one‘s imagination, take them tomany places they haven‘t been to, show them many beautiful things they haven‘t gotchance to admire, and tell them lessons that they haven‘t been taught

Among hundreds of English literature works, I am especially interested in thenovel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee published in 1960 Enormouslypopular, it was translated into some 40 languages and sold more than 30 millioncopies worldwide In 1961 it won a Pulitzer Prize The novel was praised for itssensitive treatment of a child‘s awakening to racism and prejudice in the AmericanSouth The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family,her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Alabama, in 1936,when she was ten The novel was later made into a movie by the same name andreceived overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success,earning more than six times its budget The film won three Academy Awardsincluding Best Actor for Peck, and was nominated for eight, including Best Picture.The factor contributes to the success of the book is the use of language In this book,many stylistic devices such as metaphor, simile, repetition, etc have been used.Stylistic devices help the writer to convey her feelings and emotions properly as well

as to convey some sorts of special effects or impression

The very process of composing literature creates a desire among readers to be

more appreciative of the true spirit and real meanings of the piece of literature thatthey read However, the job is not easy since the readers are supposed to be aware ofliterary conventions and historical background of any piece of literature and toachieve this, they must possess the sensibility of language in which it is written andthe grammatical and stylistic technicalities involved in its composition to fullyunderstand the work If not, readers just translate word by word and henceunderstand the surface meaning What lies between the lines seem to be left behind.

As a result, readers can not get the real meaning and artistic values of the work Thiscan create a barrier for them to reading any English book

With the aim of helping Vietnamese students of English to overcome thesedifficulties and to gain more success in their learning, the author thinks it isnecessary to introduce one of the famous novels with its artistic use of language.Regarding the importance of stylistic devices in literature I intended to carry out astudy of investigation of stylistic devices in Harper Lee‘s novel To Kill aMockingbird, in order to obtain more insight in stylistic devices used in her novel

1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

To some extent, the research is expected to be a valuable contribution to theteaching and learning of English stylistics in general of stylistic devices in the novel

To Kill a Mockingbird in particular The findings of the research will helpVietnamese learners realize and achieve the beauty of using language in this novel.Moreover, it will not only help them get special styles but also provide them withsome necessary strategies and techniques in the creative design or in the use ofwords in writing It is hoped to provide language learners with precious experience

in reading and understanding the novel As a result, their experience will certainlyfacilitate their language learning so that they will be more successful incomprehending and evaluating the novel in terms of stylistics

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1.3.1 Aims

The study is aimed to investigate into stylistic devices in the novel To Kill a

Mockingbird Its purpose is to provide learners of English with practical informationand to raise their awareness of stylistic devices in English novels.

1.3.2 Objectives

This paper is designed to aim at the following objectives:

- To investigate the commonly used stylistic devices, and the frequencies ofoccurrence of these stylistic devices in To Kill a Mockingbird

- To suggest some implications for teachers and learners of English,especially for who wishes to write English effectively

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To fulfill the objectives mentioned above, the study tries to seek theinformation for the following questions:

- What are some stylistic devices used in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

- Which stylistic devices are most frequently and distinctively used in thenovel To Kill a Mockingbird?

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study just focuses on the findings of the linguistic features of stylisticdevices namely simile, metaphor, personification, and repetition in the novel To Kill

a Mockingbird, and the frequencies of occurrence of those stylistic devices

1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

The thesis consists of 5 main chapters

- Chapter 1: Introduction, which includes the rationale, the aims and

objectives, the scope of the study, the research questions, the significance, and theorganization of the study

- Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Background, which presents

the previous studies related to the paper, and the theoretical background of the study

in the area

- Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology, which concerns itself with

the research methods, data generation as well as techniques of data analysis

- Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions It provides the findings of linguistic

features of the typical stylistic devices and the distinctive features of stylistic devices

in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird

- Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications.

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 PREVIOUS STUDIES

Up to now, there have been a number of studies on stylistic devices done by alot of English and Vietnamese researchers in the language used in songs andliterature works

In Anglo-American linguistics at this time, there remained a link betweenliterary stylistics and structural linguistic analysis However, it was NoamChomsky‘s transformational-generative grammar that signaled the establishment ofstylistics as a discipline with independent, self defined goals at least, if not yet a realautonomy Then the founding of the field‘s major Anglo-American journals named

Style (1967) and Language and Style (1968) contributed to the full arrival of stylistics

as an academic discipline in Britain and America

Later, there appeared a series of related works including Donal Freeman with

his Linguistics and Literary Style (1979) In English, there was a number of works

related to overview of stylistics as well as stylistic devices categorized into different

groups such as Linguistics and Literary Style (1970) by Freeman, Stylistics (1971) by Galperin, or Investigating English Style by David Crystal (1973).

In Investigating English Style, a general idea of what stylistics involves has

been given and a set of techniques for describing any piece of language has beenoutlined; besides, the author also gives various theoretical concepts which are needed

to classify the varieties of language into types Furthermore, various extracts ofEnglish (both spoken and written works) have been described in details to illustratethe approach used in the book Language of conversation, language of spokencommentary, language of religion, news, and the most detailed one, language of legaldocuments, have been put into consideration in the book

Recently, there have been some researches on stylistic devices such as Hoang

Kim Anh‘s An investigation into stylistic devices used in English and Vietnamese

proverbs (2008) The author fully identified stylistic devices used in English and

Vietnamese proverbs, which provides Vietnamese learners of English with basicknowledge of stylistic devices: the definitions, usage and effectiveness Her studycontributes a great deal to teaching and learning proverbs in general and literature inparticular

An Investigation into the Use of Metaphor and Irony in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain by

Nguyen Hoang Phuong Thao (2009) is another example In the thesis, she gave outand analyzed the examples of metaphor and irony in the two novels She also gavethe frequency of metaphor and irony The findings of the thesis showed the artisticmerits of the novel

Another researcher is Trần Thị Thanh Thảo (2011) with her The Semantics of Metaphors of Love in English and Vietnamese Songs In the thesis, the writer

examined the similarities and differences of linguistic items and images used inmetaphors of love through English and Vietnamese songs The research alsosuggested a procedure of identifying, perceiving and comprehending metaphors oflove in English and Vietnamese songs

Nguyễn Uy Dũng (2010) with —An Investigation into Stylistic Devices inPolitical Speeches by US Presidents”, the author described and analyzed on stylisticaspects under qualitative and quantitative approach to yield more precise points onstylistic devices

Those gave us a general knowledge of this topic, it marked the importance ofresearching rhetorical devices However, none of them mentioned the stylistic

devices in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Accordingly, it is expected that the

findings will be background knowledge for us to have a better insight in stylisticdevices in this novel by Harper Lee

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.2.1 Stylistics and Stylistic devices

2.2.1.1 Stylistics

According to Galperin (1971), stylistics is a branch of general linguistics,which deals with the following two interdependent tasks:

a studies the totality of special linguistic means which secure the

desirable effect of the utterence

b studies certain type of text discourse which due to the choice and arrangement (functional styles)

Depending on the school of thought there are:

of interest and so far as to exemplify how the codes are constructed

Literary stylistics is to explicate the message to interpret and evaluate literarywriting as the works of art

Stylistics of decoding can be presented in the following way: receiver, and speaker- book- reader

sendermessage-According to Crystal (2008, p.460), '—stylistics is a branch of linguistics which studies the features of situationally distinctive uses (varieties) of language, and tries to establish principles capable of accounting for the particular choices made by individual and social groups in their use of language.”

2.2.1.2 Stylistic devices

In reality, having a good idea or something important to say is not enough.Everyone wishes their message to get across to the intended recipients in an attractiveand effective way Undoubtedly, how something is said is always of great importantand necessity And it is stylistic devices that assist people in using language well Sostylistic devices mean fancy ways of saying or writing something Those who haveexcellent understanding of stylistic devices and use them artfully will certainlybecome masters of saying and writing

Stylistic Devices is a branch of general linguistic which is regarded as alanguage science It deals with the result of the act of communication(Galperin,1971) It means that stylistic devices take into consideration the —output

of the act of communication” The most frequent definition of stylistic devices is onedefined as the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to interestthe readers

2.2.2 Metaphor

The word metaphor has its origin from Greek: meta and pherein Meta bears

the progress in complexity from simple to more advance, and pherein means to

carry That is, metaphor, from its roots, has the notion of hidden comparison

Aristotle defines in Poetics (2000) that a metaphor is the application a name

belonging to something to something else, either from the genus to the species, orfrom the species to the genus, or from the species to another species, or according toanalogy At the same time, he notes that metaphor is a comparison without using theword —like”, —as if” or —as”

Metaphor is one of the most beautiful and symbolic rhetorical devices in thefield of stylistics It is a type of expressive and figurative language in which onesemantic field of reference is carried over or transferred to another A metaphor

consists of two main parts: the tenor and the vehicle The tenor is the implied idea or the hidden subject of the comparison; the vehicle is the metaphorical word(s) or

image(s) by which the tenor is conveyed These two parts are combined togetherbasing on the common ground between them For example, in the following

sentence: Life is a yo-yo, the tenor is life and the vehicle is yo-yo The fact that both life and yo-yo have ups and downs is the ground Metaphor is different from logic

comparison, a device focusing on the aspects of comparison directly, simply in order

to find out the likeness between/amonst objects in the same class Logic comparisonseems to be a very simple rhetorical device that draws less attention from thelanguage users Metaphor, in contrast to simile, when focusing on a certain aspect ofcomparison, it requires a higher level of cognitive competence

So far a lot of linguists have tried to suggest various definitions of metaphor, some of which cited below are considered the closest to the nature of metaphor.

A metaphor is a relation between the dictionary and contextual logical

meanings based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties or features of the two corresponding concepts (Galperin, 1971, p.136)

Lakoff and Johnson (1980) introduce new approaches to the study of

metaphor Metaphors are pervasive in everyday life, not just in laguage, but also in thought and action He defines that metaphor is a mapping across conceptual

domains from the source domain to the target ones

As stated by David Crystal in A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (2008, p.124), metaphor is seen as “a process of understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another A typical metaphor is a mapping between a better- known, more concrete conceptual domain (the “source domain”) and the conceptual domain which it helps to organize (the “target domain”).”

The examples below will illustrate the structure of metaphor and its immense capability for expression as well:

In “the leaves fell sorrowfully”, the metaphor lies in the adverb sorrowfully:

the tenor is the speaker‘s/writer‘s sad mood; the vehicle is the sorrowful scenery created by falling leaves; and sadness is the common ground

To interpret metaphors we need to understand both the literal meaning and facts about the world and it depends on the origin linguistic knowledge about words, their semantic properties and their combining powers that all speakers possess

“Time is money”, here, it is necessary for the hearer to know that in our society we

are often paid according to the number of hours of working days

In summary, metaphor is a significant and common phenomenon of language all over the world Metaphor enables us to generate new meanings and new words, that is to generate new perception of the world Starting from the simplest and most basic senses, words can be immensely extended and refined through metaphorical use of them Evidently words must have a surface as well as a deep level It is the

deep level that significantly facilitates the happening of meaning transference Once the metaphor is used, our insights into things in question explode; we are likely to have a good chance to explore and understand novel situation Using metaphors, we must not confuse it with paraphrase, which never performs an indispensable

cognitive role as metaphor does Metaphor is necessary not an akternative way of conveying common sense; otherwise it must be an intentional way of achieving new sense

2.2.3 Simile

Simile is the comparison between two objects of diferrent kinds which have at

least one point in common, that is, comparing two or more unlike things using like,

as, such as, as if, seem, etc For example, simile is found in “my love is like a red, red rose” Red roses symbolyze romantic and true love; this concept is agreed by

everyone all over the world The term —my love” and —red rose” are comparedwith each other for the quality of faithfulness and truthfulness

As stated by Galperin in Stylistics (1971), similes forcibly set one object

against another regardless of the fact that they may be completely alien to each other.And without our being aware of it, the simile gives rise to a new understanding of theobject characterizing as well as of the object characterized

The properties of an object may be viewed from different angles, for example,its state, actions, manners, etc Accordingly, similes may be based on adjective-attributes, adverbs-modifiers, verb-predicates, etc Similes may suggest analogies inthe character of actions performed In this case the two members of the structuraldesign of the simile will resemble each other through the actions they perform

In simile, the quality picked put may be unimportant at first, but it isintensified according to the writer‘s intention to turn into a telling feature, with aview to giving us a new and unexpected light about the object characterized

2.2.4 Personification

Personification is one of the most outstanding rhetorical devices in the field oflinguistics, so far, a lot of linguists have given out a variety of definitions on

personification which are the closest to its nature.

It was defined in —A Dictionary of Stylistics” by Katie Wales (1990, p.314)

that personification is “A figure of speech or trope in which an inanimate object, animate nonhuman, or abstract quality is given human attributes: a kind of

metaphor Personification is particularly associated with literary, especially poetic, language.” For example:

—Because I could not stop for Death

He kindly stopped for me

The Carriage held but just Ourselves

-And Immortality.”

(Because I could not stop for Death, Emily Dickinson)

In this poem, Death is personified as a person driving a carriage Within theconfines of this poem, Death may in fact be a person; but Dickinson isn‘t writingabout a literal event that happened to her She‘s using her relationship with Deathfiguratively, illustrating how Death goes about its business with little regard forhumanity‘s work and leisure

In short, personification is a rhetorical figure of speech in which objects orabstractions are endowed with human qualities or are presented as possessing humanform It can make a narration or a speech more interesting and lively

2.2.5 Repetition

According to Galperin (1971, p.211): “Repetition is also one of the devices having its origin in te emotive language Repetition when applied to the logical language becomes simoly an instrument of grammar Its origin is to be seen in the excitement accompanying the expression of a feeling being brought to its highest lension."

It has already been pointed out that repetition is an stylistic devices oflanguage used when the speaker wants to emphasize strong emotion It also showsthe state of mind of the speaker

When used as a stylistic device, repetition not only aims at making a direct

emotional impact but also aims at ligical emphasis, a necessary emphasis to fix theattention of the reader on the key-word of the utterance.

Example:

“We seek peace We seek freedom We seek to enrich the life of man ”

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B JohnsonRepetition can be regarded as the typical stylistic device in speeches It is alsoresorted to in order to persuade the audience, to add weight to the speaker’s opinion

Repetition is classified according to compositional design If the repeatedword (or phrase) comes at the beginning of two or more consecutive sentences,

clauses or phrase, we have anaphora as in the example above If the repeated unit is

placed at the end of consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases we have the type ofrepetition called epiphora, as in:

" that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth offreedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.".

(The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol.7)

2.3 THE AUTHOR AND HER NOVEL TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

2.3.1 The author

Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 and grew up in Monroeville, Alabama In

1944, Lee enrolled in the all-women Huntington College in Montgomery From 1945

to 1949, she attended the University of Alabama, where she studied law

She wrote short stories and other works about racial injustice, a rarelydiscussed topic at the time, for literary publications at both institutions In 1949, shetransferred to Oxford University in England to spend a year as an exchange student,but in 1950, she dropped out of school and moved to New York City to become awriter

In New York, Lee worked as a reservation clerk for different airlines and inher spare time wrote a collection of short stories and essays about people from herhometown In 1957, she met an editor at J B Lippincott Company who advised her

to quit her job and focus exclusively on writing She spent the next two-and-a-halfyears writing To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published on July 11, 1960.

Lee has been continually recognized for her novel In 1966, President LyndonJohnson appointed Lee to the National Council on the Arts In 1998, the AlabamaWriters‘ Forum established the Harper Lee Award for Alabama‘s DistinguishedWriters In 2005, she was awarded the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award,and in 2006, the University of Notre Dame gave her an honorary degree LibraryJournal voted To Kill a Mockingbird the —Best Novel of the Century,” and in 2007,President George W Bush awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom

To Kill a Mockingbird is Lee‘s only published novel and, with the exception

of a few short essays, Lee has not published anything since An extremely privateperson, she retreated from public life in 1964 and has refused any publicity sincethen

Other Significant Works by the author:

■ —Love—In Other Words” (1961)

■ —Christmas to Me” (1961)

■ —When Children Discover America” (1965)

2.3.2 The novel

2.3.2.1 Brief plot overview

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story about the experiences of the

young narrator, Jean Louise Scout Finch, in her years of childhood which gave animpact on her life Scout and Jem - her brother have been raised by their fatherAtticus, a well-respected lawyer, to believe in the goodness of people Their ideas areshaken when Atticus defends Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a whitegirl The unfair case of Tom Robinson and the discrimination the children face bycommunity members teach them about the hatred and evil that lie in humans Theyalsoo learn about the unfairness of judging others during the incidents told in thenovel

2.3.2.2 Historical context

At the time the book was published, racial injustice was a hot topic The novelwas written in 1950s, just before the American civil rights movement came into itspeak In the South, blacks were not allowed to use the same buses, benches, and evenentrances as whites

The story‘s characters are of Lee‘s own experiences as a child growing up inMonroeville, Alabama - a sleepy town like the tired town of Maycomb in the story.Having been set during the Great Depression gave Lee the opportunity to provide thebackground for the civil rights movement with the extreme racial tension that wasgrowing in the South

2.3.2.3 Literary significance

Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird is considered a classic of modern

American literature The 6-year-old Scout narrates the story in the first person As achild trying to understand the life around, her observations are simple and sometimeshumorous Furthermore, the story is also another story when Scout narrates as agrown woman reflecting on her childhood The combination allows the author tocombine warmth, humor and tragedy to tell a meaningful story about rape, racialinequality, and the loss of innocence when the children grow up

In 1961, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction More than 15 millioncopirs were sold in the early 1960s Since its initial publication, the book has neverbeen out of print and remains a best-seller It continues to be one of the mostrecommended book in high schools and univertities

2.3.2.4 Themes

a Morality

Morality is one of the main themes in the novel with a clear example, Atticus.That he is the representative for good people in the story demonstrated by hiscompassion and understanding for others regardless of their race of social status and

by his acceptance to defend Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping awhite woman While most people think that he is unwise for doing that, Atticus says,

—They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for theiropinions, but before I can live with other folks I‘ve got to live with myself The onething that doesn’t abide my majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

b Social and racial inequality

In the town of Maycomb, how people treat each other depends on their socialstatus At the top of the social ladder are the people with respectable background likethe Finches Below them are poor farmers like the Cunninghams and followed bypoor white trash like the Ewells At the bottom of the ladder lies the blackcommunity The issues of social status and racism make Scout and Jem struggle tounderstand the life as they grow up At the end of the story, Scout says, —I thinkthere’s just one kind of folks Folks.” That statement is a way to express her criticism

of social and racial inequality

c Loss of innocence

At the beginning of the story, Jem and Scout are innocent children who areabserving the world and belive in the goodness of people Scout believes that theworld is made up of many good people and few bad ones like Boo Radley As shematures, she begins to realize that her town can also be evil in the form of racism andprejudice The incident that best describes the children’s loss of innocence is whenTom Robinson was unfairly convicted of a crime that he did not commit and thechildren have to suffer the discrimination of the townspeople for having defendedhim At the end of the story, the children have lost their innocence and they havemoved to a more sophiticated understanding of the world including good and badsides

Chapter Three RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

This study, with the purpose of discovering stylistic devices used in the novel

To Kill a Mockingbirduses quantitative and qualitative analysis as the generalmethods of the study Besides, comparative method was used to find out whichstylistic device was the most frequently used in the novel

3.2 RESEARCH METHODS

The study aims to examine metaphorical and simile expressions in the noveland analyze them in terms of structural and semantic aspects It also aims at realizingother stylistic devices used in the work which are personification and repetition Inorder to reach the goals, the quantitative and qualitative approaches were used andseveral methods such as descriptive and analytic methods were employed

- Suggesting some implications in using stylistic devices for language users

3.4 DATA ANALYSIS

The data will firstly be investigated and done with reading and collecting

sentences or phrases containing stylistic devices The method used in this thesis wasmainly the quatitative approach.

As has been set up for the objective of the study, the data analysis has beendone concerning the research questions stated in chapter 1:

- What are some stylistic devices used in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

- Which stylistic devices are most frequently and distinctively used in the novel

To Kill a Mockingbird?

3.5 RESEARCH PROCEDURE

So as to reach the goal of this thesis, it would carry out the investigation based

on the combination of methods of quantitative and qualitative

- Collecting the examples containing stylistic devices in the novel

- Analyzing and discussing the results

- Suggesting some implications for teachers and learners of English, especiallyfor those who wish to write English effectively

3.6 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

In respect of reliability, the information cited in this study as well as the dataemployed for analysis are derived from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by theauthor Harper Lee Thus, the data source and theoretical background source arereliable

In respect of validity, this thesis was done by employing and applying theoperational concepts and definitions of the key ideas that have been supposed toidentify and measure the case of stylistic devices found in the data

The study has followed the research design strictly The data collectionprocedures and research instrument must be performed carefully and adequately

Chapter Four FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

The imagery used in this book has captivated many for decades The effectiveuse of literary devices like similes, metaphors, and others, have made the story easier

to connect to This chapter shows details of the stylistic devices used and which

stylistic device(s) are most frequently and distinctively used in To Kill A Mockingbird.

As can be seen in Table 4.1, the stylistic devices embodying stylistic devices

in —To Kill a Mockingbird" are divided into four major categories, namely:

metaphor, simile, personification and repetition Simile accounts for the highestpercentage, at 34,58%, followed by metaphor with 32,91% Finally werepersonification and repetition with 20,83% and 11,66% respectively

Table 4.1 Frequency (%) of stylistic devices investigated in the novel

■ Simile

■ Metaphor

■ Personifica tion

■ Repetition

Chart 4.1 Frequency (%) of stylistic devices investigated

in the novel

4.1 SIMILE IN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Simile is a mean of expression comparing two or more things put together inorder to find a similarity with the purpose of highlighting pictures, promptingaesthetic feelings for readers In this famous work, simile plays an important role ingiving more details of things in the narrator‘s voice Among the stylistic devicesstudied in the research, simile is the most widely used and it helps to create theaesthetic value for the novel through similar images that are used creativily andsmartly

4.1.1 Structural features of stylistic devices embodying simile

In terms of structural features, the simile in To Kill a Mockingbird may include three clearest means: like, as.as, and as if.

The 83 cases of simile are divided into categories: the structure using as as accounts for 44 cases (53,01%), the structure using as if takes around 24,09% with

20 cases and the rest for the preposition like, 19 cases with around 22,89% The

percentage of different structures creating simile can be illustrated clearly in table4.2

Table 4.2 Frequency (%) of Stylistic devices embodying simile

staring and wondering (p.8)

The phrase "the moon draws water" suggests a person obtaining water from a well,

and suggests a sense of intention and purpose In this way, the influence of the

moon's gravity on the tides is being used, and the phrase could also suggest an

impersonal process The most important rhetorical aspect of the quotation is the way

it portrays Dill as passively drawn to the Radley place, rather than actively seeking it out

Example 2:

We watched One morning Jem and I found a load of stovewood in the back yard Later, a sack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps With Christmas came a crate of smilax and holly That spring when we found a crokersack full of turnip greens, Atticus said Mr Cunningham had more than paid him.

“Why does he pay you like that?” I asked.

“Because that’s the only way he can pay me He has no money ”

“Are we poor, Atticus?”

Atticus nodded “We are indeed.”

Jem’s nose wrinkled “Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?”

“Not exactly The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest.” (p.21)

The Cunninghams are a family of poor but proud farmers who refuse to acceptcharity from anyone When Atticus performs legal work on an entailment for WalterCunningham Sr., he accepts payment in the form of farm produce such as nuts,firewood, and turnip greens

Example 3:

“Mr Finch, I tried I tried to „thout bein’ ugly to her I didn’t wanta be ugly, I didn’t wanta push her or nothin„.”

It occurred to me that in their own way, Tom Robinson’s manners were

as good as Atticus’s Until my father explained it to me later, I did not

understand the subtlety of Tom’s predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so

he took the first opportunity to run—a sure sign of guilt (p.198)

Scout compares Tom‘s manner with Atticus‘s because she feels Tom‘s

testimony trustworthy Scout takes her father's advice and listens to Tom's testimony

as opposed to watching him in order to tell if he is lying Tom says, —No suh, Mr.Finch, I never did I wouldn't do that, suh” Despite protesting too much by denying itthree times, Scout finds herself believing Tom Scout feels like Tom is telling thetruth because he seems like a respectable man, like her father

Example 4:

“Gentlemen,” he was saying, “I shall be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one,

it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you

to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant To

begin with, this case should never have come to trial This case is as simple as black and white (p.207)

With —black and white”, the members of the jury may see the case literally ablack man raped a white woman, while Atticus means that the case is simple andstraightforward The prosecution of the trial has offered no evidence that proved Tomguilty In fact, Tom‘s disability shows that he couldn‘t harm the victim and he shouldhave been set free

Example 5:

But I must have been reasonably awake, or I would not have received the impression that was creeping into me It was not unlike one I had last winter, and I shivered, though the night was hot The feeling grew until the atmosphere in the courtroom was exactly the same as a cold February morning, when the mockingbirds were still, and the carpenters had

stopped hammering on Miss Maudie’s new house, and every wood door

in the neighborhood was shut as tight as the doors of the Radley Place.

A deserted, waiting, empty street, and the courtroom was packed with people A steaming summer night was no different from a winter morning.

(p.214)

This paragraph is when everyone is waiting for the jury to come out with theverdict Scout tells that the atmosphere in the courtroom reminds her of a cold

February morning from a previous year and she compares that atmosphere to theimpression she once felt the winter before (in chapter 10) One February morningScout experienced a silence outdoors:

Nothing is more deadly than a deserted, waiting street The trees were still, the mockingbirds were silent, the carpenters at Miss Maudie’s house had vanished (p.98)

Now, in this courtroom, the atmosphere is as still as that of that day Jem andScout and others know that the innocent —mockingbird” Tom has stopped —singing”; Mayella's untrue accusations and Bob Ewell's overt racism are all "doors"that are shut "tightly" against Tom

Example 6:

“Don’t see why, it’s just around the corner and across the yard.”

“That yard’s a mighty long place for little girls to cross at night,” Jem teased.

“Ain’t you scared of haints?”

We laughed Haints, Hot Steams, incantations, secret signs, had vanished bright, life-in-death; get off the road, don’t suck my breath.”

“Cut it out, now,” I said We were in front of the Radley Place (p.258)

Clearly, both Jem and Scout have matured from their childhood beliefs inmysterious phenomena and are able to laugh at themselves now They compare those

silly fears to mist and the fact that they now mature with sunrise - something bright

and new This is a beautiful simile describing Scout‘s progression from a child to anadolescence

He refuses Ms.Caroline‘s quarter as he knows he can not pay it back He is forgiving

as he goes to Scout‘s house and has lunch with her family even after she rubbed hisnose in dirt He holds a conversation with Atticus like an adult about farming Heseems not to be able to pass grade one as he has to stay outside helping his father

with farming The description about him having “no color in his face” and looking

“as if he had been raised on fish food” states that the child has not received enough

nutrition because his family is too poor

Example 8:

In Maycomb County, it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly,

as opposed to yearly lavations: Mr Ewell had a scalded look; as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt, his skin

appeared to be sensitive to the elements Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard (p.181)

This simile gives the readers an idea of Mr.Ewell to be dirty as if he hasn‘tbathed in a while This also proves that the Ewell family is very dysfunctional andpoor The Ewells care less about how they are perceived by their town

This is a sentence used to describe Scout's teacher Miss Caroline She is new

to Maycomb and brings with her a new way of teaching She is a naive character inthe way that she only knows one way of teaching which Scout disagrees with MissCaroline often has trouble disciplining the children and does not understand thefamily economics of Maycomb There is something very childlike in this description.That doesn’t necessarily mean she’s ‘bad’, it just means that Scout might not see her

as ‘good’

Example 10:

By the time Mrs Cat called the drugstore for an order of chocolate

malted mice the class was wriggling like a bucketful of catawba worms.

(p.17)

In this case, the wiggling class is compared to a bucket of worms because theyannot sit still They are not interested in the book because they are —immune toimaginative literature.”

half-Aunt Alexandra fits well into the world of the Maycomb women because ofher ideas on family breeding and the proper handling of maids and other domestichelp Also, she loves to gossip, she dresses properly, and she is a gracious hostess atteas and family gatherings Much like the other ladies of Maycomb, Aunt Alexandralikes to "arrange, advise, caution, and warn." She does not fit into the world of Jemand Scout because it is a male world in which there is little gossip, much physicalcontact, sports, and outdoor activities such as running and rolling inside tires,climbing trees, and firing air rifles Social and racial differences are not matters ofcrucial importance, either

4.1.2 Semantic features of stylistic devices embodying simile

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the stylistic devices embodying simile are divided into some categories such as behavior, appearance, emotion/feeling, and others.

Among these, the stylistic devices embodying behavior takes the most frequency(31,32%), followed by emotion/feeling which accounts for 28,91% the stylisticdevices embodying apperance take smaller frequency, at 21,68%.

Table 4.3 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devices embodying simile

Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on

this jury A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound

as the men who make it up (p.209)

He means that the justice system works only when each individual juror takes

Chart 4.3 Frequency (%) of categories of stylistic devices embodying simile

his duty seriously This means that a juror must use reason and intellect, weigh theevidence objectively, and leave all biases and/or prejudices out of the courtroom.

Example 13:

“Scout,” said Dill, “she just fell down in the dirt Just fell down in the

dirt, like a giant with a big foot just came along and stepped on her Just ump— ” Dill’s fat foot hit the ground “Like you’d step on an ant.” Dill

said Calpurnia and Atticus lifted Helen to her feet and half carried, half walked her to the cabin They stayed inside a long time, and Atticus came out alone When they drove back by the dump, some of the Ewells hollered at them, but Dill didn’t catch what they said (p.244)

This simile is in chapter 25 and it describes how Helen responded to Tom‘sdeath Dill's simile uses descriptive imagery to show how quickly the news strikesHelen One can just imagine a giant stepping on her and crushing her along with allher hopes and dreams for a future with her husband She must have had high hopesfor the appeal process that Atticus so highly believed in Both she and Atticusthought that Tom had a good chance to go free after appealing the verdict.Unfortunately, Tom wasn't that hopeful

Example 14:

“No, child,” she said, “that is a sad house I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what folks

said he did Spoke as nicely as he knew how.”

“You reckon he’s crazy?”

Miss Maudie shook her head “If he’s not he should be by now The things that happen to people we never really know What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets- ” (p.46)

Miss Maudie tells Scout that Boo Radley was a kind child and behaved nicely

to her She also seems to think that Boo Radley is sad rather than crazy, as shebelieves his house is a sad house Miss Maudie is much like Atticus: she is a genuineperson who does not judge anyone whose shoes she has not walked in That explainswhy Scout and Jem trust her answers as they do with Atticus

4.1.2.2 Feelings and emotions

Example 15:

When supper was over, Uncle Jack went to the livingroom and sat down

He slapped his thighs for me to come sit on his lap I liked to smell him:

he was like a bottle of alcohol and something pleasantly sweet He

pushed back my bangs and looked at me “You’re more like Atticus than your mother,” he said “You’re also growing out of your pants a little’’

Example 16:

“Did she die free?” asked Jem.

“As the mountain air,” said Atticus “She was conscious to the last,

almost Conscious,” he smiled, “and cantankerous She still disapproved heartily of my doings, and said I’d probably spend the rest of my life bailing you out of jail She had Jessie fix you this box—” (p.115)

Atticus tells his children that Mrs.Dubose died free as the mountain air

because her wish “leave the world beholden to nothing and nobody” had come true.

Mrs Dubose was a morphine addict and was told that she only had a few months left.Thus, she wanted to break herself free from her addition and succeeded There‘s justsomething about the air in the mountains that feels so much fresher and cleaner thanair found anywhere else

the winter wind" (p.103)

Scout uses the words "scrape," "slammed" and "wind" to describe the soundsassociated with how her father comes home after learning upsetting news about hisson's behavior that day She also adds a cold simile "like the winter wind" toaccentuate what the atmosphere felt like when Jem was called to his father'sattention

4.1.2.3 Appearance

Example 18:

Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum (p.5)

Here, Lee with her beautiful details compares the ladies enduring the heat of a

Maycomb summer to teacakes with frostings compared with sweat and sweet

talcum.

Example 19:

She was horrible Her face was the color of a dirty pillowcase, and the corners of her mouth glistened with wet, which inched like a glacier down the deep grooves enclosing her chin Old-age liver spots dotted her

cheeks, and her pale eyes had black pinpoint pupils Her hands were knobby, and the cuticles were grown up over her fingernails Her bottom plate was not in, and her upper lip protruded; from time to time she would draw her nether lip to her upper plate and carry her chin with it.

This made the wet move faster (p.110)

Then there's Scout's vivid description of Mrs Dubose, the mean old lady whoalways yells at Scout and Jem each time they walk past her house There's somethingappropriately cold and hard about the simile that Scout uses to describe the oldwoman, which perfectly captures her icy demeanor

Example 20:

Calpurnia was something else again She was all angles and bones; she

was nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and

twice as hard She was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as well as Jem when she knew he was older, and

calling me home when I wasn’t ready to come Our battles were epic and one-sided Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side She had been with us ever since Jem was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember ( p.6)

Through the novel, Scout described her family’s cook - Calpurnia in manyways Here in this simile, the idea about Calpurnia‘s appearance, action, words can

be shaped clearly in readers’ mind Though Scout often describes herself as resentful

of Calpurnia, she also makes sure that the readers understands that Calpurnia alwaysfulfills her responsibility to Atticus and to both Jem and Scout Scout's descriptionsmight often sound negative, but Calpurnia's presence ultimately had a positive effect

on Scout

Example 21:

“Is that tree dyin„?”

“Why no, son, I don’t think so Look at the leaves, they’re all green and full, no brown patches anywhere—”

“It ain’t even sick?”

“That tree’s as healthy as you are, Jem Why?”

“Mr Nathan Radley said it was dyin„.”

“Well maybe it is I’m sure Mr Radley knows more about his trees than

I thought it odd that I had not heard him (p.64)

From all the things the children received mentioned in the previous chapters,readers can guess that they were from Boo Radley Those gifts explain Boo‘spersonaility He may want to connect to the world and make friends with others and

retrieve attention However, his father Nathan Radley seems to be against anyfriendship between Boo and the children, he has locked Boo‘s door and break hiseffort in making any connection to the world That‘s why he filled the knot hole ofthe tree with cement while the tree is as healthy as Jem That the hole is cementedmade Jem cry, as he knows that from now on the connection between Boo and themhas been cut while he has not showed his gratitude towards Boo nor gave him something in return.

4.1.2.4 Others

As stated in table 4.3., the stylistic devices embodying simile in To Kill aMockingbird are divided into some categories Beside apperance, behavior,feelings/emtions, Lee also mentioned to some other categories

Example 22:

“He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham- ”

“Hush your mouth! Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s yo„ comp'ny, and don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty! Yo„ folks might be better’n the

Cunninghams but it don’t count for nothin’ the way you’re disgracin„ ’em

—if you can’t act fit to eat at the table you can just set here and eat in the kitchen! ” (p.25)

According to the lecture, one of the first rules of the guest-host relationship isnot to comment on or criticize the guest's eating habits This quote comes after Scouthas offended a guest, the Cunningham boy Calpurnia corrects her by saying thisquote It is meant to show Scout that being high and mighty in her own house aroundguests can offend them, and sometimes worse than the Cunningham boy is offended

Example 23:

She loved everything that grew in God’s earth, even the weeds With one

exception If she found a blade of nut grass in her yard it was like the Second Battle of the Marne: she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and

subjected it to blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it’d kill us all if we didn’t stand out of the way (p.43)

This is also an example of simile because it compares Miss Maudie's actions

to the Second Battle of the Marne while using the word "like"

4.2 METAPHOR IN TO KIIL A MOCKINGBIRD

Metaphor was one of the most potent means of creating images in writing.Metaphor is a way of using an object as the name of another one based on therelation between them in some aspects (such as color, nature, status, etc.) Among thestylistic devices studied in the research, metaphor is the second widely used, itconveys a variety of content from the external world to the inner world of people,from ordinary people to daily life Metaphor is not only a mean of expression withiconic value, but also have a very high expressive power To Kill a Mockingbird is astory about racial injustice and loss of innocence The mockingbird has been used as

a metaphor for innocence Here are the metaphors expressed in the different content

in the works

4.2.1 Structural features of stylistic devices embodying metaphor

Stylistic devices of metaphor in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper

Lee can be classified into three distinctive categories: nouns, verbs, adjectives andadverbs