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A Study on Violation of Cooperative Principle in Interpersonal Rhetoric in Lord of the Flies

Author: LiHui
Tutor: LiuMingJing
School: Central South University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Grice Lord of the Flies interpersonal rhetoric violation of Cooperative Principle
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Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2009
Downloads: 259
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Abstract

Based on the two-level communication of literary text, the present study takes Lord of the Flies as the subject of study, pragmatic theories, especially the Cooperative Principle as the analytical framework. The aim of the study is to investigate how the Cooperative Principle and its concomitant maxims are violated in the dialogic relationships of various kinds in this novel, and then find out what kind of implied meaning is generated from the violation and what kind of function it plays in the writing techniques of the novel.The thesis has five parts, consisting of introduction, three chapters and conclusion. Introduction is about literature review of Lord of the Flies and theoretical foundation of the thesis. Chapter 1 endeavors to discover macro-level violation of Cooperative Principle this novel. This kind of violation is discussed from violation of four maxims of quality, quantity, relation and manner. Violation of maxim of quality is manifested through the subversion of The Coral Island and play of the children; violation of maxim of quantity is presented through less information about the protagonists and the island; violation of maxim of relation is manifested by indirectly revealing what the "beast" is and violation of maxim of manner is mainly presented through the obscurity of children’s rescue.Chapter 2 deals with micro-level violation of Cooperative Principle in Lord of the Flies. This type of violation is also discussed from violation of four maxims of quality, quantity, relation and manner. All the violation of each maxim is displayed in the everyday conversation of the fictional characters.Chapter 3 endeavors to explore the implicature generated from macro-level and micro-level violation as well as its function. On macro-level, the impact of Golding’s implicature on the theme of this novel and the connection between Cooperative Principle violation and writing techniques are explored. On micro-level, the impact of characters’ implicature on the conversational purpose and the connection between Cooperative Principle violation and some figures of speech are explored.Conclusion proves the following points:Firstly, Cooperative Principle could not only apply to the dialogue among the fictional characters in the novel, but also to the dialogue between the writer and the reader of the novel.Secondly, with regards to the dialogic relationship between the writer and readers, the violation of the maxims is an effective means to convey to readers the thematic meaning. As far as Lord of the Flies is concerned, the thematic meaning is that the evil force together with the good force exists in human nature. And the process of violating maxims of Cooperative Principle is the process in which the writer’s writing art comes into being.Thirdly, with regards to the dialogic relationship among the fictional characters, violation of Cooperative Principle is a useful method to indicate the characters’ intention and an effective way to expose the personality of the character.

A Study on Violation of Cooperative Principle in Interpersonal Rhetoric in Lord of the Flies

Abstract

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