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Discourse and Power in Sister Carrie

Lundgren, Henrik LU (2019) ÄEND04 20192
Educational Sciences
Abstract
This essay aims to perform a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of select passages from Sister Carrie. The purpose of this is to identify and explain how discourse (language use) affects the intercharacter positions of power at various points of the story. These findings will be presented in the form of rhetorical devices and will be used to propose methods and exercises intended to teach skills related to argumentation and debate, as stipulated by the Swedish upper secondary school curriculum. This area within English proficiency is important due to how ubiquitous the need is to understand how language can be used for a persuasive purpose, and the use of a novel as a source for data allows for naturalistic examples of discourse to be... (More)
This essay aims to perform a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of select passages from Sister Carrie. The purpose of this is to identify and explain how discourse (language use) affects the intercharacter positions of power at various points of the story. These findings will be presented in the form of rhetorical devices and will be used to propose methods and exercises intended to teach skills related to argumentation and debate, as stipulated by the Swedish upper secondary school curriculum. This area within English proficiency is important due to how ubiquitous the need is to understand how language can be used for a persuasive purpose, and the use of a novel as a source for data allows for naturalistic examples of discourse to be analysed in an easily contextualised environment. Previous research involving Sister Carrie has failed to target this area of research, as it has largely focused on analysing economic and political factors in the novel, rather than discursive ones. This essay therefor aims to occupy this niche. The results show how the novel’s characters act and use language as a mode of control, displaying the often-subtle ways in which intent can be conveyed in an otherwise innocuous utterance. The findings of the analysis, and the suggested teaching implications presented allows for a deeper understanding into how the effects of discourse on power can be understood and taught. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lundgren, Henrik LU
supervisor
organization
course
ÄEND04 20192
year
type
L3 - Miscellaneous, Projetcs etc.
subject
keywords
Sister Carrie, discourse, power, rhetorical devices, argumentation, Swedish curriculum, education
language
English
id
9007184
date added to LUP
2022-09-19 09:22:56
date last changed
2022-09-19 09:22:56
@misc{9007184,
  abstract     = {{This essay aims to perform a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of select passages from Sister Carrie. The purpose of this is to identify and explain how discourse (language use) affects the intercharacter positions of power at various points of the story. These findings will be presented in the form of rhetorical devices and will be used to propose methods and exercises intended to teach skills related to argumentation and debate, as stipulated by the Swedish upper secondary school curriculum. This area within English proficiency is important due to how ubiquitous the need is to understand how language can be used for a persuasive purpose, and the use of a novel as a source for data allows for naturalistic examples of discourse to be analysed in an easily contextualised environment. Previous research involving Sister Carrie has failed to target this area of research, as it has largely focused on analysing economic and political factors in the novel, rather than discursive ones. This essay therefor aims to occupy this niche. The results show how the novel’s characters act and use language as a mode of control, displaying the often-subtle ways in which intent can be conveyed in an otherwise innocuous utterance. The findings of the analysis, and the suggested teaching implications presented allows for a deeper understanding into how the effects of discourse on power can be understood and taught.}},
  author       = {{Lundgren, Henrik}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Discourse and Power in Sister Carrie}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}