从象征人类学的视角看美国大众文化中的鸟类意象-以《杀死一只反舌鸟》和《饥饿游戏》为例_英语论文

An Analysis of Bird Imagery in American Mass Culture from the Perspective of Symbolic Anthropology in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games 

摘要

在美国小说《杀死一只反舌鸟》和《饥饿游戏》中，作者都运用到了鸟类意象来传达小说主题。《杀死一只反舌鸟》中就用到了两种形成鲜明对比的鸟类意象来传达作者想要表达的种族分歧的主题，而《饥饿游戏》中的学舌鸟是一种在反舌鸟的基础上产生的虚构的鸟类意象，并始终穿插在女主角的奋斗历程中，反映出阶级斗争等文化意义。这两本小说选用的鸟类及传达的意义都有相似之处，论文拟运用象征人类学理论，对《杀死一只反舌鸟》和《饥饿游戏》这两个文本中出现的鸟类进行对比和分析。通过研究得出这些鸟类作为美国文学中特定的鸟类意象在美国大众文化中存在着的被普遍认可及运用的象征意义。

关键词  鸟类意象  象征人类学  美国大众文化

摘 要

Abstract

In American novel To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games, both authors used bird imageries to express the message. To Kill a Mockingbird uses two totally opposite bird imageries to symbolize the conflict between two classes which the author wants to express as the topic. Bird imagery mockingjay in The Hunger Games is an virtual imagery based on the real bird mockingbird which develops during the course of struggle along with the heroine and reflects the topic, class struggle. Similar birds in two books has similar symbolic meanings. This thesis would like to take the perspective of Symbolic Anthropology and take To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games as study text in order to analyze and compare the bird imageries in these two books. Through the study, this thesis wants to find out the unique symbolic meanings of these birds as imageries appeared in American literature which are widely accepted and used by Americans in their mass culture.  

Keywords  bird imagery  Symbolic Anthropology  American mass culture

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 An Introduction to Authors and Works 1

1.2 Literature Review 1

1.3 Theoretical Framework 3

1.4   Thesis Structure 4

2   The Symbolism of Two Different Birds in To Kill a Mockingbird 5

2.1 Mockingbird: The Symbol of Innocence 5

2.2 Blue Jay: The Symbol of Sin 6

3 Real and Imagined Birds in The Hunger Games 8

3.1 Mockingbird a Basis for Imagined Birds 8

3.2 Continuity and Development from Mockingbird to Mockingjay 8

4   From Harper Lee to Suzanne Collins: Same Bird, Different Stories 10

4.1   Differences and Links Between Two Books 10

4.2   Historical Background of Two Authors 10

Conclusion 12

Acknowledgements 13

References 14