Beyond Binary Opposition： Reinterpretation of Mr. Pontellier in the Awakening

The American writer Kate Chopin＇s masterpiece, The Awakening published in the late 19th century is one of the classics in female literature. The heroine Edna having the courage to pursue self-reliance and express her self-awareness, is regarded as a ＂new woman＂, while the comments on her husband, Mr. Pontellier are quite negative--He regards Edna as a private property and a sexual tool, leading to her awakening and suicide. In this paper, the author reinterprets Mr. Pontellier with the method of close reading in new criticism, deeming that it is the binary opposition in thinking that leads to the misreading. Mr. Pontellier was just a follower of the tradition and custom. The objective evaluation and reinterpretation to him can help students to develop the habit of critical thinking and the courage to pursue truth is case they form a simple thinking mode of the binary opposition.

An Analysis of Binary Oppositions in The Garden Party

The Garden Party is one of the major short fictions of famous female writer Katherine Mansfield. In this work,the writer makes a profound reflection on the inequality in differentsocial classes and the truth of life. This paperwill focus on the research method of binary opposition. Through the study of binary oppositions in the text, thedeep themes and meanings will be clearly revealed.

On Binary Oppositions in The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg

The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg is a classic middle-length novel written by Mark Twain. The story revolves around a sack of gold that every one of the 19 principal citizens in the"most honest and upright town"Hadleyburg desires to claim by any means, fair or foul. The vivid description reveals the bourgeois hypocrisy of the capitalist society. This article intends to study the story from the perspective of binary opposition and finds out three pairs of opposition, they are honesty vs. hypocrisy; trust vs. trap; fancy vs. fact, which makes the story more sarcastic and full of sight and wisdom.

On Binary Opposition in Guests of the Nation

Guests of the Nation is a short story written by Frank O’Connor,a driven and prodigious writer,who was arguably one of Ireland’s most complete man of letters in the 20th century.Despite the fact that he lived a life of many facets,he was best known for his short stories.In a life span of 63 years,he produced 11 volumes of short stories,among which the title story of Frank O’Con⁃nor’s landmark collection Guests of the Nation was always widely reviewed,generally in positive terms.As a story set against the background of the Irish War of Independence,Guests of the Nation depicts an extraordinary situation where Irish soldiers and Eng⁃lish hostages become friends.To perform their duty,the Irish guards executed the two English hostages although camaraderie was created among them.This short story has attracted numerous critics to analyze it from different perspectives,each of whom has their own notion on the theme of the story.However,most of the scholars focus on analyzing the characters,few of them have noticed bi⁃nary oppositions in the story.There are several pair of binary oppositions in the story,for instance,enemy and friends,friendship and duty,comedy and tragedy,life and death,etc.Therefore,the present paper will examine it from the perspective of binary oppo⁃sition,in an attempt to tap deep into the conflict between humanity and the national interest,as well as the absurdity of war.

On Binary Opposition in The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper is the masterpiece of the prominent American female writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman(1860-1935). Trying to illustrate the ideology and women status in the 19 th century from the perspective of binary opposition, this paper is going to explore how the narrator escapes from the patriarchal confinement and finally achieves independence by employing the artistic technique of binary opposition. The three sets of binary opposition reveals the confrontation between madness and sense, anarchy and order, silence and discourse and how the narrator finds her way out from the oppressive patriarchal culture.

Study on The Light of the World from the Perspective of Binary Oppositions

Structuralism is employed to analyze language, culture and society in 1900 s. It's an effective theory to anatomize literary works. The light of the world is a short story composed by Ernest Hemingway, the most important and outstanding author since the death of Shakespeare. The story is dissected from binary oppositions, a key element in Structuralism. Two binary oppositions of the Light of the World have been clarified: the lies and true heart of two whores, and the light of the world and the world without light.

Deconstructive Reading of Snowed Up: A Mistletoe Story

Snowed Up:A Mistletoe Story,a previously unpublished short story of Richard Jefferies,has been studied from many different approaches,but few papers discuss it from the perspective of Deconstruction.This paper will deconstruct Snowed Up:A Mistletoe Story from three binary oppositions:1) the upper class and the lower class;2) nature and civilization;3) Edie' s inner voice and her actual behavior.Besides,this paper will also try to deconstruct the traditional patriarchy through Edie ' s papa.Analyzing this novel from deconstructive approach will provide readers a deep insight into Richard Jefferies work.

Amiable Shakespeare Versus Satirical Jonson?——A Contrastive Myth between Shakespearean and Jonsonian Comedies

Shakespeare and Ben Jonson have frequently been paired up for comparison in studies of early modern English drama.Conventional views about Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s comedies evolved and crystallized in the seventeenth,eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.People believed or were led to believe that Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s comedies were in clear opposition:Shakespeare’s comedies were sweet,romantic,amiable,popular and entertaining,whereas Jonson’s were based on an abstract theory of humors,cold,satiric,pedantic,and moralizing.Only in the last century did these oppositions begin to change,but too slowly.This paper calls those binary oppositions into question.It tries to present a more truthful picture of these two playwrights and their comedies through an examination of some of their works.It argues that some of those oppositions are stereotypes and should not be taken seriously by contemporary Shakespearean and Jonsonian scholars.

Who Killed Dr.Faustus—An Analysis on Doctor Faustus's Tragic End

Doctor Faustus is one of the most famous tragedies written by Christopher Marlowe in the 16th century.This paper aims at finding out the true factors which lead to Faustus's final damnation with the help of binary opposition-an important theory in structuralism.

A Deconstruction Perspective of The Minister's Black Veil

Deconstruction, advocated by Jacques Derrida, is a critic outlook that indicates the pitfall of the philosophical dichotomy in Western convention, revealing the unreliability of human language and conception. Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil,with the obscurity and uncertainty in its disclosure, offers the feasibility for a deconstruction study. The binary oppositions and its deconstruction of the "black veil" in perspective of persona, idea and existence contribute to the void perception and activities of Mr.Hooper, the protagonist as well as the author's literary practice.

The Burning Love in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson

As a distinguished female poet,Emily Dickinson is considered to write many love poems in her life time.This paper attempts to understand the burning love through the implicit and explicit representation in her love poems.Through the use of the binary opposition and the bold description of the sexual affairs between lovers,the yearning for love is represented in her poems.Whether it is implicit or explicit description,the inequality between the male and the female is fully represented through Dickinson’s love poems.The female not only suffered the emotional repression in a love relationship,but also is reduced to the subordinate social status in every aspects of the Victorian society.

A Deconstructive Study of Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You

Celeste Ng is a contemporary Chinese-American female writer.Her novel Everything I Never Told You won the first place in Amazon.com’s No.1 Best Book of 2014.Her gentle and delicate style of writing,precise and restrained diction and serious themes aroused strong repercussions.This paper is proposed to analyze the deconstruction tendencies of the novel from the perspective of deconstruction,showing absurdities and harm of monism incisively and vividly through the analysis of the following three parts of binary oppositions in the novel:males and females,strong cultures and weak cultures,parents and children,which illustrate the reconstruction rather than destruction and provide the possibility of rebuilding the identity and culture of the Asian-American.

A Structuralist Interpretation of Yeats＇ Play： The Death of Cuchulain

The Death of Cuchulain is W.B.Yeats' final play, which presents Yeats' philosophical consideration and profound thinkingtowards life and death. This thesis tends to interpret Yeats' play from the persective of structuralism, namely, mainly adopting thetheory of Todorov and Greimas to analyse the structure of the play. More importantly, under the guidance of Greimas' binary opposi-tion, one can perceive the comprehensive understanding of the implied theme that is hidden behind surface.