An Eclectic Model for the Stylistic Exploration of Mind Style in Fiction

Grounded in Halliday’s systemic functional approach to the study of language and his three metafunctions of language, a new model called an Eclectic Model of Mind Style (EMMS) is presented in this thesis. Its building involved the examination of existing research on mind style and further systematic incorporation of some of the existing concepts, approaches and methodologies into one overarching model that could assist scholars in a more comprehensive understanding of the character’s mind style. The goal of the model is to provide an analytical tool for stylistic analysis of the fictional characters’ mind styles by demonstrating various stylistic effects used by authors in depiction of fictional characters in their novels.

The building of the model involved two stages: the first stage comprised the detailed review of the scholarly research on the notion of mind style with the focus on the workings of the deviant minds. During this process, the outlines of the new model including its major categories have gradually emerged and finally, the EMMS has been built to be used as an inclusive analytical tool for stylistic analysis.

Testing the proposed model by applying it to the analysis of the two selected fictional characters has become the next logical step bringing forth the second stage of the thesis writing process. During this stage, the two novels and their main characters have been chosen, namely: Christopher Boone in Mark Haddon’s (2003) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Don Tillman in Graeme Simsion’s (2013) The Rosie Project. The primary focus of the analysis has been on exemplifying application of the EMMS categories to identifying the foregrounded use of stylistic features by the two characters and testing the EMMS analytical potential.

The findings show the EMMS analytical potential for stylistic research and possible use in other areas of language studies, as well as the necessity for its further testing.