摘 要

纳瓦雷·斯科特·莫马迪，是美国印第安作家中的泰斗级人物。《日诞之地》是他的著作之一。我的论文从结构主义角度出发，运用格雷马斯提出的”行动元模式”, 分析《日诞之地》中的不同人物，并试着分析出缓解美国本土文化与白人文化冲突的有效途径。

关键词：《日诞之地》 ；“行动元模式”；身份；印第安文化

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………...…………………….1

2. Demonstration ……………………………………………………………………...2

2.1 About “Actantial Model”…………………………………………………………2

2.2 The Axis of Desire…………………………………………………………………3

2.2.1 The subject………………………………………………………………………3

2.2.2 The object………………………………………………………………………..4

2.3 The Axis of Transmission………………………………………………………….5

2.3.1 The sender……………………………………………………………………….5

2.3.2 The receiver……………………………………………………………………...6

2.4 The Axis of Power…………………………………………………………………7

2.4.1 The helper………………………………………………………………………..7

2.4.2 The opponent…………………………………………………………………….9

3. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………11

Works cited..................................................................................................................12

Bibliography.................................................................................................................13

An Analysis of House Made of Dawn from the Perspective of

“Actantial Model”

1. Introduction

Navarre Scott Momaday (born February 27, 1934) is one of the foremost American Indian writers. His accomplishments in painting, fiction and poetry have made him a great American writer. Because of his special racial identity and experience of growing up, Momaday is familiar with both Indian life and White society. He built a bridge between two worlds with his skillful use of words. He is the dean of Native American writers, and has influenced other contemporary Native American writers such as Paula Gunn Allen and Louise Erdrich.

Born in Oklahoma, Momaday spent the first year of his life in his grandparents’ home on the Kiowa Indian reservation, the place his father was born and raised. When he was one year old, Momaday and his parents moved to Arizona. His father was a painter. His mother, who could speak both English and Cherokee, was an author of children's books. Momaday developed an interest in literature when he was young, especially poetry. In 1969, he received a Pulitzer for his first novel House Made of Dawn. After publishing this book, Momaday continued in his way. His book The Way to Rainy Mountain was published in 1969. In 1974, Angle of Gees and Other Poems, his first collection of poems was published, followed by The Gourd Dancer after two years. He also published The Names: A Memoir(1976) and his second fiction The Ancient Child(1989)

House Made of Dawn is the most famous book of Momaday. The hero of this book is an Indian young man Abel. He can neither return to Indian culture nor adapt to white social at first. At last, however, Abel found his real identity and culture. When the novel was first published, it won lots of favorable comments. Also, this fiction made Momaday become a famous American Indian writer. For a long time, critical reviews on House Made of Dawn have been controversial in domestic and abroad academia. There are many studies of this book beyond seas. However, the study in China is limited. The focuses mainly are about ecological criticism, cultural analysis and Abel’s return to tradition of Indian, etc.

Put simply, my thesis will focus on the different characters in the book and analyze Abel’s return from the perspective of the Actantial Model of Greimas. The thesis will be divided into two parts. In the first part, I will give an introduction of The Actantial Model of Greimas. In the second part, I’m going to demonstrate how the characters and their actions affect Abel’s return.

2. Demonstration

2.1 Introduction of “Actantial Model”

The “Actantial Model” is a theory of narratology. It was widely developed by A.J. Greimas, a famous French-Lithuanian literary scientist. This model was based on the theories of Vladimir Propp (1970).The “Actantial Model” is a tool which can be used to analyze the action that takes place in a story by breaking down the action into six components. All the components are called actants. The following chart can visually demonstrates the relationship between six actants in this model:

From this chart, we can see that these six actants can be divided into three oppositions, and each of the oppositions forms an axis of the “Actantial Model”. First is the axis of desire. It includes the subject and the object. The relationship between the subject and the object is called a junction. It is the relation between the actor who follows an aim and that aim itself. If actor X aspires towards goal Y, X is a subject---actant, Y is an object---actant. If the object can be conjoined with the subject, we call it conjunction. On the contrary, we call it disjunction. Second is called the axis of transmission or the axis of knowledge. This axis includes the sender and the receiver. The sender is a necessary element which can help to establish the junction between the subject and the object (for example, the king asks the prince to rescue the princes). The receiver is the element which takes the quest of the sender. The third is called the axis of power. This axis includes the helper and the opponent. The helper assists in junction between the subject and the object. The opponent, in contrast, hinders the junction between the subject and the object.

The “Actantial Model” represented as a square