Vietnam National University
university of languages and international studies
Faculty of Post- graduate studies
***

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYỀN A study on RACE DISCRIMINATION EMBEDDED IN THE
SHORT STORY "CHRISTINA ROSENTHAL (BY JEFFREY
ARCHER) FROM A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
(Nghiên cứu sự phân biệt chủng tộc trong truyện ngắn "Christina Rosenthal"
(Jeffrey Archer) dưới góc độ phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán)
Minor thesis
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15

Supervisor: Prof. Nguyễn Hòa

Hanoi, 2010
DECLARATION - 6 -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ii
ABSTRACT
iii
TABLE OF CONTENT
iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
vii
LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND CHARTS
viii
Part A: Introduction

5
1.2.2.2. Ruth Wodak‟s school – The discourse – historical approach
6
1.2.2.3. Fairclough‟s school – Systemic Functional Grammar
6
1.2.3. Fairclough‟s framework of CDA
7
1.3. Systemic functional grammar in CDA
11
1.4. Summary
13
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS PROCEDURES
14
2.1. About the object of the enquiry
14
2.2. Some brief information about the story
15
2.2.1. The story itself
15
2.2.2. Context of the story
15
2.3. Data analysis procedure
16
2.2. Analysis of discourse macrostructures of the story
17
2.3. Analysis of discourse microstructures of the story
19
2.3.1. The title: Christina Rosenthal
19
2.3.2. Lexicalization

2.4. Summary
36
PART C: CONCLUSION
37
1. Summary of the findings
37
2. Conclusions
38
3. Suggestions for further study
39
REFERENCES
40
APPENDIX 1
I
APPENDIX 2
II
APPENDIX 3
IV

Commissive
Rep
Representative
Dec
Declarative
B
Benjamin
C
Christina - 9 -
FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS
Line
FIGURE 1

Structural analysis of the assertive "She will never marry a
Jew"
31
TABLE 5
Participant types of the characters in the story
32
TABLE 6
Summary of the processes in which Benjamin is a participant
32
TABLE 7
Material and Mental processes that Benjamin is engaged in
33
TABLE 8
Summary of the processes in which Christina is a participant
34
TABLE 9
Summary of the processes in which the rabbi is a participant
35

- 10 -
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as it was, is a relatively new research area in Vietnam,
which were introduced just about five years now. Interest in CDA is growing and
appealing to many. Thus, this study is another attempt aimed at enhancing the
consciousness of how power and ideology are embedded in language in particular, and the
relations between language and society in general. It then somehow brings the contribution

the relation between language and society in general. It can make some significant
contribution to applying CDA to doing linguistic research.
3. Aims of the study and research questions
3.1. To provide a CDA analysis of the short story: “Christina Rosenthal” from a new
perspective of discourse analysis. Through this study, readers can access how race
discrimination are represented lexically, grammatically and macro-structurally as well.
3.2. The research questions:
a. What kinds of power and social relations are expressed in the story?
b. How are these relations expressed?
c. How can they be explained and interpreted?
4. Scope of the study
- The CDA analysis of the short story “Christina Rosenthal” is confined to some
linguistic aspects and some features of context.
- Among some social issues, race discrimination is mainly dealt with in the study.
- The study is oriented to discover the linguistic aspects, not literary ones.
5. Methodology
"Language as a form of social practice" (Fairclough, 2001) is always being adhered strictly
throughout the study. "Christina Rosenthal", a literature work, is not going to be taken into
pieces but to be considered a system which is created by sub-systems. When analyzing a - 12 -
particular lexical item, the writer will always put it in relation with other elements of its
sub-system and the whole system as well, with its macrostructures and its context.
The study bases itself on the common sense assumptions that there are “implicit
conventions according to which people interact linguistically” (Fairclough 2001).
Regarding the short story, there exists some aspects influencing the lexical and
grammatical choice of the writer. It then follows the inductive, that is all underlying
patterns and principles are drawn from description of data and generalization of findings.
The study is inclined to follow the integrated approaches; I try to conduct it through a


- 14 -
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. Background to Critical Discourse Analysis
1.1.1. CDA’s definition
According to van Dijk (1998a), CDA is a field that is concerned with studying and
analyzing written and spoken texts to reveal the discursive sources of power, dominance,
inequality and bias. It examines how these discursive sources are maintained and
reproduced within specific social, political and historical contexts.
In a similar vein, Fairclough (1993) defines CDA as discourse analysis which aims to
systematically explore often opaque relationships of causality and determination between

CDA specifically considers more or less overt relations of struggle and conflict in society.
Even though CDA has just been developed for more than thirty years, it is built from the
considerable contribution of many linguists in terms of both theory and methodology
(Wodak & Meyer, 2001). It is comprehensible why there exist different approaches in
doing CDA.
1.2.2. Three main schools of CDA
1.2.2.1. Van Dijk’s school – Socio-cognitive approach
Among CDA practitioners, van Dijk is one of the most often referenced and quoted in
critical studies of media discourse, even in studies that do not necessarily fit within the
CDA perspective. By structural analysis, van Dijk posited analysis of "structures at various
levels of description" which meant not only the grammatical, phonological, morphological
and semantic level but also "higher level properties" such as coherence, overall themes and
topics of news stories and the whole schematic forms and rhetorical dimensions of texts.
1.2.2.2. Ruth Wodak’s school – The discourse – historical approach
Her research is mainly located in Discourse Studies and in Critical Discourse Analysis.
Ruth's research agenda focuses on the development of theoretical approaches in discourse - 16 -
studies (combining ethnography, argumentation theory, rhetoric and functional systemic
linguistics); gender studies; language and/in politics; prejudice and discrimination.
1.2.2.3. Fairclough’s school – Systemic Functional Grammar
The third main approach in CDA is that of Fairclough whose theory has been central to
CDA over more than the past ten years. He described the objective of this approach as "a
contribution to the general raising of consciousness of exploitative social relations, through
focusing upon language" (1989, p. 4).
With CDA, Fairclough (1997, 271-9), has tackled the relationship between language and
context by elaborating on socially based topics such as: 'CDA addresses social problems';
'power relations are discursive'; 'discourse constitutes society and culture'; ' the link
between text and society is mediates'; and 'discourse is a form of action'

Stage 2: Interpretation
Interpretation has its spotlight on the „discourse processes and their independence
background assumptions‟ (p117). According to the diagram, the interpretation is realized
in two levels, interpretation of texts (lower section and interpretation of content (upper
section). The interpretation of texts is further done in four phases (pp119-120):
Social orders Situational context

Interactional history

Intertextual context Phonology, grammar Surface of utterance
Vocabulary

Semantics, Meanings of utterance
Pragmatics


to constitute one part of the recourses for interpretation".
Explanation mainly concerns 'the relationship of discourse to processes of struggle and to
power relation' (p117). This, according to him, consists of two dimensions, whether
emphasis is on processes of struggle or upon relations of power. As parts of social
struggles, discourses are conceptualized in terms of broader (non-discoursal) struggles, and
the effects of these struggles on structures. In this regard, the social effects of discourse,
creativity and the future can be the emphasis of the explanation. As regarding power
relationship, discourse is believed to be decided by struggles for power. Relation of power
is the result of struggles, and is set up by those with power. In this vein, the emphasis will
be on the social determination of discourse and on the past.
Both social effects of discourse and social determinants of discourse should be investigated
at three levels of social organization: The societal level, the institutional level, and the
situational level, which are shown in the following diagram.

- 19 -
Figure 2: Explanation
Societal Societal

Institutional MR Discourse MR Institutional

Situational Situational

Determinants Effects

Like what he has suggested for the interpretation stage, another three questions are
recommended for the explanation of a particular discourse (p.138):
1. Social determinants: what power relations at situational, institutional and societal

choices of Transitivity, Mood and Modality and Theme/Rheme systems of the language.
Transitivity system construes the world of experience into a manageable set of process
types, which are: Material, Mental, and Relational and three additional processes:
Behavioural, Verbal, and Existential. A process includes three components: The process
itself, participants in the process and Circumstances associated with the process.
Table 1: Summary of process types (adapted from Halliday, 1994)
Process type
Definition
Category
meaning
Participants
Example
1. Material
Process of doing
things, express the
notion that some entity
"does" something,
which may be done to
some other entity
'doing'
Actor, Goal

Action

'doing'

He hit the boy
Event

'happening'

much
Cognition

'thinking'

She believes in God
4. Verbal
Pocess of saying
'saying'
Sayer,
Target
He said to me "I love
you"
5. Relational
Process of 'being',
'being at', and having
'being'
Carrier
Attribute
- 21 -
Identified
Identified
Token
Value
Attribution

'attributing'
- 22 -
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS PROCEDURES
2.1. About the object of the enquiry
This thesis could be regarded as a case study
1
research as the chosen database of the study
is a short story. This is not unusual for a critical discourse analysis to be done on a single
discourse. It is worth conducting a study of particularity and complexity of a literature
work so as to gain an insight into the hidden implications that the author wants to convey
behind the surface of language.
As the thesis is an instrument case study, the data selected should be typical enough to be a
representative of CDA in literature field, however it also must be distinctive to illustrate
the matters I will look into. Having said that, I want to make it clear that the data selected
for analysis is a British story named "Christina Rosenthal" (Jeffrey Archer). The short
story "Christina Rosenthal" is my choice because of the following reasons:
Firstly, "Christina Rosenthal" is a well-known short story by Jeffrey Archer in his
collected short stories book "A Twist in the tale". It is also translated into Vietnamese
"Muon kiep ben nhau" by the famous writer, Ha Ky Lam in 1997. J. Archer is now the first
name in the best-selling British authors lists, and not only alphabetically: his books are
truly a memorable read, being well-written, they keep you hanging on every word. He does
marvellous work at storytelling. J. Archer seems to be the one to brilliantly develop the
traditions of W. S. Maugham, O‟Henry, etc. In terms of politics career, he was a Member

and in exchange for a swift divorce he gets custody of the boy Nicholas who cannot see his
real father until he is 21 and should not be told he is Benjamin's son. A year into their
newly rekindled passionate relationship, Christina is pregnant again, and gives birth to a
girl named Deborah. However, she had not warned Benjamin there were complications
during the first birth and had been advised by the doctors not to have any more children.
She died, and on the way to the funeral Benjamin who is reconciled with Christina's
parents and his own father, passes by the hospital to see Deborah. He is told sad news and
commits suicide. (www.mouthshut.com/ /Twist_In_The_Tale___A_-_Jeffrey_Archer)
2.2.2. Context of the story
"Christina Rosenthal" was one of the short stories in the collection "Twist in the Tale"
published in 1998 on the basis of the historic context in the early nineteenth century.
During the years when the Nazis were in power in Germany Canadian immigration policy
was actively anti-Semitic. The result was that Canada‟s record for accepting Jews fleeing - 24 -
the Holocaust is among the worst in the Western world. Canadian policy towards Jewish
refugees was summed up in the words of one official: "None is too many"
2
.
On May 15, 1939, the St. Louis, a steamship carrying 907 German Jewish refugees fleeing
Nazi Germany, set sail from Hamburg, Germany for Havana, Cuba. No other Latin
American country would admit the refugees, and the St. Louis had to leave port. Canada
and the United States were the Jews' last hope, but Mackenzie King ignored the protests of
Canadian Jewish organizations and said the crisis was not a "Canadian problem". Canada
only took in 8,000, or one percent of the 811,000 Jewish refugees admitted into countries
across the world. Mackenzie adopted the policy of "none is too many" regarding the
immigration of European Jewry seeking refuge from the Nazis.
Then the rabbi is one of the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany to Canada. He did not get on well
with the Nazis. Similarly, Christina's parents, the Germany, they did not like the Jews.

underpinning for the interpretation and explanation of the findings.
2.2. Analysis of discourse macrostructures of the story
"What is the macrostructure of a discourse?" - It is the structure of its global meaning,
topic or theme. Macrostructures are derived or inferred from the local meanings (or
microstructures) of discourse by a number of rules or strategies that reduce complex
information. Nevertheless, van Dijk (1980) recommends starting with macrostructures first
as such an analysis could provide a first, overall idea of what a discourse or corpus of texts
is all about, and controls many other aspects of discourse and its analysis.
Scanning the story we come across with a rabbi and his son Benjamin with his love for
Christina. It is written largely from the perspective of the protagonist, Benjamin, the son of
a Rabbi. It is set in Canada and starts in Benjamin's high school years, moving on to
college and then law school, finally ending with a suicide note the old rabbi had been
reading each day for the last ten years. Obviously, the most critical event in the storytelling
that effects everything happening after is that Christina becomes pregnant. Thereafter, her
parents forced her to leave him; she married her parent‟s choice while she bore his kid in
her womb. He was devastated, sank into the deepest realms of depression. He worked
harder and harder, got every award, every scholarship. Yet, he was so lonely and dismal,
for her love haunted him. He would sleep with every girl he desired, but they were just
objects of lust, love wasn‟t an emotion he could associate with these objects of desire.
After many years later, he saw her again. Life took another turn at him; she left her
husband to come back to him. He got her back but lost his son to her former husband. Love
bloomed for him again. His happiness hit the roof as she became pregnant again. On the - 26 -
day of her pregnancy, he paced anxiously to and fro at the hospital. The doctor informed
him that Christina was dead and that the child was still born. Lost in desperation, with the
love of his life dead, he killed himself.
In order to summarize the macrostructure of the story, it is necessary to point out the sub-
macro propositions (sub-topics) of the overall macro proposition (topic). Benjamin .

against the
prejudices
together with
Benjamin
who had
sacrificed her
life for love
whose death
left a regret to
the Rabbi and
her parents - 27 -
Those create a net of interactions in which Christina is the centre. Hence, the
macrostructure of "Christina Rosenthal" could be viewed from different perspectives but it
is always well-organized with components attributing to the topic.
2.3. Analysis of discourse microstructures of the story
According to Van Dijk, T.A. & Kintsch, W. (1983), the microstructure of discourse
contains two types of information: local and global information. The first one, called
cohesion, corresponds to the relationships between the meaning of individual words in a
text. It refers to the syntactic, morphological and lexical means of connecting sentences
within a text. Cohesion represents the more linguistic level of discourse representations.
The global information refers to the semantic and pragmatic meaning of discourse
contained in sentences. The single idea unit expressed in a sentence creates a proposition
that is the semantic unit of a text. The relations between propositions are defined as
coherence of discourse. Therefore, the microstructures of the story is analysed based on the
macrostructures as pointed in part 2.2. In order to detect the racial discrimination
embedded in the story in terms of discourse microstructures, I will look into the title; the
use of lexicalization; the conversation and transitivity of the story respectively.

monologue
132
The next occasion l saw ChristinaIndirect Benjamin's
monologue
138
I stared at Christina
Indirect Benjamin's
monologue

I was told by a school friend that Christina had
spent hers in Vancouver
Indirect Benjamin's
monologue
163
Although I didn't see much of Christina that term

Indirect Benjamin's
monologue
174
I wondered if Christina was aware of it
Indirect Benjamin's
monologue
182
I couldn't take my eyes off Christina
Indirect Benjamin's
monologue
193

when Mrs. Goldblatz first told him about
Christina
Writer's narrative
257
Whenever I went to Christina's home I was
Indirect Benjamin's