Open AccessREPRESENTATIONS OF SOCIO-CULTURAL STEREOTYPE “BACHELOR” IN MURIEL SPARK’S NOVEL “THE BACHELORS”
Author(s) -
Liliya Teterina
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
anglìstika ta amerikanìstika
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2409-921X
pISSN - 2313-500X
DOI - 10.15421/381928
Subject(s) - bachelor , stereotype (uml) , psychology , context (archaeology) , representation (politics) , portrait , judgement , variety (cybernetics) , social psychology , sociology , art , epistemology , history , computer science , political science , visual arts , philosophy , archaeology , artificial intelligence , politics , law
The main objective of this study is to examine representations of socio-cultural stereotype “bachelor” in Muriel Spark’s novel “The Bachelors” in the context of the national British picture of the world. Fiction text is understood here as a translator of both author’s worldview and language on the basis of which the reader can form an opinion or make a judgement about mental, behavioral, language stereotypes dominant in this or that national culture. Our main focus is on how the bachelors of the novel represent themselves in their dialogues and inner speech. Though they are fictional portrayals, the bachelor-personages of Spark’s novel correspond to stereotypes in real life. Bachelors of the novel and real life bachelors share the overriding public sentiment towards them – disapproval. They often carry with them negative overtones of immaturity, selfishness, lechery and irresponsibility. The analysis has revealed that the bachelors of the novel show some common features, but also manifest a variety of complex individual personalities. A detailed representation of bachelors’ social and psychological types with their basic characteristics, modes of behavior, habits makes the novel a live portrait gallery of British stereotype of bachelorhood.