Exploring ideology and language in Paton’s Too late the phalarope (1953): a contextual approach

Abstract

In this article we explore the relationship between Paton's response to ideology, which also reflects that of his own religious convictions, and his conception of human identity in his novel Too late the phalarope (1953), paying attention to some structures of marked syntax in the novel. For its framework of analysis this study employs Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, to establish the relationship between Paton's discourse and that of his society. The article, thus, aims to provide both a textual and a contextual view of Paton's ideology and his resistance to the hegemonic ideology of his time, through a discussion of the language he uses in the novel.