The Analysis on Understatement and its Effects in Oliver Twist

辛思远

【Abstract】Understatement is a frigure of speech employed under the situation when one tends to minimize the importance of something. This thesis is an study on understatement and the specific effects it creates in Oliver Twist.

【Key words】Analysis； Understatement； Oliver Twist

Understatement and Its Classification

Understatement is a figure of speech that deliberately expresses an idea， a thought， etc. too weakly. Contrary to hyperbole， which is to dramatize or maximize the importance of something， understatement is to play down the importance of that. Understatement is often classified into two kinds： “litotes” and “meiosis”. The former is usually translated into “間接肯定法” or “反叙”， and the latter into “弱陈法” or “曲言”. Litotes is to show affirmation obliquely by way of negation. It is marked by words that carry negative or double negative meanings. For example， “He is not without ambition.” The sentence structures identified as litotes are plenty， such as “…no/not + adj + n” as in “It is no easy matter.”， and “…no/not

（…） + without/unless/until…” as in “He did that not without fear.” Meiosis seems marked only by words that some scholars calls “softeners”， such as “rather”， “sort of”， and so on.

1. Understatement Employed to Imply Information Untold

In the Chapter 4， Oliver was sent packing again. Dickens wrote： “He （Oliver） heard the news of his destination in perfect silence； and having had his luggage put into his hand—which was not very difficult to carry， …（Charles.Dickens： 2010： 25）”. Obviously the expression underlined denotes： “the luggage is very easy to carry”. The author politely implied that there were a few things for poor Oliver to carry away with him， the fact of which would probably add to his sense of desperation and helplessness. Furthermore， it may be reasonable to say that we detect Dickens great compassion for the wretched boy through the employment of understatement.

2. Understatement Employed to Moderate the Atmosphere

In the Chapter 4， Oliver was introduced by Mr. Sowerberry to his family. His ill-tempered wife remarked on Oliver： “Dear me！ He is small”. This remark was hastily followed by Mr. Bumbles explanation： “Why， he is rather small， …There is no denying that he will grow， Mrs. Sowerberry—he will grow” （Charles.Dickens： 2010： 26）. “Rather” here is seemingly not a word to make a fuss about， but it is in fact an appropriate one carefully chosen by Mr. Bumble to achieve two specific purposes： firstly， it represented a mild confirmation to the opinion of the undertakers wife； secondly and more importantly， it minimized the fact that Oliver was small so as to moderate the awkward atmosphere. His intention was rendered even more clear when he guaranteed that Oliver would grow.endprint

3. Understatement Employed to Produce the Humorous Effect

A relevant example could be found in the Chapter 4 when the undertaker met Mr.Bumble and spoke highly of his “elegant button”. Mr. Bumbles reply seemed low-key： “Yes， it is rather pretty”（Charles.Dickens： 2010： 23）. “Rather” here was used to suggest that Mr. Bumble did not care about the button too much. But that he then proceeded to elaborate on the button about its connection with the parish arouses our suspicion： “The die is as the same as the parochial seal—the Good Samaritan healing the sick and the bruised man…”（Charles.Dickens： 2010： 23）. The very detailed explanation showed that the beadle did think his button mean something special. Therefore， the self-contradiction unconsciously created by Mr. Bumble was humorous to readers.

4. Understatement Employed to Produce the Ironical Effect

In the Chapter 2， Dickens told us the loss of little lives on such a big scale triggered the anger of the local people. He wrote： “…the parishioners would rebelliously affix their signatures to a remonstrance. But these impertinences were speedily checked by the evidence of the surgeon”（Charles.Dickens： 2010： 23）. The implied attitude behind the word “impertinence” was clear： the remonstrance held by the angry people would not achieve anything substantial. It meant nothing but a disrespectful behavior to the court. By the use of understatement， the vanity of peoples resistance and the indifference of the court to peoples voice were ironically manifested.

Conclusion

This thesis studies on understatement and the effects it produces in Oliver Twist. There are basically four particular effects understatement produces in Oliver Twist： to imply the information untold， to moderate the atmosphere， and to achieve the humorous or ironical effects. And the distinctions among them are not clear-cut.

In addition， the rhetorical effects get across to readers only when an appropriate context is given. All the rhetorical devices belong to the semantic deviation. If we consider the basic meaning of “deviation”， we may take it for granted that the deviation can be detected only when there is a background performing as a standard. Therefore， a proper context is vital in the study of understatement.

References：

[1]Charles Dickens：Oliver Twist.北京：中譯出版社，2010.11.

[2]廉运杰，万平.英汉文体学对比研究[M].沈阳：辽宁大学出版社，2011.9.endprint