A Study of Rhetoric Devices in A Dream of Red Mansions

【Abstract】Speech means is the way to refine and integrate the elements with potential intelligence in language symbols. Based on rhetorical devices， this paper probes into the effect of drinkers wager game， idiom， posture and character in A Dream of Red Mansions， aiming to help readers to better understand the development of the plot of the novel and the characterization of characters and further to enhance the understanding of the language rhetoric of the text as a whole. At the same time， it is hoped to provide some personal opinions for the rhetoric study of A Dream of Red Mansions.

【Key words】A dream of Red Mansions； Rhetoric； Rhetorical Devices

【作者簡介】令歡歡（1993-），女，甘肅天水人，蘭州交通大學，碩士研究生在讀，研究方向：外國語言學及應用語言學。

1. Introduction

Through sorting out the rhetoric study of A Dream of Red Mansions， it is found that more scholars mainly studied it by a certain rhetoric device， but seldom summarized and analyzed the rhetoric devices of A Dream of Red Mansions as a whole. Therefore， from this perspective， this paper explores the rhetorical expressions in the text. Rhetoric device is a part of speech act rhetoric， which was put forward by Wang Dechun， Hu Fanzhu and Chen Rudong. They emphasize that “rhetoric” is a common social behavior of human beings. It is a kind of behavior that needs interaction， with language symbols as the medium and communicative objects as the main body. And this behavior has a purpose and needs to be addressed. Therefore， based on this important theoretical viewpoint， this study makes a comprehensive analysis of the rhetoric devices in A Dream of Red Mansions.

2. Rhetoric Devices in A Dream of Red Mansions

In the process of verbal communication， the communicative subject need to properly use certain rhetorical devices to convey communicative information， achieve communicative purposes and accomplish communicative tasks. There are three main types of rhetoric devices： one is the integration of elements such as pronunciation and vocabulary； the other is the embodiment of posture by non-linguistic means； and the third is to use Chinese characters.

（1）Drinkers Wager Game and Phonetic Devices. Chinese is a language with a unique phonetic system. Its basic units includes initial consonant， compound vowel， tone， syllable and so on. In the use of speech， through the integration and arrangement， we can find out the potential characteristics， which produces a strong phonetic effect and show distinct acoustic features. The drinkers wager game is a game of winning and losing， in which those who lost were punished for drinking. The form and content of a drinkers wager Game usually depends on the identity， cultural level and interest of the drinker. Rhyme exists in a series of syllables with a certain interval. It has the power of sound extension which shows a continuous loop of music aesthetic feeling. For example， the “牙牌令”in the book： Lady Jia：左邊是張‘天，頭上有青天...剩得一張‘六與幺， 一輪紅日出云霄...；Granny Liu：...中間‘三四綠配紅，大火燒了毛毛蟲；右邊‘幺四真好看，一個蘿卜一頭蒜；湊成便是一枝花，花兒落了結個大倭瓜。The last word of each couplet is the same rhyme. Although there is an occasional non-rhyme， the rhyme accounts for the majority of the cases， such as “幺”and“霄”is about “ao”， “紅”and“蟲”is about “ong”. These rhymes are used to construct a harmonious and beautiful sound of game language. Moreover， these rhymed poems reflect the status of each subject in Jias mansion through the different rhetorical features of the words. Lady Jia is of high status and receives strict education. She can create and appreciate poetry.“青天”、“紅日”and“云霄” emphasizes that she is an unshakable leader of this big family， and a sense of superiority arises spontaneously. Granny Liu， a rural peasant woman， from the first floor of society， is an illiterate. So when playing this game， she reflects the special taste of the farmers. “毛毛蟲”、“蘿卜”、“蒜”and“大倭瓜”are common things in her life. When hearing the order， she has a ready tongue， not only reflecting the simple nature of the farmers， but also revealing her wit and humor.

（2）Idiomatic Phrase. Idiomatic phrase contains allegorical saying， proverb， idiom and so on. Because idiomatic phrases have rich symbolic features， so they can be developed and further utilized in speech activities. This section takes Granny Liu as an example to explore the rhetorical effect of idiomatic phrase. Although she has only appeared three times in the novel， her few appearances have brought readers a lot of joy. As the representative of the lower-class characters in the countryside described in the novel， her language shows the characteristics of the peasants. The idioms used by Granny Liu：（1）守多大碗兒吃多大的飯；（2）謀事在人，成事在天；（3）侯門深似海；（4）瘦死的駱駝比馬大；（5）你老拔根寒毛比我們的腰還粗呢...The first three sentences are Granny Lius words to her son-in-law. These words are progressive and slowly realizes her speech purposes. She wants to go to Jia to seek relief， but she doesnt immediately put this idea out. First of all， she tells her son-in-law that he was too lazy he was young. She criticizes him for “守多大碗兒吃多大的飯”. After that， Granny Liu thinks that it is difficult for ordinary people to get in Jia. So she refuses to go because“侯門深似海”. In fact， this is in line with the traditional Chinese principle of modesty—she refuses before accepting it. In the last two sentences， it is a description of wealth literally， but actually it is a kind of thank to Jia. Grannny Liu is delighted to have received money. These two idioms humbly praises Jia for its great wealth， and very appropriately complies with the role of the current housekeeper of Wang Xifeng， giving her enough face and elevating her discourse status. In the last sentence， the use of personal pronouns “you” and “we” highlights the sharp contrast between the front and the back， reflecting the huge gap between the rich and the poor.The idioms used by granny Liu is only a small part in the novel. According to statistics， there are nearly 200 proverbs， more than 100 idioms and 50 allegorical sayings， proverbs in A Dream of Red Mansions.

（3）Posture. Posture is another speech means to convey information and exchange ideas through human expressions and actions. This kind of speech means can reveal peoples inner world and transmit information， having a certain ideographic and communicative nature. Eyes， eyebrows， nose and mouth can express many different emotional movements. The best way to highlight peoples inner thoughts is their faces and eyes.“寶玉聽見史湘云有這件東西，自己便將那麒麟忙拿起來揣在懷里。一面心里又想到怕人看見他聽見史湘云有了，他就留這件，因此手里揣著，卻拿眼睛瞟人。”Eye is the best way to reflect peoples emotion. With the eyes “glancing” people shows the psychology of Baoyu. After Daiyu says that it is not rare， he is at ease. It embodies Baoyus concern for others， especially Daiyu； Body movement includes head movement， limb movements， and even standing posture. There are many characters and numerous descriptions of body movements. These different body movements reflect the personality of different characters. “一面說，一面接了下來。玉釧便向一張杌子上坐了，鶯兒不敢坐下。襲人便忙端了個腳踏來， 鶯兒還不敢坐。”YuChuan is Mrs. Wangs servant girl， who is very natural in Baoyus house. While YingEr is afraid to sit because she is the servant girl of Bao Chai. This reflects Baochais strict demands on servant girls in daily life， and also reflects her calm knowing about situation—she is only a guest of Jia， so she is polite and strict in everything. Through the posture naturally expressed by the characters or used to convey certain information in the book， we can see that posture as a non-verbal means can be used in some occasions where language can not be used to convey information. As a special means， posture can not only depict the personality and status of the characters， but also help readers understand the subtlety of the characters.

（4）Characters. As a special carrier of Chinese language and culture， Chinese characters are the only ideographic writing system in the world. Ideographic writing expresses morphemes or words with symbols. There is a close relationship between the shape and meaning of characters. Its symbols contain and embody Chinese language and culture for thousands of years. Because of its uniqueness， the use of the Chinese characters in speech is conducive to the successful realization of the purpose of communicative activities. Splitting character is to split the whole character into parts to express the meaning. This is a unique skill possessed by Chinese characters and is embodied in A Dream of Red Mansions. For example， the “判詞”for the fate of the woman：子系中山狼，得志便猖狂。金閨花柳質，一載赴黃粱。“子系”is“孫”. Literally， it refers to grandchildren or surnames. Here the division of “孫” into“子系”implies Sun Shaozu—Yingchuns husband. With the puzzle and answer cleverly combined， puzzle game is interesting. It is a intelligent and clever pragmatic method for Chinese people.

3. Conclusion

This study explores the effect of rhetoric devices. By analysis of drinkers wager game， idiom， posture and character in the novel， it is found that the use of different rhetoric devices helps readers better understand the development of the plot of the novel and the characterization of characters. Furthermore， it is useful for readers to enhance the understanding of the language rhetoric of the text as a whole. While， there are still some shortcomings. First， the collected corpus is incomplete because the novel has a large space. Second， although the study discusses the rhetoric devices， it only covers four aspects and some aspects have not been touched. It is hoped that there will be more richer and complete studies in the future.

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