Facework in the Fictional Dialogue of Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” in Terms of Brown & Levinson’s Politeness Theory: A Pragma-Stylistics study

Abstract

This study examines the notions of face, facework and politeness according to Brown & Levinson’s (1978, 1987) Politeness theory. The researcher explores politeness as presented in the fictional dialogue of Golding’s novel “Lord of the Flies”. The steps of the scholar Susanne E. Hoebe (2001) in determining the variables of Brown & Levinson’s formula are followed to identify, classify and analyse the politeness strategies for doing face threatening acts (FTAs) in the fictional dialogue amongst the three main characters in the novel.