Résumé:
The present dissertation aims at providing a critical discourse analysis of Ernest Hemingway‘s
For Whom the Bell Tolls, within the framework of Systemic Functional Grammar of Halliday.
More precisely, we apply Halliday‘s Register Theory (Context of Situation). Three steps are
followed to attain the objective of our investigation. Firstly, we have dealt with the
perspective which is Critical Discourse Analysis –from which the novel is approached.
Related key terms to discourse studies such as text, discourse and texture have been
introduced. Secondly, we have introduced the methodological research tool: Systemic
Functional Grammar of Halliday. Linguistic theoretical background is provided so as to be
familiar with this research tool and related terminology. Thirdly, we put into practice the
Register Theory by addressing the context of the extracted example in its three variables: the
field, the tenor, and the mode.
Within the frame of discourse analysis, this study also addresses the text of the novel critically
in quest for potential bias such as ethnocentrism, sexism, stereotyping and anti-Semitism.
Each of the three components of context will raise a question. Field has to do with the content
or the topic in which the participants are involved. Tenor has to do with the status and the
relationship between the participants. Mode deals with the medium or language by which
interaction between the participants is attained. Taking into consideration the definition of
bias and its potential forms, these three variables proved to be very useful as to revealing the
extent to which the author is biased or not. The application of the Register Theory has
revealed the presence of ethnocentrism and stereotyping while sexism and anti-Semitism are
absent; hence, using this theory may well unveil some of the hidden intensions of the writer.
These may seem quite opaque to a layperson
