DISCURSIVE DIVERSENESS OF BERTHA’S VIBRANCE IN “BLISS” BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

Abstract

“Bliss”, a short story written by Katherine Mansfield, constitutes multiplicity of perspectives to describe the world of Bertha Young. In revealing the inexplicable nature of Bertha’s happiness, the story also unfolds the multilayered social, political and cultural world inhabited by her. The identification, classification and implication of these social processes form the main part of the text. A Discourse may be understood as a structured way of thinking manifested in social formations or in different ways of expression whether in writing or in speech. Apart from the dominant language use or image patterns in this story, there are other discourses such as societal, cultural, natural, biblical and sexual discourses which are embedded within the main discourse of a woman named Bertha who seems unable to spot the source of her joyous exhilaration. A detailed analysis of these multiple discourses in this research unfolds the true reasons for Bertha’s exuberant self.