Critical Language and Literary Studies

نوع مقاله : مقاله علمی پژوهشی

نویسندگان

1 گروه زبان و ادبیات انگلیسی، واحد تهران مرکزی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، تهران، ایران

2 دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد بروجرد

چکیده

چکیده:بازی تاج و تخت نخستین کتاب از مجموعه نغمه‌ی یخ و آتش، اثر نویسنده آمریکایی جورج ریموند ریچارد مارتین، داستانی خیالی-حماسی است که در در قلمرو "وسترس" رخ می دهد. جریان اصلی داستان، حول محور کشمکش و جنگ برای تسلط به تاج و تخت سلطنت است که در این راستا داستان‌های دیگری از درون آن متولد می شوند. آنچه که پیرنگ داستان را متمایز می‌کند، وجود آشوب و هرج و مرج درنظام حکمرانی است که به دنبال رهبری یکپارچه بر این جهان بی‌نظم می‌باشد. این تحقیق با تمرکز بر اصول بنیادین آشوب و نظریات نانسی کاترین هیلز و ادوارد لورنز به دنبال ردیابی آشوب و بی‌نظمی و تحلیل آن‌ها در این اثر است تا نشان دهد نیروهای متعددی بر زمان و مکان و شخصیت‌ها حاکم هستند که جبر داستان را پیش‌بینی ناپذیر می‌کنند. در این مجموعه، مکان نظام پیچیده‌ای است که قوانین نظریه آشوب بر آن حکمفرما است. این تحقیق نیز "اثر پروانه‌ای" را در داستان بررسی می‌نماید و از آنجا که هر اتفاقی در تاریخ این نظام پیچیده تکرار می‌شود، نقش فراکتال‌ها به عنوان عنصر دیگری از عناصر آشوب مشخص می‌شود. در پایان، با توجه به اینکه این اثر از درون آشوب و بی‌نظمی‌ها متولد می‌شود، پژوهشگران با تحلیل این عناصر نشان می‌دهند که ساختارهای ذهنی و زبانی در این رمان مملو از هرج و مرج و بی‌نظمی است و نویسنده در تلاش است که از این بی‌نظمی‌ها، نظم بیافریند.

کلیدواژه‌ها

عنوان مقاله [English]

Chaos and Butterfly Effect in Game of Thrones by George Raymond Richard Martin

نویسندگان [English]

  • Atieh Momenzadeh 1
  • Bahman Zarrinjooee 2

1 Department of English Language and Literature, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Islamic Azad University (IAU), Boroujerd Branch

چکیده [English]

Game of Thrones is the first book of Song of Ice and Fire series by American author George Raymond Richard Martin; a fictional-epic story set in the realm of Westeros. The main line of story is the struggle and war to reach the Iron Throne, during which several other stories are born. What distinguishes its plot is the existence of chaos in the system of government that seeks a unified leadership over this chaotic world. This research traces Nancy Katherine Hayles and Edward Lorenz’s chaos theories in the novel–as a complex and chaotic system—, shows various forces that dominate time, place, and characters who make the end of the story unpredictable. It shows the "Butterfly Effect" in the story, and since events in the history of this complex system are repeated, the role of “Fractals” is identified. The researchers show the structure of this novel is full of chaos and disorder and the author tries to create order from these irregularities.
Background of the Study: A collection of analytical readings edited by James Lowder on Song of Ice and Fire entitled Beyond the Wall (2012) examines Martin’s fantasy collection. This anthology provides a way to explore Martin’s multifaceted world. Moreover, different works have been conducted on the series from romanticism to psychological reading. However, there is not a single work from chaos perspectives. Therefore, the present research can fill the existing gap in these fields.
Methodology: This research reads Martin’s Game of Thrones through an interdisciplinary method based on Catherine Hayles and Edvard Lorenz’s theories of chaos. Martin’s works are implicitly chaotic in nature; the narrative forms problematize the linear structure and coherence presenting multiplicities of point of views that serve to augment individual insights, a carefully crafted and cohesive drama about the prevalence of disorder in life. The other major concepts of chaos like “Butterfly Effect” and “Fractals” which are overarching patterns, probable and possibly deterministic but not predictable, lied underneath the texts. The researchers aim to apply the principles of the chaos theory to the novel and explore the changing nature of this system in which truth, precision, and predictability cannot be obtained.
Conclusion: Reading Game of Thrones—having a non-linear history, full of complexity, entanglement of stories and variety of characters—based on chaos theory facilitates a more complex understanding of the oeuvre. Westeros’ chaotic world with its protective Wall functions as a closed system. However, chaos is an inevitable phenomenon that takes place due to reliance on the initial condition. Based on the “Butterfly Effect”, the smallest change in the system can cause the greatest events. Westeros is full of unpredictabilities in which consequences surprise the characters and the existence of “Fractal” adds to the complexity of chaos. History repeats itself with the same pattern for the characters; they are living in a deterministic system in which their destinies have already been decided through complex relationship. 

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Chaos Theory
  • Butterfly Effect
  • Unpredictability
  • Determinism
  • Fractal
  • Disorder
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