摘要：The short story “Theft” is analyzed in a linguistic method to explore the heroine’s inward world, thus revealing the clash and opposition between the real world and the protagonist’s desire. The stylistic analysis focuses on the linguistic methods as conversational implicatures, transitivity, etc. The revelation of material pursuit of the characters in the story through the use of symbolism foregrounds the protagonist’s disappointment with the real world. The use of parallel structures and the transitivity of material process and mental process both strengthens the misery of the protagonist in both love and money respects, though the protagonist cares love much more than money.
