Michael’s utterances in the previous dialogue shows that after her mother died, she wanted to be cremated and put upstate next to her mother who
was always alone. Then, he made a joke about this topic. He said that couple of urns of his mother and his grandmother would jabber away on the shores of
Lake Sebago. He showed this strategy to put Alan and Nancy Cowan at ease. He applied the strategy of joking to put the hearer at ease
to safe the hearers’ positive face.
Another example of this strategy experienced by a character in Carnage is shown in the datum below.
4:23 Penelope Longstreet : My husband has spent the entire afternoon drying things
Nancy Cowan : Ha, ha, ha
PPC022 Nancy was angry to Michael because he was too busy with his cell.
Thus, Nancy grabbed his cell and put it into a vase full of water. Then, Michael tried to help Alan by using a hairdryer to dry his cell. Penelope made a joke
about this situation. She told that Michael had spent the entire afternoon drying things, those we
re Penelope’s books and Alan’s cell. She told this joke to make the hearers felt good and laughed at her joke. Thus, Penelope had saved the
hearers’ positive face by employing the strategy of joking to put the hearer at ease.
i. Asserting or presupposing knowledge of and concern for hearer’s want
Besides the strategy of giving or asking for reasons, the strategy of asserting or presupposing knowledge of and co
ncerning for hearer’s want has
the lowest rank from the data finding compared to the others. This strategy only appears 1 time, or 1.49. The only one datum of this strategy is presented
below. 4:24 Michael Longstreet : I cant touch anything of that family. Christ,
Penny, you know that
Penelope Longstreet : Hes afraid of rodents.
PPC055 Michael stated that he could not touch any rodents and asked Penny to
confirm it. Then, Penny stated that Michael was afraid of rodents. It could be seen as evidence that Penel
ope knew her husband’s personal information. In this case, she applied the strategy of asserting or presupposing knowledge of
and concerning for hearer’s wants. Michael wanted Penelope to confirm that he was afraid of rodents and Penelope as his wife did a confirmation of this.
j. Offering, promising
The strategy of offering, promising has the same occurrence with the strategies of exaggerating interest, approval, sympathy with H and avoiding
disagreement. It appears 6 times from the whole speeches and its percentage is 8.95. The following examples give clear description about the phenomenon
of offering, promising strategy.
4:25 Alan Cowan :
His mouth will be fine when the swelling goes
down. As for the teeth, if he needs it, wed be willing to chip in for the best dental care...
Michael Longstreet: We got insurance for that. PPC024
Alan’s son hit Michael’s son, Ethan, in a park. Alan said that Ethan would never face any problem with his mouth. Furthermore, he said that if
Ethan needed a dental care, Alan would try to do his best. This utterance
indicates that Alan gave his promise to Michael. He used the offering, promising strategy of positive politeness. He showed this strategy because his
son hit M ichael’s son. Therefore, as an act of apology of his son’s mistake,
Alan saved M ichael’s positive face by cooperating with him.
The following datum will give another explanation of this strategy.
4:26 Nancy Cowan : Ill buy you another one.
Penelope Longstreet : There is no other one. Its been out of-print for years.
PPC045 It is clearly seen from the context of the conversation that Nancy was
sick and she vomited on Penelo pe’s art books. All books got dirty and wet.
When Penelope and Michael were trying to dry them by using a hairdryer, Nancy promised to buy her new book. However, Penelope answered that the
book was been out of-print for years. Here, Nancy used offering, promising strategy of positive politeness. She used this strategy to show cooperation to
Penelope as the owner of the house. 4:27 Michael Longstreet : Want some more coffee, real coffee?
Nancy Cowan : Coffee, thank you.
Alan Cowan : Coffee, all right.
Michael Longstreet: It’s OK, Pen. Ill get it.
PPC030 Alan and Nancy were ready to go from that apartment. However, they
still argued with Penelope about the problem of their kids. Thus, Michael tried to make the situation better by asking the Cowans to have more coffee. Alan
and Nancy Cowan agreed to stay there longer. Nevertheless, Penelope had made no signs of going for the coffee since she already had a bad feeling
toward the Cowans. Thus, Michael offered a help to make coffee for the guests.
