本文以《名利场》中夏泼小姐的衣服和金刚钻为例,剖析了19世纪英国作家萨克雷对物的对立功能、对人与物间的关系所作的深刻思考。萨克雷不仅看穿了"名利场"中物所表现出来的超越使用价值、突显物主(拥有者或使用者)身份地位的符号功能,他还看到了物的另一功能:它们往往会脱离主人的控制,去控告主人、威胁主人,甚至颠覆其身份地位。
By anatomizing Miss Sharp ’ s clothing and diamond in Vanity Fair, the paper penetrates into Thackeray ’ s re-flection on the contradicting functions of material objects and the relationships between objects and their owners .The author not only sees that material objects in Vanity Fair mark the owners ’ or users’ social positions and identities , showing the sign value of objects besides their use value , but also sees that objects usually are out of their owners ’ control , incriminating , threatening , and even o-verthrowing their owners ’ social positions .