A Comparative Study on the Role Images of Chuang-tzu Fables and Aesop Fables from the Perspective of Appraisal Theory

Chuang-tzu Fables and Aesop Fables are outstanding representative works of Chinese and Western fable literature. Two works don't use ways of logic thinking such as concept, judgment and reasoning to argue and persuade, but resorting to images and stories to illustrate the rich and profound philosophical ideas and moral lessons. The paper, based on Martin's appraisal theory as guidance and Chuang-tzu Fables and Aesop Fables as text corpus, will probe into the evaluative meaning of the images of animals, plants and non-living things and language resources realizing the evaluative function. By contrasting, people can comprehend Chuang-tzu and Aesop's attitude towards the real world so as to enlighten human thought and life wisdom.