Critical discourse analysis of two letters of complaint and manipulation of people in power

Abstract

Critical discourse analysis is a purposeful kind of study pointing social issues and aiming at causing changes according to one’s ideology and beliefs. This case study adopted a critical discourse analysis approach to investigate how typical discursive strategies introduced in Van Dijk’s frame work can be helpful in presenting a positive image of ourselves and negative image of the others and result in manipulating the people in power or in establishing an ideology in society .To this end two letters of complaint were analyzed to explore whether employment of discursive characteristics could result in expressing one’s views. The results of this study revealed that the letter which possessed a rich repertoire of discursive mechanisms gave the writer a better chance to define the honorable position of a teacher in society.