You are What You Own: A Transitivity Analysis of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

The present study attempts to analyze the processes of transitivity in the text In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (2009) by Daniyal Mueenuddin. The two short stories namely In Other Room, Other Wonders and About a Burning Girl have been selected from the collection of eight stories. In developing countries, a growing disparity can be observed in socio-economic classes. This elucubration tends to interpret literature by using a framework of linguistics to describe the various facets of character’s life. A total of 109 clauses have been extracted from the texts to demarcate Marxist themes such as class difference, corruption, commodification, and Marxist feminism. The transitivity analysis of fictional expedition shows that the material process is 37.6%, mental process is 26.6%, verbal process is 12.8%, behavior process is 11%, relational process is 8.25% and existential process is 4.58%. The study can lend a helping hand to the ones intending to describe literature by applying theories of linguistics and play their part in contributing to the repertoire of applied linguistics.


1.Introduction
The current study makes use of the system of transitivity to relate the external and internal experiences of the characters and in doing so, lays bare the several Marxists themes in the selected text In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (2009). The rationale for employing transitivity analysis as a tool to interpret data and answer the research questions is that, "transitivity system provides the lexicogrammatical resources for construing a quantum of change in the flow of events as figuresas a configuration of elements centered on a process,", which is expressed in processes, the participants involved and certain circumstances (Halliday, 2014, p. 213). In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (2009) is a combination of eight short stories. Two short stories namely About a Burning Girl and In Other Rooms, Other Wonders have been selected and subjected to transitivity analysis.
For conducting the transitivity analysis of the text Ideational function of functional grammar is to be taken in account. This function deals with the representation of experiences in the internal and external world and all the processes namely material process, mental process, relational process, behavioral process, verbal process and existential process stem from this meta-function of language. On the other hand, interpersonal function considers the social aspects of language and textual function deals with the clause as message. The researcher intends to analyze the literary text with the help of linguistics. This interdisciplinary approach in which literature is studied with the help of linguistics is known as Stylistics. Trask (2007)  The researcher attempts to shed light upon the Marxist themes such as class struggle, commodification, corruption and suppression of women by scrutinizing the selected stories in the light of the six processes proposed for transitivity analysis.

Research Questions
1. What are the Marxist themes brought forth by processes of transitivity? 2. What is the percentage of each process type embedded in the analysis?

Research Objectives
This study aims; 1. To find out several Marxist themes with the application of transitivity 2. To determine the percentage of each process type in the analysis

Literature Review
The British Linguist Firth in 1930's and 1940's tried to devise a social approach to study language. In 1960's his student Halliday keeping that approach in mind introduced a new concept for grammatical analysis known as Scale-and -Category Grammar. Halliday continued in this direction and brought forth a new framework which came to be known as Systemic Linguistics. It is a functionalist approach for studying language. It combines the structural information of language with social factors. SL is concerned with language usage and tries to probe speaker's or writer's intention by keeping in view the available linguistic devices.
Halliday distinguishes among three distinctive functions of language (or meta-functions): The ideational (or experiential) function is the conveying of semantic content representing information about our experience of the external world (including our own minds). The textual function is the linking of linguistic elements to other linguistic elements, so that the various parts of a text can be integrated into a coherent and cohesive whole and related to the wider context of our speech or writing. The interpersonal function is the establishment and maintenance of social relations, including persuading other people to do things or to believe things (Trask, 2007, p. 293) Transitivity generally means the relation of a verb with a noun phrase in a clause. In systemic linguistics this concept is somewhat complex and has been elaborated at length. Eggins (1994) describes that ideational function of language includes a system of grammatical choice known as Transitivity. According to Trask (2007) this term denotes "the kind of activity or process expressed by a sentence, the number of participants involved and the manner in which they are involved" (p. 306). Halliday (1973)  stated, and where poverty and the desire to advance frame each critical choice". Hae (2014) applies Postcolonial lens to this text and brings to light the servitude embedded in the characters from lower strata. Pervez (2012) probes the representation of gender in this text.
The author analyzes the knots of class and gender by highlighting the themes of injustice, oppression and lack of awareness in women.

Theoretical Framework
The concept of transitivity stems from the ideational function of language and from it results the grammatical system. Halliday (1994) is of the view that the concept of transitivity is a notion of semantics and this system can be used for the explanation of a clause. This system of transitivity translates the experience by means of six processes; relational process, material process, verbal process, mental process, existential process and behavioral process. Halliday (1994) states, "material processes are processes of 'doing'." (p. 110). In this process an entity does something to another entity. There are two participants involved in this process. One is actor (doer) and the other one is goal (entity which is the receiver of the process).

Actor Process: Material Goal
The mayor Dissolved the committee They Built a house (Cited from Halliday, 1994, p. 11) The two examples of material process have been assigned to the table. In the first instance the actor mayor is engaged in the material process of dissolving the committees. In the second example the pronoun they depict the actor which through the material process of building leads to the materialization of the house, which is goal. Halliday (1994) states, "mental processes or process of sensing are processes of feeling, thinking and seeing" (p. 117). There are two participants involved in this process namely, Senser (conscious being) and Phenomenon (which is being sensed).

Mental Process
The Mental process can be divided into four categories: • Emotive (processes of regretting, liking and hating)  Halliday, 1994, p.114) In the examples of material process Jill is engaged in the mental state of seeing and in the subsequent event Marry is the sensor, who is engaged in the emotive state of liking the gift. Halliday (1994) states that relational process includes the relationship between two distinct entities and there is no clear evidence that the entities affect each other. He divides this process into two modes which are Attributive (assign quality) and Identifying (identify something). Relational process is further split in three categories:

Behavioral Process
Halliday (1994) states, "behavioral processes are process of (typically human) physiological and psychological behavior, like breathing, coughing, smiling, dreaming and staring" (pp. 139). It can be divided into five categories: • Processes of consciousness include behavior like dream listen, worry, watch and look.
• Physiological processes embody behavior like cry, frown, sigh, wine, and snarl. The examples in the above table have the behaviors; my sister and she who are engaged in the physiological processes of coughing and giving respectively.

Verbal Process
Halliday (1994) Halliday, 1994, p. 140) In the examples manifested in the table she is the sayer who is engaged in the process of praising another entity. In the second example he is the sayer who is engaged in the verbal process of telling the truth to the listener or receiver. Halliday (1994) states, "existential process represent that something exists or happens" (p.
Process: existential Existent Circumstance There is a robbery in the street There hangs a portrait on the wall (Cited from Halliday, 1994, p. 142) The event describes an existent in the form of robbery which exists in the street that is in fact its circumstantial information.

Research Methodology
The selected text for this study is In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (2009) by Mueenuddin. The book is a collection of eight short stories out of which the two stories namely In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and About a Burning Girl have been chosen to be analyzed by application of transitivity. There are 109 clauses extracted from the two stories. The study is a combination of qualitative method and quantitative method. Qualitative method provides an in depth analysis whereas the quantitative method presents data in table to maintain objectivity. The researcher has calculated the percentage of each process type for making the analysis more vivid and brings forth the Marxist themes with the help of transitivity system.

Material Process
• "He put her in the office of the secretary" (p. 107).
• "Hunters wearing shooting caps posed with strings of birds or piles of game" (p. 107).
• "Now I have come to you for help" (p. 108) • "The visitor wore a pinkish kurta, too young for her but certainly very expensive" (p.
• "She rode home in the back seat of K. K.'s large old car looking at the back of chauffeur's immense head, Husna's complex thoughts ran along several lines" (p. 113).
• "If I eat something from the refrigerator she becomes angry at me" (p. 118).
• "When she is gone on Hajj the servant will take liberties, they make jokes and want me to sit with them" (p. 118).
• "Husna would live in better quarters than ever before in her life, with uninterrupted supplies of good food" (p. 119).
• "He had begun teasing her, saying that she was seeking a young husband" (p. 131).
• "Husna had few times complained of not having money, of wearing torn cloths and broken heeled-shoes" (p. 128).
• "Husna found a suit of clothing that she brought with her when she came into the household, a cheap shalwar and kurta" (p. 134).
• "She did not want to lose this chance of his company" (p. 112).
• "She felt entitled to rejoin that world and felt aggrieved for being excluded from it" (p. 114).
• "Husna knew that she can't hope to marry or attract a young man from one of the rich established families" (p. 114).
• "She imagined them blowing through foreign airports and ease in European cities" (p. 114).
• "She was fearing that Begum Harouni would discover the growing relationship between them" (p. 116).
• "Husna's mind would hang on these symbols of wealth, not letting them go even for hours" (p. 116).
• "I would like to be alone with my father" (p. 125).
• "He would not have wanted you to stay here; tomorrow the car will be available to take you wherever you wish to be taken" (p. 135). • "They had closed up against her -family and blood" (p. 136).

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• "To Husna it felt like a Validation, almost like revenge" (p. 119). Exactly in accordance to Marx's conception that a person's social being manifests his consciousness, Husna at once starts musing on her prospects of attaining a job.

She is afraid of losing this life time opportunity and develops an intimate bond with
Haroni. Repressed fears lurking in her unconscious mind bring home the fact that she will not be able to marry a man from an upper class as she is not socially well off. So, she decides to trade her chastity for material gains. After the death of Haroni she is turned out of the home by Haroni's daughters illustrating the fact that there is a separating line between them due to their social standing.
• "Sarwat looked at her in amazement as if the furniture had spoken" (p. 124).
• "He mimicked her brassy manners and slang, saying in joke what could not be said outright" (p. 131).
• "They looked at her with curiosity but said nothing" (p. 134).
People who are in a miserable state because of the unfulfillment of their basic needs and those who want to become an epitome of wealth have to suffer a lot, just like Husna. She bears rude and weird behavior of Sarwat and endures the mocking behavior of servants and other people in social circle of Haroni. From above instances it can be observed that she is extremely cautious of not disclosing her social class. Her pattern of behavior alters when she is present in the company of people of higher social standing. She remains passive on seeing Sarwat and also towards the end of the narrative she silently accepts the verdict of Haroni's daughters as she realizes her secondary status and adopts a servile guise.

Verbal Process
• "They had been speaking in English and Husna exposed her poor accent saying "It is very good to meet you" (p. 110).
• "She exploded "she is mean and rude she treated me like dirt" (p. 126).
• "Sarwat asked his father that why he had chosen her as his companion because Husna had neither talent nor beauty" (p. 125).
Verbal process brings forth the contrast between Husna and her rich counter parts. A person's accent and dialect provide information about his socio-economic class and from the onset Husna is aware of her poor accent. She is at ease in talking to servants but becomes passive when interacting with people of some means. She tries to hide her identity by remaining silent but Sarwat even mocks her socialization. It is evident from the above illustrations that a person's speaking habits play a significant part in determining his worth.

Relational Process
• "Husna's family, a cadet branch had not so much fallen into poverty as failed to rise" (p. 108).
• "The irregularity of her features, her straight, dry hair, and her small mouth, all caused her to cringe inwardly and sadly to feel vulnerable" (p. 115).

Existential Process
• "Husna's mind would hang on these symbols of wealth, not letting them go even for hours" (p. 116).
Relational process is a good way of describing the attributes or qualities (good or bad) of the people. This process can prove helpful for unraveling the class divide by relating Husna to other characters. This process helps to identify people and a sharp contrast can be drawn between Husna and Sarwat owing to their attributes and appearance. The relation which Husna and Sarwat has with their respective class determines their identity and existential process further plays the role of a catalyst in shaping up their social status by bringing to light their material possessions.

Material Process
• "When she went out with Begum Harouni, Husna was not a guest, not even really present but a resource of old lady, to fetch and carry, to stay beside her so that the Begum would not be left sitting alone" (p. 110).
• "I picked her from the dirt, from nothing and I fed her, clothed her" (p. 119).
• "She had the use of car, brought herself cloths, even small bits of gold jewelry" (p. 128).
• "She would come to K.K with some special request waiting to buy something and he would ultimately agree" (p. 128).
• "My father allowed you to live in this house" (p. 135).
• "If you took care of him in these past months, you would be awarded" (p. 136).
For Marx a commodity is the primary block for the edifice of capitalism. A commodity should envisage two values namely use value and exchange value. It implies that a commodity is bound to have utility and a property of exchangeability. Husna in the narrative embodies the two characteristics of a commodity and others also treat her like it. Begum Haroni takes her to market just to load stuff on her. Haroni uses her for his carnal desires and Sarwat uses her to take care of her father and as soon as Haroni dies she sets her going. Moreover, Husna exchanges her body for material pursuits. It becomes evident that the widening socioeconomic gulf between different classes stimulates the metamorphosis of the members of working class into commodities for the rich.

Mental Process
• "She did not want to lose this chance of his company" (p. 112).
• "She meant this as an opening at least as a reproach" (p. 110).
• "She sensed that all this might come to her through Harouni, if she became his mistress" (p. 116).
• "She wanted to make herself interesting to the old man, reading serious books" (p. 120).
• "Her ambition always trolled back in the background, she had come to respect him genuinely, his integrity, his gait, plain light and valuable as a metal known in the world" (p. 121). • "She wanted at least to consolidate her smaller grains" (p. 127).

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• "At my age, what I need is companionship, Husna give that to me" (p. 126).
• "She wanted to keep herself a part of the bargain and only herself to give" (p. 121).
Husna's thoughts reveal her servile mentality and the fact that she is willing to be treated as a commodity. She is mentally engaged in devising schemes to tempt Haroni and in doing so she tries to make herself interesting to the old man. She presents herself as a toy to please Haroni and he starts imagining her as a commodity which he has purchased with his wealth.

Verbal Process
• "She said to him, speaking plainly "Scratch a man and find a boy" (p. 129).
• ""How interesting", said the women, after listening that Husna will graduate soon and is looking for a teaching position, her voice confiding and smoky" (p. 109).

Behavioral Process
• "Husna began to enjoy the advantages of her new position" (p. 128).
As the narrative progresses Husna and Haroni display their charms as to convince a customer to buy a commodity. Sweetness of voice, elegance of gait and refined manners add to their personalities. Verbal and behavioral processes throw ample light on the commodified nature of affairs. In the beginning of the story Rifat on listening Husna considers her a thing to please Haroni. Throughout the story people are trying to use Husna. The verbiage and behaviors weaved in the story makes it clear that Husna is nothing but a commodity and the wealth of Haroni acts as an impetus for Husna. The stimulus of Haroni's wealth reinforces Husna's behaviors.

Material Process
• "She took service in ambiguous position with Begum Harouni had been the greatest prospect she ever made to her mediocre precepts" (p. 114).
• "Coming up and Kissing Harouni on the cheek, the woman said in a husky voice, "Hello Darling"" (p. 109).

Verbal Process
• "For him I should have said I came with nothing, I leave with nothing, I leave with cloths on my back, I served your father when you were far away" (p. 137).
• "She told with great emphasis a story about her mother" (p. 116).
• "Husna said, talk to Hassan now I would not stand the servant's treatment of me anymore" (p. 127).

Existential Process
• "She had reached the bottom of her pride, arousing her sense of wanting to be dignified" (p. 136).
• "For her, dignity, pride and memory would be material, all and everything from this moment forward" (p. 136).
The verbal and existential processes also weave a narrative manifested with Marxist feminist strands. Husna voices her helplessness when she is turned out after the death of Haroni. She is well aware of her secondary status and voices it when the cook mocks her. She realizes that in order to get rid of the compromised position, she would have to make possible the existence of material possessions at the root of her wretched life. This was the remedy which she thought to cure her life but it dawned on her towards the end of the narrative that she should not have depended on Haroni for a furnished life. This points out that Husna gets marginalized on two planes which are economic and patriarchal. • "Their son's at least the quick ones, the adapted ones, became ministers at thirty, immaculate blowing through dull parties, making an appearance, familiar with their elders, on the way to somewhere else" (p. 114).

Existential Process
• "The old Baron still dominated the government, the prime minister a huge feudal land owner" (p. 114).
Pakistan is still facing a terrible disease of corruption, most of the departments are still under the control of corrupt landowners who think that they are the masters in their own and nobody has a right to live like them. The undercurrents of this theme reveal that the lords who own lands are able to curb the people beneath their social status. People depend on these land lords for their livelihood and the lords exploit them owing to their weak status and it is only because of their dominant socio economic class that their corrupt practices go unchecked.

Material Process
• "When they wake each morning, is to sell themselves for a good price" (p. 91).
• "My personal secretary does most of my work" (p. 95).
• "The policeman registered a false statement from her" (p. 96).
• "Her family paid the police to beat him" (p. 96).
• "We also paid, so they have done nothing so far but kick him around a bit" (p. 96).
• "He does not disclose the method and the motive and the culprit responsible for each crime it is only because he is more powerful if he does not do so" (p. 100).
• "Police takes the lion's share of the stolen goods" (p. 103).
The material process aids in disclosing the corrupt practices undertaken by government officials assuming charges of key posts. The author has employed clauses depicting the acts which can be deemed rotten. According to the narrative the judicial system in Pakistan is rampant with corruption. Lawyers are eager to sell themselves. Judges are willing to issue tempered verdicts and police department is ever ready to be oiled. Material process throws ample light on the activities of different officials who are drowning gradually in the quagmire of corruption.

Mental Process
• "I am no longer consumed by a desire to be what in law school we called "a sword of the lord" (p. 91). • "Despite my profession I do not believe in justice" (p. 91)

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• "I enjoy this paper because it gives me absolutely no information except that which is sponsored by the government" (p. 94).
• "Our greatest fear is that someone senior to me will see it and covet it and take it" (p. 92).
• "I believe the cook has a setting, as they say, with the sweepers although he has a wife and child" (p. 92).
• "He knows the verdicts of the cases before they have been written, before they even have been conceived" (p. 100).
• "You may wish to speak with the judge and that of course is exactly what I did" (p. 105).
• "The judge, no matter how well disposed to me, will need to be oiled if he is to work" (p.

97).
• "There is nothing connected with the courts of the Lahore that he has not absorbed for knowledge in this degree of detail can be obtained by osmosis" (p. 100).
This process shines light on the state of mind of the members of judiciary. Corrupt mindedness has uprooted the desire to deliver justice to the common masses. The mind of the corrupt officials accepts no news other than that which pleases them. Their minds roam on every trivial affair which is transpiring around them but they are devoid of passion and sincerity for their official positions. Mian Sarkar is a character who knows even the verdicts of the uses before they are penned down on the page. It is probably because he is well familiar with the mind set of judges. In this story, the narrator who is session a session judge speaks to his fellow judge to protect his servant because his wife wants to retain that errand boy.

Behavior Process
• "I do not pretend to have perfectly clean hands" (p. 91).
• "I render decisions based on the relative pressure brought to bear on me" (p. 91).

Relational Process
• "Sir, you are a judge, if you say a word to your fellow judge in Abbottabad he will, see the true merits of the case" (p. 97).
• "I am not in a position to view the judicial system with anything except a degree of tolerance" (p. 91).
• "She must be the wife of a big fish" (p. 98).
These two processes further strengthen the theme of weapon. The behavioral pattern of the narrator, who is a judge by profession, reveals the personality type of the government officials who are serving their own ends. The key posts and links are necessary to thrive in the corrupt society and the officials in trying to acquire a better stature also become a cog in the machinery of corruption which is tarnishing the image of Pakistan.

Material Process
• "My wife got this residence allotted to us by spending a month camped in the living room of her second cousin, a deputy additional secretary" (p. 91).
• "She sat with an old lady one of her projects someone from whom she wanted something" (p. 98).
• "The two seed pulling my career rapidly forward along the treacherous road of the Pakistani judiciary are my wife and Mian Sarkar" (p. 99).
The narrator makes it quite clear from the onset of the narrative that his wife has played the vital role in imparting him the status. He has been using his wife to gain upward social mobility. He further seems uninterested in helping his servant. It is only when his wife asks him to do so; he makes use of his position. Hence proving that he treats humans in commodified terms.

Material Process
• "Two days later I received a phone call from the boy's brother, a useless sort of fellow who periodically comes to Lahore and sponges of the kitchen" (p. 93).
• "As I opened the door he fell to the ground and put his hands on my feet" (p. 98).
• "Mian Sarkar wore a cheap three-piece, suit and a pair of slightly tinted spectacles of an already outmoded design of the lady that he emerged from his mother's womb" (p. 99).
• "He wore a battered white skullcap, soiled cloths, a sleeveless sweater, and shoes with crepe-rubber soles, worn down on one side, which gave each foot a peculiar tilt" (p. 100).
• "He began sobbing, his face long and dark like a cab horse in the rain" (p. 101).
Class difference among characters can be comprehended by subjecting them to the material process. Participants involved in this process are doing acts which mark a distinction in their social class. The characters from the lower socio-economic class are wearing clothes which reflect their inferior status. The narrator comments on the clothing of his house hold servants and Mian Sarkar. Khadim's brother also fells in the feet of the judge to get the desired favor which brings a sharp contrast in their cases.

Verbal Process
• "He said, "I explained as briefly as I could" (p. 98).
• "I said, you do not feel the need any longer for your position in this household" (p. 93).
The discourse among characters shows a great difference in their socio-economic class. The servants are not allowed to engage in lengthy stretch of talk with the masters. They keep their communication brief. Their words depict that they regard their masters as supreme beings capable fixing of turbulence wrecking their wretched lives.

Distribution of Six Processes in In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and About a Burning Girl
The analysis of the selected texts shows that the total number of clauses is 109. Out of which the occurrences of material process is 41 i.e. 37.6%, mental process is 29 i.e. 26.6%, verbal process is 14 i.e. 12.8%, behavior process is 12 i.e. 11%, relational process is 9 i.e.
8.25%, existential process is 5 i.e. 4.58%. It can be observed that the most prominent process type extracted from the data is material process which alludes to Marx's (1970) saying, "it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness" (p. ii). It is evident from the above discussion that characters in the story determine their patterns of life depending upon the material conditions.
The percentages and total number of the process types are given in

Conclusion
The discussion in the above section seems in accordance with the research problem.
The application of transitivity has been employed to interpret a literary work. The six processes (material, mental, verbal, behavioral, relational and existential)  an ever increasing gulf in socio-economic classes from various strata. The rich and the poor characters have been plotted against one another to describe their traits in depth. The experience of characters placed in this landscape has been interpreted by using systemic functional linguistic approach of transitivity. The analysis not only concentrates on the structural aspects of language but considers the role that language is playing in the society.
The language of the characters depicts their social experience and that language has been scrutinized by the six processes to cover different facets of the lives of characters. The language of the selected texts namely In Other Rooms, Other Wonder and About a Burning Girl brings to light a number of Marxist themes. The characters of the rich and the poor classes have been contrasted to illustrate class difference. It informs the audience of the growing class struggle which can very well be a dominant factor in disturbing the stable state of the society.
Exploitation and corruption are the natural by-products due to the yawning void between classes. The characters at the bottom are exploited by their superiors and are robbed of even the necessities of life. In order to compensate this exploitation people indulge in corrupt practices. As a result, everyone who gets a chance avails the opportunity to thrive by every possible mean. Marx in trying to comprehend the system of exploitation and capitalism propounded a conception of commodity. A commodity has to envisage two sorts of values to be termed as commodity. One is use value and the other is exchange value. People who are on a superior position go to maximum possible extent to use others to reap benefit.
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, a young girl is collaged with a retired bureaucrat who uses her to keep himself relaxed in his old age. Husna's character can be compared to other female characters for the explanation of the fact that one gets exploited if s/he has no material possession. In the second story About a Burning Girl corrupt practices have been exposed. The language of the judge fully describes his persona. The language describes social, emotional and psychological facets of the lives of characters. It can be observed that material process exceeds other processes. This shows that the acts which characters perform define their identity. Next to material process is mental process which suggests that the thoughts embodied by the characters shape up their mental makeup. Daniyal Mueenuddin has displayed a developing society. The outlook of Pakistani society has varied markedly in the era of globalization but still there are areas in third world countries which demand serious acts of reformation. By evaluating the language of the literary texts, the researcher has endeavored to find out the role that language is playing in society to shape the lives of characters from different walks of life and in turn how language itself is formulated in the way it is in a particular discourse.