Review on The Story of An Hour - Ives

美国文学论文

英语1102班

刘 佳 辰

2011012471

Review on The Story of an Hour

《一小时的故事》评析

摘要：

《一小时的故事》是由凯特·肖邦在1894年写的一篇短篇故事，故事讲述女主人公露易丝·玛拉尔德听说丈夫已死到发现丈夫还活着中间一个小时的心理历程。故事显示出女人曾是十九世纪社会与婚姻制度的受害者。

关键词：短篇故事，心理历程，受害者

Abstract:

The Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 1894. It is a story about the psychological reaction of an elderly woman, Mrs. Louise Mallard, to the news of her husband’s death but finally find out her husband is alive during one hour. The story shows that women used to be the victims of the social and marital systems in the 19th century.

Key words: short story; psychological reaction; victims

Outline:

1. The analysis of the plot

2. The irony in the story

3. Conclusion

1. The analysis of the plot

The short story describes a series of emotions Mrs. Louise Mallard endures after hearing the death of her husband, who was believed to have died in a railroad disaster. We can imagine that Mrs. Louise Mallard lived a happy life from the point of traditional view. She loved her husband, and her husband was gentle and considerate, they were seemed to be perfectly match. So there was nothing to worry about in her life. However, Louise suffers from heart problems and therefore her sister attempts to inform her the death of her husband in a gentle way. After knowing the news, Louise locks herself in her room to immediately mourn the loss of her husband. Later, she begins to feel an unexpected sense of exhilaration. "Free! Body and soul free!" is what she believes is a benefit of his death. We can know from here that she lived a two-sided life, no one knew, including her husband, of her spiritual demands. Yet she had to make others believe that she was happy and lucky. She had to act the traditional role as a virtuous wife, not for herself, but for others. At the end of the story, it is made known that her husband was not involved in the railroad disaster and upon his return home Louise suddenly dies.

The women in the 19th century were required to learn all the social graces (The authoress herself was also required to do so in her puberty.) and encouraged to follow the rules and principles as men wanted them to do. Most women were reduced to the victims of the then social and marital systems. Yet still they had to repress their own desires to cater to the patriarchal society. And no one would care about their real demands. Louise was just one of the victims.

2. The irony in the story

Irony is a technique that literary works often use, through a way of saying something completely different from the real meaning to achieve the goal of strengthen the article. In this story, the author uses the irony technique for several times.

The first time was when Louise knew the death of her husband. “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had

spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.” She did not act like other women “with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” Of course, she cried, but not continue immersing in grief. She walked inside her room alone. It left the reader a strong suspense that a recently widowed woman was so calm after the great grief. Yet when the readers' hearts were full of doubt, the author took the opportunity and push the story to an unexpected direction.

The second time was the irony about what Louise saw in her room. According to the common sense, a woman suddenly lost her husband should be immersed in grief and had no interest in the surroundings. Even if she saw the things outside of the window, it should be grey, but not the “blue sky”. She can still feel “the breath of Spring” and smell the scent of the spring rain, as well as the “singing of sparrows”. Those are actually what inside Louise’s heart, she finally got rid of the bondage of her husband. Freedom was what she got from her husband’s death and even the world is becoming beautiful now. The readers now understood that Louise was eager for freedom of body and mind.

The third time was when Louise’s husband was back. When the readers finally began to understand the protagonist with sympathy, her husband came back home. Later in the story, we know that her husband was not dead in that accident. This description for death and resurrection pushed the full text to a climax. After an hour to enjoy the freedom, her husband went back alive again and also she, again, had to continue their suppressed marriage. As a result, she died, and we could not help but regretted for it. So the author successfully introduced the story to a climax and then ended the story.

“When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills” was also an irony. Every reader understood, the death of Louise is due to the extreme disappointment and fear of future life, which caused heart disease recurrence.

3. Conclusion

The Story of an Hour gives us a lot for thought. The author Kate Chopin narrated what happened to the protagonist Mrs. Louise Mallard in an hour and showed her

pursuit of mental freedom and emotional independence. From the narration, we also could see there were restrictions in women’s pursuit of freedom, such as social environment and ethics. As to the protagonist in the story, when she could not get freedom in the real society, maybe a death would help her to gain freedom in the other world.

References:

[1] 崔玉梅、帅式毅:《〈一小时的故事〉中“门”的象征意义》,《九江学院学报》,2006年第4期。

[2] 彭贵菊:《真实的束缚,虚幻的自由——试论凯特?肖邦的〈一小时的故事〉》,《外国文学评论》,2003年第1期。

[3] 苏秀玲:《一个小时的抗争—读凯特·肖邦的〈一个小时的故事〉》,《牡丹江师范学院学报》(哲学社会科学版),2006年第5期。

[4] 邓凡琼:《从压迫到抗争——小说〈一个小时的故事〉的经验功能分析》,《湖北函授大学学报》,2007年第1期

[5]:Transitivity Analysis of The Story of An Hour——From the Perspective of Functional Stylistics[J];Journal of Hubei Correspondence University;2007-01

[6]: Theme of The Story of an Hour and Its Reception of Contemporary Chinese Readers[J];Tianjin Foreign Studies University Journal;2006-04