the-story-of-an-hour文体分析.doc

《the-story-of-an-hour文体分析.doc》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《the-story-of-an-hour文体分析.doc（6页珍藏版）》请在淘文阁 - 分享文档赚钱的网站上搜索。

1、如有侵权，请联系网站删除，仅供学习与交流the-story-of-an-hour文体分析【精品文档】第 6 页The Stylistic Analysis of the Story of an HourI. Introduction: 1. Brief account of the authorKate Chop in was born Kate OFlaherty in St. Louis, Missouri in 1850 to Eliza and Thomas OFlaherty. She was the only child to live past the age of twenty

2、-five in her family. She married Oscar Chopin at the age of twenty in 1870 and then settled in New Orleans where she had five boys and two girls before she was 28. Her husband died of swamp fever there in 1882. Chopin found herself in a state of depression after the death of her husband. He started

3、writing.She was well known as a woman writer. She had published over one hundred stories, essays, and sketches in literary magazines. Because of her pursuit of womens freedom and independence in the USA, Kate Chopin is considered as a forerunner of feminist author of the 20th century. The Story of a

4、n Hour was written in 1894. It is one of Kates works of feminism. In 1915, Fred Lewis Pattee 1 wrote, some of Chopins work is equal to the best that has been produced in France or even in America. She displayed what may be described as a native aptitude for narration amounting almost to genius.2. Br

5、ief account of the essayIn the story of an hour, Brently Mallard has died in a roadway disaster. His sister told this to Mallards wife, Louise who was young, with a fair, calm face. When she heard this news, “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sisters arms.” She went upstairs to

6、 a room and stayed alone for an hour because of the storm of grief. In the room, she sat in the chair and shook with a sob. She gazed out of a window. It was spring. Birds were singing. Every thing was so beautiful. Suddenly, an extraordinary thought occurs to Mrs. Mallard. “She saw beyond that bitt

7、er moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.” She was free! She just made her mind to go out from this tragedy. She found her husband still alive so that she was shocked and died!3. Major theme of the essayThe theme about this story: a woman in the society at tha

8、t time who must be responsibly for the family without husband. She was weak in appearance but strong in heart. She was different from other women that she pursued the freedom of herself. However, she could not realize her dream because of powerlessness at last.II. Linguistic presentation of the them

9、eIn the short story of The Story of an Hour, the author told us this story as a third person. It showed her pursuit of freedom and independence. In her narration, there are more than one thousand words. Most of them are easy to understand. The sentences in this story are concise and fluent. 1. Phono

10、logical featuresIn this story, the author used onomatopoeia, elision, and alliteration. First, in the paragraph five, the “twittering” can create vividness and vitality and it can produce a sound imagine. It can express the beauty of the spring outside the window. Second, I think the elision is best

11、 used in the 17th paragraph that Josephine asked Louise to open the door. It can reflect her worry and the emergency. At last, the alliteration is also used, such as “sound” and “scents” in paragraph 9; “opened” and “spread” in paragraph 13 and so on.2. Graphological features There are four special

12、punctuations are used in this story. First of all, exclamation marks are used in paragraph 11, 15, 16 to reveal her happiness and willingness to pursue freedom. Then, dashes are seemed in paragraph 17 and the last paragraph. In paragraph 17, dash is used to explain the reason. The last paragraph is

13、used to represent the effect of irony. The third, comma are used between sentence. In this way, the situation can be expressed clearly and lively. Such as: “Her husbands friend Richards was there, too, near her.” In addition, quotation marks are also used in the second paragraph. “Killed” refers to

14、the people who were killed in the accident.2. Lexical featuresAlmost words in this story are common words. At the same time, not only general words but also specific words do exist in this story. The specific words tend to give color and tang, tend to appeal to the imagination. We can understand bet

15、ter about the context emotions. Such as: “paralyzed”, “weep” in paragraph 3. We can realize her great grief about her husbands death. Then, in paragraph 7, the word “sob” and in paragraph 9, the word “creeping” gives us a real scene through our imagination. In addition, many general words are also u

16、sed like “crying” “delicious” “comfortable” in paragraph 5. Good writing or speaking has both general and specific information. Then, the immediate repetition in this story “free, free, free!” is obvious. It can let the readers understand the eager of the freedom of the author. But it cant be a form

17、al sentence. At last, the author used some emotive words. Such as “a litter whispered word” in paragraph 11 to show her attitude to freedom.3. Syntactic features In this story, there are long sentences and short sentences. Long sentences are used in paragraph 6, 7 to represent her complicated and sa

18、d emotion. Most of the sentences are short sentences. Such as paragraph 5, short sentences are used to represent a happy, simple and peaceful life. Also, in paragraph 17, the short sentences and simple sentences are used to present an emergency and great concern. Many short sentences make the story

19、become frequent and easy. And three stressed sentences like “it was” in this story which can emphasize the important points and persons. This can also reveal the authors writing skills. The tense of this story are different. Most sentences of this passage are past tense. In addition, there are three

20、 sentences in past perfective tense, eight sentences in past continuous tense, three in past future tense. Many sentences are ellipsis. Such as: paragraph 4,15,16,18. They can achieve emphasis and brevity. Many conjunctions are consisted in this story like” and” in paragraph 19 “Spring days, and sum

21、mer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own.” These words are used to link up a series of things. 4. Semantic features/figures of speechThere are many figures of speech are used in this story. Such as: simile, overstatement, personification and irony. Simile exists in paragraph 7 “as a chi

22、ld”, paragraph10 “powerless as her two white slender hands” and paragraph 20 “like a goddess of victory”. Overstatement is also used such as paragraph 5, 11. Then take paragraph 9 and 14 as examples: the word “creeping” and “blind” are used to modify something. This belongs to personification to giv

23、e us vivid image. Finally, irony is the most obvious rhetoric. For instance: her attitude about her husbands death. She felt relaxed but sad. This is a great irony. And the end also belongs to irony. The doctor said that she died of “heart disease-of joy.” They cant understand the real reason of her

24、 death. In fact, the readers know that her death is due to the extremely disappointment and the hopeless future in her heart.III. ConclusionThis passage uses a simple story to represent a complicated society. From it, we can feel the great eager of freedom of women. Also, it reflects that freedom fo

25、r women is impossible in this society because of the powerless of women. At the same time, just from the phonological, Graphological, Lexical, Syntactic and figures of speech, readers can feel the perfect writing skills of the writer.IV. Reference1. A History of American Literature since 1870, Harva

26、rd University Press, p. 3642钱瑗，实用文体学北京：外语教学与研究出版社,2006,2(2011.4重印)3.冯翠华，英语修辞大全：外语教学与研究出版社，2004,9（2011.10重印）4 Chopin, Kate: The Story of an Hour; from the Selected English Short Stories, Compiled by Du Lixia; Xian Jiaotong University Press, December 2001.The Story of an Hour Kate ChopinKnowing that M

27、rs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death. It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husbands friend Richards was there, too, near h

28、er. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallards name leading the list of killed. He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tend

29、er friend in bearing the sad message. She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sisters arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. S

30、he would have no one follow her. There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul. She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aq

31、uiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. There were patches of blue sky showing her

32、e and there through the clouds that had met and piled above the other in the west facing her window. She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob i

33、n its dreams. She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension

34、of intelligent thought. There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air. Now her

35、bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will-as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly par

36、ted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: Free, free, free! The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body. She did not stop to ask if it

37、were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. Bu

38、t she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending

39、her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination. And yet she had loved him-sometimes. O

40、ften she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion, which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being! Free! Body and soul free! she kept whispering. Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with

41、her lips to the keyhole,imploring for admission. Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door-you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heavens sake open the door. Go away. I am not making myself ill. No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window. Her fancy

42、was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long. She arose at length and opened the door to her

43、 sisters importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sisters waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom. Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. I

44、t was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his gripsack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephines piercing cry; at Richards quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife. But Richards was too late. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills.