摘 要

《一小时的故事》是凯特·肖邦最重要的短篇小说之一。该小说主要讲述了女主人公露易丝·马拉尔德听说丈夫已死到发现丈夫还活着中间一个小时所经历的心理变化和反应。本文主要分析了该小说中的多视角叙述、象征和反讽三种写作技巧，从而突出该小说的主题——19世纪男权社会下的女性对自由的强烈渴望。

关键词：多视角叙述；象征；反讽；《一小时的故事》

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Demonstration.................................................................................................... 2

2.1 Multiple point-of-view narration.......................................................................2

2.1.1 Third-person omniscient point of view..........................................................2

2.1.2 Third-person limited point of view.................................................................3

2.2 Symbols.............................................................................................................4

2.2.1 The symbolic meaning of the door.................................................................5

2.2.2 The symbolic meaning of the window and the scene outside the window.... 6

2.3 Irony...................................................................................................................7

2.3.1 Irony represented by the plot..........................................................................7

2.3.2 Irony created by the scene..............................................................................8

1. Conclusion..........................................................................................................9

Works Cited ...10

Bibliography ...11

A Study of the Writing Techniques in The Story of an Hour

1. Introduction

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O’Flaherty on February 8, 1850 and died in 1904. As an author of short stories and novels, she is viewed by the critics as one of the pioneers of feminist writers of the 19^th century. Fred Lewis Pattee wrote that “some of Chopin's work is equal to the best that has been produced in France or even in America” (364). Nine years after her marriage with Louisiana native Oscar Chopin, they moved to Natchitoches Parish, and it was then that Kate became gradually acquainted with the Creole Community that played a significant role in her writing (Wang 69). Her major works include two collections of short stories Bayou Kolk ( 1894 ) and A Night in Acadie ( 1897) , novels At Fault ( 1890 ) and The Awakening ( 1899 ) which has been regarded as her masterpiece by many critics.

The deep studies of Kate Chopin in Western countries almost began from the late 1960s. They have taken on three major trends:

First, Kate Chopin has been reappraised and recognized as a unique voice in American literature in terms of her life and writing; second, this reappraisal has accorded canonical status to The Awakening and some of Chopin’s short stories; third, the proliferation of literary theory has encouraged interpretations of Chopin’s works from multiple perspectives. (Wan 153)

Studies of Kate Chopin in China begin much later than those in foreign countries and most studies concentrate on the feminist aspects of her works. What’s more, her masterpiece The Awakening has received wide critical attentions and been studied by many scholars, while her short stories have received fewer attentions. There are not many studies of her short story The Story of an Hour both at home and abroad.