thestoryofanhour.ppt

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,The Story of an Hour,Kate Chopin,What is conflict?,Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces that emerges as the action develops.This conflict is a clash between the protagonist,（主人公,主角,a storys principal character,and an antagonist,（对立者，对手）,someone or something presented in opposition to the protagonist.,Crisis and climax,As the plot progresses,the storys conflict unfolds,（逐渐展现）,through a series of complications that eventually lead readers to the storys climax.The action may include several crises.A crisis is a peak in the storys action,a moment of considerable tension or importance.The climax is the point of greatest tension or importance the scene that presents a storys decisive action or event.,What is a flashback?,A flashback moves out of sequence to examine an event or situation that occurred before the time in which the storys action takes place.A character can remember an earlier event,or a storys narrator can re-create an earlier situation.,Foreshadowing is the introduction early in a story of situations,events,characters,or objects that hint at things to come.A chance(,意外的，偶然的）,remark,a natural occurrence,（发生的事情）,or a seemingly trivial,（,not worth considering,）,event is eventually revealed to have great significance.For example,a dark cloud passing across the sky can foreshadow future problems.,What is foreshadowing?,How do we pronounce,“,Chopin,”,?,In the French way,something like SHOW-pan.Her mothers family was of French stock(,祖先，家族,),and Kate grew up bilingual,（能说两种语言的）,.,Kate Chopins Life,Birth:Kate Chopin was born in 1850 to the well-to-do St.Louis couple Eliza and Thomas OFlaherty.,Kate Chopins Life,Fathers Death:Kates father died in 1855 in a railway disaster,when Kate was only four.,Kate Chopins Life,Influence from other women around her:,Kate OFlahertys actions reflected the influence of her great-grandmother,who lived with the family until Kate was eleven.Kate learned from her the love of storytelling,an interest in history,and an inquisitive attitude.,Kate Chopins Life,Marriage life:Kate married Oscar Chopin in 1870,，,at the age of 19.Oscar was from New Orleans.He worked as an agent,a banker,and a broker(,经纪人,)in the cotton industry.Kate was an active socialite,（社会名流，社交界的知名人士）,during this time but also helped Oscar run the business.This equal sharing of work and play by husband and wife was unusual for the time.,Kate Chopins Life,Chopin had all six of her children by 29.In 1879 Oscar Chopins cotton brokerage(,经纪行，经纪业,)failed,and the family moved to,Cloutierville,in south to manage several small,plantations,and a,general store,.They became active in the community,and Chopin absorbed much material for her future writing.,Kate Chopins Life,When Oscar Chopin died in 1882(like his half-brother two decades earlier),he left Kate with$12,000 in debt.She attempted to manage the plantation and store alone but with little success.,Kate Chopins Life,Although Chopin made an honest effort to keep her late husbands plantation and general store alive,two years later she sold her Louisiana business.Her mother implored her to move back to St.Louis,so Chopin did,and the children gradually settled into life in St.Louis,where finances were no longer a concern.The following year,Chopins mother died.,Writing as a therapy:,When Kates mother died in 1885,Kate suffered a nervous breakdown,her doctor suggested she write as a way to calm herself.She took his advice,and soon re-discovered her natural story-telling.,Kate Chopins Life,Kate Chopins Life,By 1904,however,the author began to abandon writing as her health worsened.She died of a cerebral hemorrhage(,脑出血）,on August 22 of that year.,The Awakening,The Awakening(,1899,),was widely criticized for it challenged and conflicted with society,s moral standards.Reviewers called the content of the book,“,unwholesome,”,while simultaneously acknowledging the writing style was outstanding.One critic remarked that he was well satisfied with Ednas death at the end.,wholesome:,在道德上有益的，有益于身心健康的,The Awakening,The Awakening,tells the story of Edna and the changes that occur in her thinking and lifestyle as the result of a summer romance.At the start of the story,Edna is a young mother of two and the wife of a successful New Orleans businessman.While the family is vacationing at a seaside resort,Edna becomes acquainted with Robert,a younger man who pays special attention to her.,The Awakening,Moonlit walks and intimate conversations with Robert spark feelings that Edna has forgotten.When she returns to the city,Edna throws off the trappings of her old life,devotion to family,attention to societal expectations,and adherence to tradition,to explore independence in love,life,and sexual fulfillment.,The Awakening,Kate,deeply discouraged by the criticism,turned to short story writing.She composed a number of short stories,including The Storm.,Women in Kate Chopin,s Works:,Her women became more passionate and emancipated(,不受束缚的,).,“,consistently.strong-willed,independent heroines.who cast a skeptical(,持怀疑态度的，不相信的,)eye on the institution of marriage,”,are very characteristic of her stories.,Women in Kate Chopin,s Works:,There would be no one to live for during those coming years;she would live for herself.There would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.,The Story of An Hour,Women in Kate Chopin,s Works:,“,Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself.At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively,（本能地，天性地）,the dual,（二重的）,life,that outward existence which conforms,（顺应社会上的习俗）,the inward life which questions.,Description of Edna,Pontellier,in The Awakening.,Women in Kate Chopin,s Works:,I would give up the unessential;I would give my money,I would give my life for my children;but I wouldn,t give myself.,Edna,Pontellier,in The Awakening.,Historical background,Given that,“,The Story of an Hour,”,was published in 1894,when marriage was considered a sacred institution.Divorce was quite rare in the 1800s and if one was to occur,men were automatically given legal control of all property and children.,Historical Background,Obviously then,a female writer who wrote of women wanting independence would not be received very highly,especially one who wrote of a woman rejoicing in the death of her husband.,Historical background,The fact that she pays for her elation(the state of being filled with joy)with her life at the end of the story is not enough to redeem(to make slightly less bad,补偿，补救,)either the character or the author.,W,hats the story about?,I,s there anything weird in it that you find,difficult to understand?,Analysis of the Story,Question 1:,“,When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease,of joy that kills.,”,What do you think of the doctor,s diagnosis?,Analysis of the Story,Mrs.Mallard,the young,“,repressed,”,woman who began to look at her widowhood as a rebirth,similar to the,“,new spring,”,outside her window,did not die from the excitement of seeing her husband alive.She expired(died)from,“,a heart problem,”,an instantaneous knowledge that her momentary glimpse into a,“,life she would live for herself,”,a,“,life that might be long,”,was not to be.,Analysis of the story,Critics say that the strength of Kate Chopin,s work comes from,“,what may be described as a native(,天生的,)aptitude,（才能，资质，天资）,for narration amounting almost to genius.,”,Analysis of the Story,Question 2:,What,s the difference between heart trouble and heart disease?,It refers to the spiritual condition,but not the medical condition.,Analysis of the Story,Question 3:,How do we account for her reaction to the news of her husband,s death?,“,She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same,with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.,”,Analysis of the Story,She wept at once,but she was not paralyzed at the idea of living alone for the rest of her life.,“,She was young,with a fair face,whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.,”,Other examples from the text?,Analysis of the Story,Question,4:,What is the conflict that causes the story to happen?,Conflict between husband and wife?Or conflict between women and the institution of marriage?,Analysis of the character Mrs.Mallard,Mrs,Mallad,is a typical woman in Kate Chopin,s style.,She lives a dual life.,Conformist side and nonconformist side,Dramatic Irony,Chopin uses irony,a technique that reveals the distance between what appears to be true and what is actually true,to conclude her story.This type of irony is called dramatic irony.,Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience knows something that the characters don,t.(,戏剧性反讽（指观众比剧中人更能领会其台词的言外之意）,),Reading and Reacting,1.When“The Story of an Hour”was first published in,Vogue,magazine in 1894,the magazines editors titled it“The Dream of an Hour.”A film version,echoing the last words of the story,is called,The Joy That Kills,.Which of the three titles do you believe most accurately represents what happens in the story?Why?,2.Did,Brently,Mallard abuse his wife?Did he love her?,Did he love her?Did she love him?Exactly why was she so relieved to be rid of him?Can you answer any of these questions with certainty?,3.What is the nature of the conflict in this story?Who,or what,do you see as Mrs.Mallards antagonist?,4.Was the storys ending unexpected,or were you prepared for it?What elements in the story foreshadow this ending?,Critical Perspective,Closely following the publication of Bayou Folk,（支流人）,Chopins 1894 short story collection,the Atlantic Monthly printed a review suggesting that when Chopin“deals with what is familiar to her she deals with it as an artist,and the entire ease with which she uses her material if,aborn,not less of an instinct for story-telling than of familiarity with the stuff out of which she weaves her stories.”,“All of the stories are very simple in structure,but the simplicity is that which belongs to clearness of perception(,洞察力，理解力,),not to,meagreness,（贫乏，不足）,of imagination.Now and then she strikes a passionate note,and the naturalness and east with which she does it impress one as characteristic of power awaiting opportunity.”,Although“The Story of an Hour”was not included in the collection,it was published the same year.Do you think that the critics comments about the stories in Bayou Folk also apply to“The Story of an Hour”?For example,is the storys simplicity due to a“clearness of perception”?Are there“passionate notes”in the story that seem to be“characteristic of power awaiting opportunity”?,Homework,Read William Faulkners“A Rose for Emily”.,Find some information about both the writer and the story.,T,hink about the exercise questions.,