英语短篇小说选读KateChopin凯特肖邦.ppt

1、Kate Chopin,. A Brief Introduction . Life . Major Works and Writing Style . SettingThe Storm,. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION,A woman ahead of her time She was an American author ofshort storiesand novels. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner offeministauthors of the 20th century.,She was a

2、 woman whose feminist viewpoints were far ahead of her time, which of course garnered her more than her share of criticism.,In a time when women were expected to behave properly and sexual desire was considered to be something only experienced by men, Chopin spoke with exceptional openness about hum

3、an sexuality.,She lambasted society for its perpetual close-mindedness in a time when righteousness was considered to be an attribute, and she helped to generate more enlightened attitudes among both the women and men of her time.,Backgrounds: Gender: is both an effect of biology and a social constr

4、uction. In patriarchal societies, that construction will tend to favour men over women. Gender role: refers to the behavioural role or quality socially and culturally sanctioned for males and females.,Gender identity: refers to the self-awareness of ones biological, social and cultural characteristi

5、cs. It is the conformation and approval of ones sexual identity. Gender identity is the internalisation of gender role, while gender role is the externalised form of gender identity; both are based on biological elements.,Femininity: submissive, passive, mindless, emotional, sensual, fragile, nurtur

6、ing, caring, relational, domestic and etc. Masculinity: aggressive, competitive, smart, strong-hearted, tough, rational, social, independent and etc.,Simone de Beauvoir says in The Second Sex: “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman. No biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the

7、 figure that the human female presents in society; it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature.,Feminist consciousness: awareness of the elements that prevent women from developing in the social institutional structure; the conscious pursuit for political and economical subjectivity in

8、 society. Female consciousness: natural female consciousness including the pursuit for beauty and freedom, and the awareness of self-attractiveness, self-worthiness, self-existence, self-esteem, self-enjoyment, and also the desire for intellectual, emotional and sexual fulfilment.,Feminist criticism

9、: examines the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economical, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.,. LIFE,- KATE Chopin was born Kate OFlaherty in St. Louis, Missouri in 1850 to Eliza and Thomas OFlaherty. - SHE was the third of

10、five children, but her sisters died in infancy and her brothers (from her fathers first marriage) in their early twenties. She was the only child to live past the age of twenty-five.,- In 1870, at the age of twenty, she married Oscar Chopin, twenty-five, and the son of a wealthy cotton -growing fami

11、ly in Louisiana. - After their marriage they lived in New Orleans where she had five boys and two girls, all before she was twenty-eight. Oscar died of swamp fever there in 1882.,-After her husbands death in 1882, she returned to St. Louis with her six children and began to write. - She was well kno

12、wn as both a local colorist and a woman writer, and had published over one hundred stories, essays, and sketches in literary magazines.,. Major Works and Writing Style,Major Works,Desirees Baby (1893) The Story of an Hour (1894),The Storm (1898) A Pair of Silk Stockings,Lilacs The Awakening(1899),Th

13、e Analysis of Chopins story, Chiefly interested in capturing the flavor of Louisiana life. Characters: Louisiana Creoles (法国和西班牙殖民者后裔)and Cajuns(加拿大定居的法国人后裔)., The major concern: The roles of women in society and the womans responsibilities to her family, her community, and herself. Womens self-real

14、ization,What roles did women play at Kate Chopins time? They played the role of a fealty (孝顺的) daughter, a caring housewife, a loving mother, etc. Women were limited in domestic life and were supposed to idolize(醉心于)their children, worship their husbands and esteem it a holy privilege to efface （漠视）

15、themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels (救星)., “The quest for freedom is a theme that runs through much of Chopins writing. . . . Her forthright portrayal of women on their search for emancipation shocked many of her generation, but has gained her a large following in ours ”.

16、- Lewis Leary,. Setting The Storm,Setting refers to the time and place in which the action of a story takes place. The elements making up a setting are: (1) the physical environment; (2) the time or period in which the action takes place; (3) the general environment of the characters, e.g. religious

17、, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move; (4) the characters occupation and daily manners of living.,-Characters in a story all have to interact in one way or another with its setting. Setting can often help reveal characters traits, and it is

18、one of the primary ways an author establishes the storys mood. In some stories, the setting can strongly affect the plot, functioning almost like another character.,Related literary term: Local Color Writing When setting dominates, or when a piece of fiction is written largely to present the manners

19、 and customs of a locality, the writing is often called local color writing or regionalism and the writer, a regional writer. And a regional writer usually set his or her story in one geographic area and tries to bring it alive to readers everywhere,The Storm (“暴风雨”),Setting,One summer day, the stor

20、m is coming. The weather foreshadows the a real, or literal, storm, and a storm of emotion, or passion,Characters,Calixta: the protagnist Alcee Laballiere: fomer lover of Calixta Bobinot: husband of Calixta and father of Bibi Bibi: four-year-old son of Calixta and Bobinot,Plot,One summer day, the st

21、orm is coming. Bobinot and Bibi were trapped with the coming storm while Claxita was at home busy sewing something. When she noticed the coming of the storm, she hurried out to get the clothes in the yard.,Plot,At that moment, she came across her former lover Alcee Laballiere. To avoid the storm, Al

22、cee Laballiere stayed at the gallery with Claxita. She was worried about her husband and son and even lost temper. The sight of Claxita reminded Alcee LAballiere the old day when they were together. Then they commited adultory.,Plot,The storm passed away, and Alcee Laballiere left. Claxita treated h

23、er husband better than ever,and Alcee Laballiere wrote a loving letter to his wife.,Theme,Point of View,Third person point of view.,Womens awareness of love and marriage.,In Kate Chopins short story The Storm the major character Calixta commits adultery, but instead of feeling guilty over an act considered a sin in her time, she feels liberated. Chopins main point, however, is not that adultery is good, but that a womans self-fulfillment is.,The Storm contains the basic theme that informs Chopi