一個小時的故事

1、一個小時的故事大家都知道馬蘭德夫人的心臟有毛病，所以在把她丈夫的死訊告訴她時都是小 心翼翼的，盡可能地溫和委婉。壞消息是山她姐姐約瑟芬告訴她的，連話都沒說成句，只敢遮遮掩掩地向她暗 示。她丈夫的朋友理查茲也在場，就在她的身旁。當火車事故的消息傳來的時候， 理查茲正好在報社里，遇難者名單上布蘭特雷馬蘭德的名字排在首位。他只等到 緊接其后的笫二份電報證明了消息的真實性后，就急忙趕在了那些不太心細也不太 溫柔的朋友之前先把這個不幸的消息帶了回來。她不像許多別的女人那樣，只是帶著麻木接受的神情聽著這個故事，而是立刻 瘋狂而絕望地撲倒在姐姐的懷里淚如泉涌。當這暴風雨般的悲傷過去后，她獨自回 到了自己的房

2、間里，不讓任何人跟著她。窗戶是開著的，對面放著一把舒服的大扶手椅，她筋疲力盡地沉了進去。這種 疲憊不僅折磨著她的身體，似乎也浸入了她的靈魂。透過窗口，她可以看到屋前廣場上的樹梢在新春的氣息中興奮地顫抖著。空氣 中彌漫著芬芳的雨的氣息。窗下的街道上，一個小販正在叫賣他的器皿。遠處依稀 傳來縹緲的歌聲，數(shù)不清的麻雀也在屋檐下嘰嘰喳喳地唱個不停。對著她窗口西邊的天空上，云朵層層迭迭地堆積著，間或露出一納絡蔚藍的天 空。她把頭靠在椅背上，非常地平靜。除了偶爾會嗚咽一兩聲，使她有點顫抖，就 像小孩子哭著睡著了，但在夢中還會繼續(xù)嗚咽一樣。她還很年青，白皙而安詳?shù)哪樕系木€條，顯示著一種壓抑其或說是一種力量。

3、 但是現(xiàn)在，她的口光有些陰郁，呆呆地凝望著遠處白云間的絡紹藍天。這并不是匆 匆的一瞥，而是一種長久的深思熟慮。有一種感覺正在向她靠近，那正是她帶著恐懼等待的。是什么，她不知道。這 種感覺太微妙，太難以捉摸，她說不清楚。但她感覺得到，它正在空中蔓延，穿過 彌漫于空氣中的聲音、氣味和顏色慢慢地向她黑近?，F(xiàn)在，她內(nèi)心騷動不安。她開始認識到那種向她步步進逼并漸漸地控制她的感 覺是什么了。她努力地想用自己的意志力把這種感覺打回去一一可是她意志就像她 那口皙纖弱的雙手一樣軟弱無力。當她稍稍放松了抵抗的時候，從她微微張開的雙唇間喃喃地溢出一個詞。她屏 住呼吸一遍乂一遍地重復著："自由，自由，自由”

4、隨著那種感覺而來的茫然的 LI光和恐懼的神色從她的眼里消失了?，F(xiàn)在，她的LI光透著機敬，炯炯有神。她的 心跳加快，沸騰的熱血溫暖了身體的每一個部位，使她感到身心完全地放松了。她沒有停下來問問自己，是不是有一種邪惡的快感在控制著她。一種清清楚楚 的、興奮的感覺讓她根本無暇去顧及那些個瑣事。她知道，當她見到丈夫那雙溫柔親切的雙手變得僵硬，那張從不會對她吝嗇愛 意的臉變得毫無表情、灰白如紙的時候，她肯定還會哭的。但在這痛苦之外，她看到了長遠的未來， 那些只屬于她自己的未來歲月。而她張開雙臂去迎接那些歲月。在未來的歲月里，她不再為了別人而活著，而只為她自己。那時，她不必再盲 LI地屈從于任何專橫的意志

5、。人們總是相信他們有權把個人的意志強加于他人。無 論其動機是善良的還是殘酷的，她突然感到這種做法絕不亞于犯罪。當然，她是愛過他的一一有時候是愛他的。但經(jīng)常是不愛他的。那乂有什么關 系呢有了獨立的意志一一她突然意識到這是她身上最強烈的一種沖動，愛情這未 有答案的神秘事物乂算得了什么呢"自由了身心都自由了”她不住地悄悄低語著。約瑟芬跪在緊閉的門外，嘴唇對著鎖孔，苦苦地哀求著讓她進去?！奥兑捉z， 開開門求求你啦，開開門一一你這樣會得病的。你干什么哪，露易絲，看在上帝 的份兒上，開開門吧”“走開。我不會讓自己生病的。”不會的，她正陶醉在窗外那不息的生命里。她的想象像脫僵的野馬一樣狂奔著。她想

6、象著未來的日子，春天的日子，夏天 的日子，所有將屬于她自己的日子。她快速地祈禱著生命能夠更加長久，而就在昨 天，一想到生命那么漫長她就瑟瑟發(fā)抖。她終于站了起來，在她姐姐的強求下，打開了門。她眼睛里充滿了勝利的激丨 情，她的舉止不知不覺竟像勝利女神一樣。她緊摟著姐姐的腰，一起走下樓去。理 查茲正站在下面等著她們。有人正在用鑰匙打開大門。進來的是布蘭特雷馬蘭德，雖略顯旅途勞頓，但 泰然自若地提著他的大旅行包和傘。事發(fā)當時他離現(xiàn)場很遠，甚至根本就不知道發(fā) 生了車禍。他愣在那兒，對約瑟芬的尖叫感到吃驚，對理查茲快速地把他擋在他妻 子的視線外更感到吃驚。但是理查茲還是太遲了。醫(yī)生來后，他們說她是死于心臟

7、病一一說她是死于極度高興。In 1870, at the age of 20, she married Oscar Chopin and settled in New Orleans Chopin had all six of her children by 29. In 1879 Oscar Chopin's cotton brokerage failed, and the family moved to Cloutierville in south Natchitoches Parish to manage several small plantations and a gener

8、al store They became active in the community, and Chopin absorbed much material for her future writing, especially regarding the Creole culture of the area Their home at 243 Highway 495 (built by Alexis Cloutier in the early part of the century) was a national historic landmark and the home of the B

9、ayou Folk Museum On October 1, 2008, the house was destroyed by a fire, with little left but the chimney4When Oscar Chopin died in 1882 (like his half-brother two decades earlier), he left Kate with $12, 000 in debt (approximately $250,000 in 2009 money) According to Emily Toth, "for awhile the

10、 widow Kate ran his Oscar's business and flirted outrageously with local men; (she even engaged in a relationship with a married farmer)"5 Although Chopin made an honest effort to keep her late husband's plantation and general store alive, two years later she sold her Louisiana business

11、 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, Chopin's mother diedChopin now found herself in a state of depression after the loss of both her husband and

12、her mother Herobstetrician and family friend, Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer, felt that writing would be a source of therapeutic healing for Kate during her hard times He understood that writing could be a focus for her extraordinary energy, as well as a source of income6_By the early 1890s, Kate Chopin

13、was writing short stories, articles, and translations which appeared in periodicals, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch She was quite successful and placed many of her publications in literary magazines But she became known only as a regional local color writer and her literary qualities were ove

14、rlooked.In 1899, her second novel, The Awakening, was published, and thebook was criticized because of its moral as well as its literary- standards This, her best-known work, is the story of a woman trapped in the confines of an oppressive society Out of print for several decades, it is now widely a

15、vailable and critically acclaimed for its writing quality and importance as an early feminist workSome of her writings, such as The Awakening, were too far ahead of their time and therefore not socially embraced After almost 12 years in the public eye of the literary world and shattered by the lack

16、of acceptance, Chopin was a virtually nonexistent authorChopin, deeply discouraged by the criticism, turned to short story writing In 1900 she wrote The Gentleman from New Orleans, and that same year she was listed in the first edition of Marquis Who's Who. However she never made much money from

17、 her writing, and depended on her investments in Louisiana and St. Louis to sustain herWhile visiting the St. Louis World's Fair on August 20, 1904, Chopin suffered a brain hemorrhage and died two days later, at the age of 53. She was interred in the Calvary cemetery in St. LouisSummaryAn Americ

18、an Writer Kate Chopin" s short story Story of an Hour(1894) describes the series of emotions LouiseMallard endures after hearing of the death of her husband, who was believed to have died in a railroad disaster Mrs Mallard suffers from heart problems and therefore her sister attempts to inform

19、her of the horrific news in a gentle way. Mrs Mallard locks herself in her room to immediately mourn the loss of her husband However, she begins to feel an unexpected sense of exhilaration. "Free! Body and soul free!，z is what she believes is a benefit of his death At the end of the story, it i

20、s made known that her husband was not involved in the railroad disaster and upon his return home Mrs Mallard suddenly dies The cause of her death is ambiguous and left for analysis as it can range from her known heart problems to psychological factorsThemesedit Emotional Repressionin her article, ，z

21、Emotions in 'The Story of An Hour, Jamil argues that Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallard* s perception of her husbands supposed death as fostered by emotions, rather than by rationality Jamil claims that up until that point, Mrs Mallard* s life had been devoid of emotion to such an extent that she hase

22、ven wondered if it is even worth living The repression of emotion may represent Mrs. Mallard" s repressive husband, who had, up until that point, usmotheredn and "silenced" her wil1. Therefore, her newfound freedom isbrought on by an influx of emotion (representing the death of the fi

23、gure of the repressive husband) that adds meaning and value to her life For, though Mrs Mallard initially feels fear when she hears of her husband" s death, the strength of the emotion is so powerful that Mrs Mallard actually feels joy (because she is feeling) Since, this"joy that kills,，z

24、 ultimately leads to Mrs. Mallard, s death, so that one way of interpreting this is that the repression of Mrs. Mallard, s feelings is what killed her in the endIn the same article, Jamil shows that the repression that Mrs.Mallard faces as a wife She realizes how after her husbands apparent death th

25、at she was "free, free, free" This shows how her life would change and she is now a new person and removed from the repressed life she faced before No evidence is given in the story about how sheis repressed, but her reaction of his death and her new found confidence and freedom is enough

26、This repression ofherself that she dealt with she was now removed from and would be able to be freeedit MarriageKate Chopin negatively portrays marriage in the story as being the"blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature

27、" (Chopin) Instead of the story beingabout a poor wife who has just lost her beloved husband, the reader now can perceive the situation for what it is. A wife finally free of the domestic servitude called "marriage" she was trapped in. The main character Mrs. Mallardis liberated from

28、husband Bentley Mallard through his death, because when he was alive, he would use his upowerful willv to bend hersCriticismIn "The Teeth of Desire: The Awakening and The Descent of Man, critic Bert Bender summarizes the theme of the story:In "The Story of an Hour," on the other hand, Mrs. Mallard feels the ecstasy of being liberated from what seems of love（463） 2While many critics do believe that Chopin's tale is about female liberation, in Lawrence Berkove,s critici