the-story-of-an-hour文体分析

TheStylisticAnalysisoftheStoryofanHourI.Introduction:1.BriefaccountoftheauthorKateChopinwasbornKateO'FlahertyinSt.Louis,Missouriin1850toElizaandThomasO'Flaherty.Shewastheonlychildtolivepasttheageoftwenty-fiveinherfamily.ShemarriedOscarChopinattheageoftwentyin1870andthensettledinNewOrleanswhereshehadfiveboysandtwogirlsbeforeshewas28.Herhusbanddiedofswampfevertherein1882.Chopinfoundherselfinastateofdepressionafterthedeathofherhusband.Hestartedwriting.Shewaswellknownasawomanwriter.Shehadpublishedoveronehundredstories,essays,andsketchesinliterarymagazines.Becauseofherpursuitofwomen’sfreedomandindependenceintheUSA,KateChopinisconsideredasaforerunneroffeministauthorofthe20thcentury.TheStoryofanHourwaswrittenin1894.ItisoneofKate’sworksoffeminism.In1915,FredLewisPattee[1]wrote,someof[Chopin's]workisequaltothebestthathasbeenproducedinFranceoreveninAmerica.[Shedisplayed]whatmaybedescribedasanativeaptitudefornarrationamountingalmosttogenius.2.BriefaccountoftheessayInthestoryofanhour,BrentlyMallardhasdiedinaroadwaydisaster.HissistertoldthistoMallard’swife,Louisewhowasyoung,withafair,calmface.Whensheheardthisnews,“sheweptatonce,withsudden,wildabandonment,inhersister'sarms.”Shewentupstairstoaroomandstayedaloneforanhourbecauseofthestormofgrief.Intheroom,shesatinthechairandshookwithasob.Shegazedoutofawindow.Itwasspring.Birdsweresinging.Everythingwassobeautiful.Suddenly,anextraordinarythoughtoccurstoMrs.Mallard.“Shesawbeyondthatbittermomentalongprocessionofyearstocomethatwouldbelongtoherabsolutely.”Shewasfree!Shejustmadehermindtogooutfromthistragedy.Shefoundherhusbandstillalivesothatshewasshockedanddied!3.MajorthemeoftheessayThethemeaboutthisstory:awomaninthesocietyatthattimewhomustberesponsiblyforthefamilywithouthusband.Shewasweakinappearancebutstronginheart.Shewasdifferentfromotherwomenthatshepursuedthefreedomofherself.However,shecouldnotrealizeherdreambecauseofpowerlessnessatlast.II.LinguisticpresentationofthethemeIntheshortstoryofTheStoryofanHour,theauthortoldusthisstoryasathirdperson.Itshowedherpursuitoffreedomandindependence.Inhernarration,therearemorethanonethousandwords.Mostofthemareeasytounderstand.Thesentencesinthisstoryareconciseandfluent.1.PhonologicalfeaturesInthisstory,theauthorusedonomatopoeia,elision,andalliteration.First,intheparagraphfive,the“twittering”cancreatevividnessandvitalityanditcanproduceasoundimagine.Itcanexpressthebeautyofthespringoutsidethewindow.Second,Ithinktheelisionisbestusedinthe17thparagraphthatJosephineaskedLouisetoopenthedoor.Itcanreflectherworryandtheemergency.Atlast,thealliterationisalsoused,suchas“sound”and“scents”inparagraph9;“opened”and“spread”inparagraph13andsoon.2.GraphologicalfeaturesTherearefourspecialpunctuationsareusedinthisstory.Firstofall,exclamationmarksareusedinparagraph11,15,16torevealherhappinessandwillingnesstopursuefreedom.Then,dashesareseemedinparagraph17andthelastparagraph.Inparagraph17,dashisusedtoexplainthereason.Thelastparagraphisusedtorepresenttheeffectofirony.Thethird,commaareusedbetweensentence.Inthisway,thesituationcanbeexpressedclearlyandlively.Suchas:“Herhusband'sfriendRichardswasthere,too,nearher.”Inaddition,quotationmarksarealsousedinthesecondparagraph.“Killed”referstothepeoplewhowerekilledintheaccident.2.LexicalfeaturesAlmostwordsinthisstoryarecommonwords.Atthesametime,notonlygeneralwordsbutalsospecificwordsdoexistinthisstory.Thespecificwordstendtogivecolorandtang,tendtoappealtotheimagination.Wecanunderstandbetteraboutthecontextemotions.Suchas:“paralyzed”,“weep”inparagraph3.Wecanrealizehergreatgriefaboutherhusband’sdeath.Then,inparagraph7,theword“sob”andinparagraph9,theword“creeping”givesusarealscenethroughourimagination.Inaddition,manygeneralwordsarealsousedlike“crying”“delicious”“comfortable”inparagraph5.Goodwritingorspeakinghasbothgeneralandspecificinformation.Then,theimmediaterepetitioninthisstory“free,free,free!”isobvious.Itcanletthereadersunderstandtheeagerofthefreedomoftheauthor.Butitcan’tbeaformalsentence.Atlast,theauthorusedsomeemotivewords.Suchas“alitterwhisperedword”inparagraph11toshowherattitudetofreedom.3.SyntacticfeaturesInthisstory,therearelongsentencesandshortsentences.Longsentencesareusedinparagraph6,7torepresenthercomplicatedandsademotion.Mostofthesentencesareshortsentences.Suchasparagraph5,shortsentencesareusedtorepresentahappy,simpleandpeacefullife.Also,inparagraph17,theshortsentencesandsimplesentencesareusedtopresentanemergencyandgreatconcern.Manyshortsentencesmakethestorybecomefrequentandeasy.Andthreestressedsentenceslike“itwas”inthisstorywhichcanemphasizetheimportantpointsandpersons.Thiscanalsorevealtheauthor’swritingskills.Thetenseofthisstoryaredifferent.Mostsentencesofthispassagearepasttense.Inaddition,therearethreesentencesinpastperfectivetense,eightsentencesinpastcontinuoustense,threeinpastfuturetense.Manysentencesareellipsis.Suchas:paragraph4,15,16,18.Theycanachieveemphasisandbrevity.Manyconjunctionsareconsistedinthisstorylike”and”inparagraph19“Springdays,andsummerdays,andallsortsofdaysthatwouldbeherown.”Thesewordsareusedtolin