Kate Chopin

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영문원서 -  The Story of An Hour.hwp

미국의 단편소설 및 소설작가인 케이트 쇼팽은 20세기 여성문학의 선구자로 불린다. 여성주의 역사에 따르면 19세기에 여성이 불공평한 대우를 받고 있다는 인식이 널리 공유되기 시작함에 따라 여성주의의 발전이 시작되었으며, 1837년에 'feminisme'이라는 단어가 처음으로 도입되었습니다. 즉, 케이트 쇼팽이 활동하던 시기는 여성운동에 대한 움직임이 시작되던 시기에서부터 20세기 초반 여권 신장 운동이 시작하기 시작한 시기로 볼 수 있다. 때문에 그녀가 활동하던 시기의 다른 작가들은 쇼팽이 열정적으로 다루었던 '여성'이라는 소재에 다가갈 만큼 용기있지 못했다.

케이트 쇼팽이 페미니스트인가 아닌가에 대한 문제에 대해서는 그녀의 손자인 David Chopin의 말을 인용해본다. "케이트 쇼팽은 그녀 자신의 말에 따르면 여성해방주의자도 아니며, 여성 참정권론자도 아니었다. 그러나 그녀의 여성에 대해 매우 진지한 생각을 지닌 여성이었다. 그녀는 단 한번도 여성도 강해질 수 있다는 능력을 지니고 있다는 생각을 의심해본 적이 없다.

그럼에도 불구하고 그녀가 여성에 대해 많은 연민을 가지고 있었다는 사실을 부정할 수는 없다. 그녀의 여성의 삶에 집중했으며, 여성들의 삶과 그들이 자신들의 정체성을 찾기 위해 싸우던 투쟁에 관심을 가지고 있었다. The Story of an Hour는 여성문학에서 중요한 위치를 차지하고 있는데, 당시대에 기본적인 생각에 비해 매우 급진적인 사상과 이야기를 가지고 있기 때문이다. 여성이 사회가 정상이라고 생각하는 부분을 깨버리고 자신의 새로운 자유에 반응하는 방식은 여성운동이 지향하는 가치와 일맥상통하기 때문이다.

더 자세하게 작가에 대해서 알고 싶은 분들은 여기로 이동해주세요.

http://blog.daum.net/cho3237/376

쇼팽과 울프의 단편소설에 등장하는 여인들은 열린 창문 앞에 서서 그녀 자신 들에 의한 자아의 구축을 시도한다. 그녀들은 라깡의 이론 속 거울과 유사한 위치를 점유하고 있는 창문에 이상적인 자아의 모습을 타자의 형상으로 출현시키고, 창문-거울로 하여금 ‘이것이 너다’라고 말할 것을 요청한다. 이는 하나의 고정적인 의미로 규정되는 것을 거부하고, 다양한 의미들이 교차하는 공간으로써의 자아를 실현시키고자 하는 시도로 읽힌다. 그녀들의 이야기를 서사로 일구어내는 쇼팽과 울프의 글쓰기 또한 마찬가지로 하나의 의미에 묶이지 않고 다양한 울림을 산출하는 공간으로써의 텍스트를 만들고자 하는 의도를 지닌 것처럼 보인다. 그녀들이 실현시키고자 하는 이와 같은 욕망들은 텍스트 내의 남편ㆍ사회ㆍ상징계로부터 금지와 불가능성이라는 진단을 선고받는다. 그러나 이러한 한계를 능동적으로 선택하여 예정된 실패를 반복적으로, 매번 다르게 성취함으로써 그녀들은 저항과 전복이라는 개념 자체를 유희하듯 교란시킨다. 이러한 본고의 논의는 창문을 매개로 한 (여성적) 자아 구축 가능성에 대한 탐구로 요약할 수 있을 것이다. 그녀들이 서있는 물리적인 공간 속 하나의 물질로써의 창문은 그녀들의 눈과 의식을 조율하여 보이는 것만이 아닌 보고자 하는 것, 보지 않고자 하는 것을 출현시킴으로써, 욕망에 조응하는 매체라는 상징적인 지위를 부여받는다. 또한 이것은 두 작가의 작품 속에서 하나의 단일한 의미로 그녀들
을 고정시키는 현실세계로부터의 탈출을 가능하게 하는 비상구로, 다양한 의미들과 가능성들이 점철된, 혼란스러운 (미래의) 세계의 문지방이라는 은유로 기능한다. 나아가 본고는 거울을 깨트리고 열린 창문 앞에 서는 그녀들의 행위를, 라깡의 거울에 흠집을 내고 거울 뒤편의 공간을 여는 것으로 읽음으로써, 자기반영적인 이미지를 통해 ‘이것이 너다’라는 단일한 메시지를 전달하는 라깡의 거울 위에,쇼팽과 울프의 창문을 추신의 형태로 첨부하고, 하나의 개념으로서의 창문에 대한 가능성의 지평을 열고자 하였다. 불완전성과 미결정성을 더함으로써 완성되는 쇼팽과 울프의 텍스트는 그녀들이 제시하는 물질로서 은유로서 개념으로서의 창문 역시 불완전하고 미결정적일 수밖에 없다는 것을 암시한다. 완성을 지연시키는 유희적인 몸짓으로 자아와 텍스트를 완성해줄 미래의 수많은 타자들을 초대하며 그들의 도래를 기다리는 동안, 그녀들의 창문은 여전히 열려져 있다.

→ 연세대학교 대학원 이정옥 『쇼팽과 울프의 창문 앞에 선 여인들』 중에서

영문으로 된 자료들이 작가와 작품에 대해서 상세하게 설명이 되어 있네요.

Kate Chopin.hwp

Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri on February 8, 1850, is considered one of the first feminist authors of the 20th century. She was following a rather conventional path as a housewife until an unfortunate tragedy -- the death of her husband -- altered the course of her life. She wrote a number of short stories but is best known for her novel The Awakening, (1899) a hauntingly prescient tale of a woman unfulfilled by the mundane yet highly celebrated "feminine role," and her painful realization that the constraints by virtue of her sex blocked her ability to seek a more fulfilling life. She set most of her stories in Louisiana, many in Natchitoches, in north central Louisiana.

Chopin published two significant short story collections; Bayou Folk in 1894 and A Night in Acadie followed in 1897. The reader will find gems in both collections.

Some argue that modern feminism was borne on her pages, and one needs to look no further than her 1894 short story The Story of an Hour to support the claim. The reader should note the relationship of the leading figure in that story to the circumstances of Kate Chopin’s own life, where the death of her own husband started a process that would ultimately push her beyond the roles of wife and mother of six and on to the life of an artist. After The Story of an Hour a reader would do well to balance the scale and turn their attention to Regret -- a short story written with love from a mother's heart.

Desiree's Baby (1893), and The Storm (1898), which is a sequel to her story At the 'Cadian Ball (1892), are also amongst her best known short stories.

Chopin's writing career began after her husband died on their Louisiana plantation in 1882 and she was struggling financially. Her mother convinced Kate to move back to St. Louis, but died shortly thereafter leaving her alone. Now Chopin, suffering from the loss of her husband and mother, was advised by her obstetrician and family friend to fight her state of depression by taking up writing as a source of therapeutic healing, a way to focus her energy and provide Chopin with a source of income. She took the advice to heart.

By the early 1890s, Kate Chopin was writing short stories, articles, and translations which appeared in periodicals and literary magazines regionally based in St. Louis -- she was perceived as a "local color" writer, but her literary qualities were discounted. Her novel The Awakening, (1899) was considered too far ahead of its time and Chopin was discouraged by the literary criticism and that she had not been accepted as an author, so she turned to short story writing almost exclusively thereafter.

Chopin embraced a number of writing styles, taking into account her ancestry of Irish and French descent, and her years with Creole and Cajun influences in Louisiana. Slavery and women's rights were realities that she incorporated in many of her stories and sketches, portraying women in a less than conventional manner, with individual wants and needs. Perhaps in many ways autobiographical, her exploration of women's independence was not celebrated until many years later. Chopin was in many ways, a woman before her time.

Readers interested the feminist aspects of Kate Chopin's works will also wish to investigate Charlotte Perkins Gilman's semi-autobiographical sketch The Yellow Wallpaper.

http://www.americanliterature.com/author/kate-chopin/bio-books-stories

The Story of an Hour

Character List

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Louise Mallard -  A woman whose husband is reportedly killed in a train accident. When Louise hears the news, she is secretly happy because she is now free. She is filled with a new lust for life, and although she usually loved her husband, she cherishes her newfound independence even more. She has a heart attack when her husband, alive after all, comes home.

 

Brently Mallard -  Louise’s husband, supposedly killed in a train accident. Although Louise remembers Brently as a kind and loving man, merely being married to him also made him an oppressive factor in her life. Brently arrives home unaware that there had been a train accident.

Josephine -  Louise’s sister. Josephine informs Louise about Brently’s death.

Richards -  Brently’s friend. Richards learns about the train accident and Brently’s death at the newspaper office, and he is there when Josephine tells the news to Louise.

Analysis of Major Characters

Louise Mallard

An intelligent, independent woman, Louise Mallard understands the “right” way for women to behave, but her internal thoughts and feelings are anything but correct. When her sister announces that Brently has died, Louise cries dramatically rather than feeling numb, as she knows many other women would. Her violent reaction immediately shows that she is an emotional, demonstrative woman. She knows that she should grieve for Brently and fear for her own future, but instead she feels elation at her newfound independence. Louise is not cruel and knows that she’ll cry over Brently’s dead body when the time comes. But when she is out of others’ sight, her private thoughts are of her own life and the opportunities that await her, which she feels have just brightened considerably.

 

Louise suffers from a heart problem, which indicates the extent to which she feels that marriage has oppressed her. The vague label Chopin gives to Louise’s problem—“heart trouble”—suggests that this trouble is both physical and emotional, a problem both within her body and with her relationship to Brently. In the hour during which Louise believes Brently is dead, her heart beats strongly—indeed, Louise feels her new independence physically. Alone in her room, her heart races, and her whole body feels warm. She spreads her arms open, symbolically welcoming her new life. “Body and soul free!” she repeats to herself, a statement that shows how total her new independence really is for her. Only when Brently walks in does her “heart trouble” reappear, and this trouble is so acute that it kills her. The irony of the ending is that Louise doesn’t die of joy as the doctors claim but actually from the loss of joy. Brently’s death gave her a glimpse of a new life, and when that new life is swiftly taken away, the shock and disappointment kill her.

Plot Overview

Louise Mallard has heart trouble, so she must be informed carefully about her husband’s death. Her sister, Josephine, tells her the news. Louise’s husband’s friend, Richards, learned about a railroad disaster when he was in the newspaper office and saw Louise’s husband, Brently, on the list of those killed. Louise begins sobbing when Josephine tells her of Brently’s death and goes upstairs to be alone in her room.

 

Louise sits down and looks out an open window. She sees trees, smells approaching rain, and hears a peddler yelling out what he’s selling. She hears someone singing as well as the sounds of sparrows, and there are fluffy white clouds in the sky. She is young, with lines around her eyes. Still crying, she gazes into the distance. She feels apprehensive and tries to suppress the building emotions within her, but can’t. She begins repeating the word Free! to herself over and over again. Her heart beats quickly, and she feels very warm.

Louise knows she’ll cry again when she sees Brently’s corpse. His hands were tender, and he always looked at her lovingly. But then she imagines the years ahead, which belong only to her now, and spreads her arms out joyfully with anticipation. She will be free, on her own without anyone to oppress her. She thinks that all women and men oppress one another even if they do it out of kindness. Louise knows that she often felt love for Brently but tells herself that none of that matters anymore. She feels ecstatic with her newfound sense of independence.

Josephine comes to her door, begging Louise to come out, warning her that she’ll get sick if she doesn’t. Louise tells her to go away. She fantasizes about all the days and years ahead and hopes that she lives a long life. Then she opens the door, and she and Josephine start walking down the stairs, where Richards is waiting.

The front door unexpectedly opens, and Brently comes in. He hadn’t been in the train accident or even aware that one had happened. Josephine screams, and Richards tries unsuccessfully to block Louise from seeing him. Doctors arrive and pronounce that Louise died of a heart attack brought on by happiness.

Themes

The Forbidden Joy of Independence

In “The Story of an Hour,” independence is a forbidden pleasure that can be imagined only privately. When Louise hears from Josephine and Richards of Brently’s death, she reacts with obvious grief, and although her reaction is perhaps more violent than other women’s, it is an appropriate one. Alone, however, Louise begins to realize that she is now an independent woman, a realization that enlivens and excites her. Even though these are her private thoughts, she at first tries to squelch the joy she feels, to “beat it back with her will.” Such resistance reveals how forbidden this pleasure really is. When she finally does acknowledge the joy, she feels possessed by it and must abandon herself to it as the word free escapes her lips. Louise’s life offers no refuge for this kind of joy, and the rest of society will never accept it or understand it. Extreme circumstances have given Louise a taste of this forbidden fruit, and her thoughts are, in turn, extreme. She sees her life as being absolutely hers and her new independence as the core of her being. Overwhelmed, Louise even turns to prayer, hoping for a long life in which to enjoy this feeling. When Brently returns, he unwittingly yanks Louise’s independence away from her, putting it once again out of her reach. The forbidden joy disappears as quickly as it came, but the taste of it is enough to kill her.

The Inherent Oppressiveness of Marriage

Chopin suggests that all marriages, even the kindest ones, are inherently oppressive. Louise, who readily admits that her husband was kind and loving, nonetheless feels joy when she believes that he has died. Her reaction doesn’t suggest any malice, and Louise knows that she’ll cry at Brently’s funeral. However, despite the love between husband and wife, Louise views Brently’s death as a release from oppression. She never names a specific way in which Brently oppressed her, hinting instead that marriage in general stifles both women and men. She even seems to suggest that she oppressed Brently just as much as he oppressed her. Louise’s epiphany in which these thoughts parade through her mind reveals the inherent oppressiveness of all marriages, which by their nature rob people of their independence.

Motifs

Weeping

Louise’s weeping about Brently’s death highlight the dichotomy between sorrow and happiness. Louise cries or thinks about crying for about three-quarters of “The Story of an Hour,” stopping only when she thinks of her new freedom. Crying is part of her life with Brently, but it will presumably be absent from her life as an independent woman. At the beginning of the story, Louise sobs dramatically when she learns that Brently is dead, enduring a “storm of grief.” She continues weeping when she is alone in her room, although the crying now is unconscious, more a physical reflex than anything spurred by emotion. She imagines herself crying over Brently’s dead body. Once the funeral is over in her fantasies, however, there is no further mention of crying because she’s consumed with happiness.

Symbols

Heart Trouble

The heart trouble that afflicts Louise is both a physical and symbolic malady that represents her ambivalence toward her marriage and unhappiness with her lack of freedom. The fact that Louise has heart trouble is the first thing we learn about her, and this heart trouble is what seems to make the announcement of Brently’s death so threatening. A person with a weak heart, after all, would not deal well with such news. When Louise reflects on her new independence, her heart races, pumping blood through her veins. When she dies at the end of the story, the diagnosis of “heart disease” seems appropriate because the shock of seeing Brently was surely enough to kill her. But the doctors’ conclusion that she’d died of overwhelming joy is ironic because it had been the loss of joy that had actually killed her. Indeed, Louise seems to have died of a broken heart, caused by the sudden loss of her much-loved independence.

The Open Window

The open window from which Louise gazes for much of the story represents the freedom and opportunities that await her after her husband has died. From the window, Louise sees blue sky, fluffy clouds, and treetops. She hears people and birds singing and smells a coming rainstorm. Everything that she experiences through her senses suggests joy and spring—new life. And when she ponders the sky, she feels the first hints of elation. Once she fully indulges in this excitement, she feels that the open window is providing her with life itself. The open window provides a clear, bright view into the distance and Louise’s own bright future, which is now unobstructed by the demands of another person. It’s therefore no coincidence that when Louise turns from the window and the view, she quickly loses her freedom as well.

http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-story-of-an-hour/context.html

[정해정]

감쏴함다~~~~잘 읽었어요~~~~~~^^

[박길숙]

감사합니다..많은 도움이 됐어요~^^

[오수아]

와~~~~*.*

[정선화(영문학과)]

좋은 자료 감사드려요^^