摘要：

本论文通过对19世纪末期美国南方的社会背景，女性意识，婚姻观念等方面的阐释，探讨凯特•肖邦的《一个小时的故事》中女主人公女性意识突然觉醒的社会背景。通过对凯特.肖邦著名的短篇小说《一个小时的故事》的细致解读,揭示在长期男权压制下妇女的窘境，并唤醒妇女的女性意识。本文试图通过对凯特･肖邦的短篇小说《一个小时的故事》形式和内容的解读，说明肖邦成功地运用反讽和象征的技巧表现了小说深刻的主题。小说中各种反讽和象征的运用不仅加强了人物的悲剧性色彩,而且深化了小说主题,表现了在19世纪末这个男权主义依然盛行的社会里,女性觉醒的意识在不断加强,但要实现男女的平等始终是不可能的。

关键词：自由；反讽；象征；女性意识

Abstract:

This thesis has made a preliminary exploration to the sudden awakening of feminine consciousness in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin through the interpretation of aspects of the social background of the late 19th century in southern America, feminist consciousness and the concept of marriage. By careful reading of Kate Chopin's famous short story The Story of an Hour, we can find the dilemma of women in long-term patriarchal suppression and the awakening of the female consciousness of women.This thesis explores the awakening of feminine consciousness and self-realization with the help of Kate Chopin’s consistent and unique writing skill of irony and symbolism. The variety use of irony and symbolism not only strengthens the tragic color of the characters but also deepens the theme of the story, indicating that women’s consciousness continues to increase in this patriarchal society in the late nineteenth century, however it is impossible to achieve full equality between men and women.

Key words: freedom; irony; symbolism; feminism

1.    Introduction
1.1 Introduction to the author
Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty (February 8, 1850 — August 22, 1904), was one of the most famous women writers in the late nineteenth century in Southern America. She is considered by some to advocate feminism in the 20th century. At that time, the United States was under patriarchal society in which women could not have their own independence and freedom. Chopin’s works were unique of her time in that women questions such as women’s position, marriage and family, love and freedom and so on were embodied in her works. Therefore a strong sense of feminine consciousness went through all her works. She paid much emphasis on women's position and their lives as well as their unremitting struggles to achieve self-assertion within the southern society of the late nineteenth century. The Story of an Hour is considered as one of the most well-known works of Kate Chopin which explores the awakening of feminine consciousness and self-realization with the help of her consistent and unique writing skill of irony and symbolism, which can be reflected in her other literary works such as The Awakening and The Storm.