小说鉴赏

2009------2010学年第二学期年级08级专业英语4班姓名张爽学号2008491057 考核科目英美短篇小说鉴赏课程号50d13093 课序号01 课程类别必修考核方式考查成绩评卷教师Appeal for Feminism: Comments about Désirée’s Baby Abstract：Désirée’s Baby is one masterpiece of Kate Chopin’s short stories. This paper tries to analyze Désirée’s Baby from these points as follows: the background, characters, theme, technique of writing.Désirée’s Baby is a short story written by Kate Chopin, who was an American author of short stories and novels. She is now considered to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century. Her works focus on women and feminism. Désirée’s Baby is an excellent piece of them.Désirée’s Baby told us the tragedy of Désirée and her baby. Désirée was adopted and brought up by Monsieur and Madame Valmondé. Nobody knew her identity or origin. Eighteen tears later, a boy named Armand fell in love with her and they got engaged soon. Although Armand was told that Désirée’s origin was obscure, he did not care at all. They lived a happy life after getting married. Désirée gave birth to a lovely baby, since which strict Armand was so happy that he did not punish the negroes. However, their delight did not last long. As the baby grew up little by little, Armand found that it was not white. His attitude towards Désirée and her baby changed into cold and cruel. Because he thought Désirée hurt him aa and he did not love her any more. When Désirée asked him whether she should leave, his answer was cold agreement. Taking her baby, Désirée left home. However, she did not go to Valmondé as Madame Valmondé asked. She jumped into the river with her baby sorrowfully and died. Several weeks later, when Armand burned the letters which Désirée had written to him, he found a letter from his mother to his father. He read it and found that he was not white.This story was written in the year of 1893. That time, racialism and authority over the household were all over the US. Women, especially black women were under the control of men. They had no right or freedom. They were just thought to be the tools of men. Kate Chopin herself was a woman of that time, so she had a clear and just point of view of women in that society. In addition, she experienced different lifestyles throughout her life. These lifestyles provided her with insights, understanding and allowed herto analyze of late 19th century American society. She held the definite idea about what women needed and wanted at that time, so her works portrayed the contemporary society and women correctly and properly. Therefore, through Désirée’s Baby, Kate Chopin elaborated on her idea about racialism and authority over the household.To explore what Désirée’s Baby conveyed, we shall begin by analyzing the characters. Désirée was an example of the women at that time, who had no right or freedom. What they could do was to stay at home and to be the toys of their husbands. Désirée was more miserable, for she was so innocent and gentle that she was hurt badly. For example, “when he frowned she trembled, but loved him”. To Désirée, her love to Armand seemed to equal to fear. That was so ridiculous from the view of modern people, but it was the universality of the late 19th century American society. Women feared and obeyed their husbands at that time, which was considered as the virtue. We can see that from Désirée. When Désirée asked Armand that whether he wanted her to leave, Armand answered yes coldly. However, Désirée did prepare to go, at the same time, she still hoped that he would call her back. This was the reflection of the weakness of Désirée’s character. She loved Armand so much that she was not willing to leave at all. But she just obeyed Armand and went out of their home with the baby. In our opinion, if someone treats us like what Armand did to Désirée, we will fight for our right. However, time is different. At that time, there was no possibility for women to revolt their husbands. Because the whole society and the customs did not allow them to do so. At last, Désirée was so desperate that she committed suicide. Through Désirée’s death, Kate Chopin denounced the authority over the household. This was the reflection of Chopin’s idea of feminism. Chopin sympathised Désirée and all the women so that she appealed for the revolution of women.Armand was another main character of this story. He was a cruel and cold person, who represented the slave masters and the typical headbands at that time. He might love Désirée, but when he thought she was not white, he abandoned her and their baby without hesitation. He did that out of so-called dignity, for he thought Désirée’s non-white baby was a kind of insult. He hated Désirée’s just because of “the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name”. This reflected the racialism took root in the US. He said he had loved Désirée, whereas he treated her so cruel. From him, we can see that at that time, relations between people were twisted.The theme of Désirée’s Baby seems very clear now. The tragedy of Désirée was because of racialism and authority over the household. Kate Chopin wanted to warn people that women should get the equalright as men and that the racial discrimination should be ended. Because they were the source of the evil side of society. This idea represented the feminism.In addition, Kate Chopin adopted irony properly, which helped to show the theme successfully. Irony is a subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance. In Désirée’s Baby, Armand was very mean to the black. When he thought that their baby was not white because of Désirée, he deserted them in order to get rid of the blood of black. When he burned the letters and the layette, he wanted to get rid of all the relation with the black. He thought all his behaviour were the blows at fate, for God had dealt cruelly and unjustly to him. However, at last, he found himself not white. Armand hated the black and he thought the black was the worst race in the world, but he got to know that his mother was black. At the end of the story truth came out, and Armand found it was he who was not white, rather than the poor Désirée. This was an excellent irony which proved racialism to be ridiculous.To sum up, Désirée’s Baby is a very excellent short story, for it conveys so many significant ideas about feminism and the criticism of racialism by way of portraying the characters successfully. Reference:［1］汪洪章，宋梅．英美名家名篇选读．上海：上海科学技术出版社，2007．［2］波尔蒂克．牛津文学术语词典．上海：上海外语教育出版社，2000．［3］申丹．解读肖邦《黛西蕾的男孩》的深层含义．北京大学学报，2005-9．。