The story of an hour-解析1.

Kate Chopin(1851--1904)的短篇故事「一小時的故事」The Story of an Hour 敘述Mrs. Mallard在一個小時中歷經兩次震撼，從接獲丈夫因火車事故喪生的消息，到丈夫突然返家，她一驚心臟病發猝死。在簡單的故事情節之下，卻隱含豐富的象徵，及嚴肅的主題。




Mrs. Mallard心臟不好，唯恐她無法承受打擊，妹妹Josephine及友人Richards小心謹慎地告知她這個壞消息；Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.聽到惡耗，她立刻嚎啕大哭不能自已，She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms，激動的情緒平息後，她獨自登上二樓。

Mrs. Mallard上了樓，在移轉的空間和孤獨的情境裡經驗了她個人全新的認知。她先是身心俱疲地沉入舒服的扶手椅中，這時窗外一小方塊事物吸引住她，枝頭萌發新葉進入眼界、小販的叫賣和遠方微弱的歌傳入耳中；She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

年輕漂亮的Mrs. Mallard眼中無神，腦中一片空洞。但是她漸漸覺察出從天際有股無以名狀的力量，逼近俘虜她，她卻束手無策。She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will---as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.當她不再抵抗時，口中傾吐出一個字：“Free, free, free!”隨之而來的是一陣巨大的喜悅，a monstrous joy that held her.

丈夫的死訊帶來悲痛但往後卻能過自由的日子；丈夫愛她，但是婚姻生活裡，丈夫將他個人的意志強加在她身上，卻讓她有為別人而活的感覺。從今以後，她開始為自己而活。There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. Mrs. Mallard的思緒飛到來年的春天夏天，她祈禱能活的長久；令她深覺諷刺的是，就在昨天當她想到日子還那麼長的時，還不禁顫抖呢。

Josephine在門外苦苦哀求，她卻充耳不聞。“Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door – you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.” “Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.窗外的事物像仙丹靈藥，治癒了她所有的病。終於，她開門了，眼中泛著勝利的熱，踩著勝利女神般的腳步走下樓。然而，幾乎同一時間，大門被打開，Mr. Brently Mallard進門，只聽Josephine一聲尖叫，在樓梯下面等候的Richards急忙擋住視線。但一切都太遲了。 結局又短又快。When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-- of joy that kills.醫生們都診斷Mrs. Mallard死於心臟病，認為她因過度喜悅而死。只有領會她內心起伏轉折的讀者才能明白她真正的死因，並非狂喜，而是新生的自由又落空的絕望；並非心臟生病，而是對真愛的覺醒。Kate Chopin寫於1894的短篇故事，仍能帶給現今的讀者許多省思。