.png)
.png)
Feminist and Pessimist Existentialism in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”: A Systemic Functional Grammar Analysis
Abstract
This article interprets Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” using systemic functional grammar analyses (genre, transitivity, mood structure, and thematic structure) and thus implements the view that textual or linguistic justification is crucial for a credible literary reading. The SFG analyses result in the textual symptoms signifying that the short story deals with existential and feminist issues pessimistically that calls for a reexamination of Sartre’s and Beauvoir’s existentialism –especially on the notion of freedom, intentionality, and desire. However, the implementation of SFG itself raises a problem since the interpretation can be achieved without even implementing it in the first place. This research, therefore, highlights the question of the position that linguistic analysis has in literary reading; re-addressing the fundamental philosophical problem on the notion of credibility, objectivity, and methodology. However, the application of SFG is very useful in understanding Kate Chopin’s literary style and the proof of the non-existing line between language use and gender.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Ali, R. (2019, Mar 1). Amanda Seyfried says motherhood made her rethink taking roles with ‘nudity or sex’. USA Today. Retreived from https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2019/03/01/amanda-seyfried-says-she-has-no-time-nudity-sex-scenes/3026625002/. (Accessed 10 July 2021).
Barry, P. (2009). Beginning theory: an introduction to literary and cultural studies (3rd ed.). Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Beauvoir, S. D. (1999). She came to stay. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Beauvoir, S. D. (2004). Pyrrhus and Cinéas (1944). In M. A. Simmons (Ed.). Simone de Beauvoir: Philosophical Writings. Urbana and Chicago: Illinois University Press.
Beauvoir, S. D. (2011). The second sex. (C. Borde & S. Malovany-Chevallier, Trans.). New York: Vintage Books.
Beauvoir, S. D. (2018). The ethics of ambiguity (B. Frechtman, Trans.). New York: Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
Bergoffen, D. & Burke, M. (2020). Simone de Beauvoir. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/beauvoir.
Berkove, L. I. (2000). Fatal self-assertion in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”. American Literary Realism, 32(2), pp. 152-158.
Cameron, D. (2005). Language, gender, and sexuality: current issues and new directions. Applied Linguistics, 26(4), pp. 482-502, DOI: 10.1093/applin/ami027.
Chong-yue, L. & Li-hua, W. (2013). A caricature of an ungrateful and unfaithful wife – a new interpretation of The Story of an Hour. English Language and Literature Studies, 3(2), pp. 90-92.
Eggins, S. & Slade, D. (1997). Analysing casual conversation. London: Cassel.
Foote, J. (2013). Speed that kills: the role of technology in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour. The Explicator, 71(2), pp. 85-89, DOI: 10.1080/00144940.2013.779222.
Halliday, M. A. K. & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). Introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). London & New York: Routledge.
Hegel, G. W. F. (2019). The Phenomenology of Spirit (P. Fuss & J. Dubbins, Trans.). Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Heidegger, M. (1996). Being and time (J. Stambaugh, Trans.). New York: State of New York University Press.
Horkheimer, M. (2013). Eclipse of reason. London & New York: Bloomsbury.
Hu, A. (2020). The Story of an Hour: Mrs. Mallard’s ethically tragic song. A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews. DOI: 10.1080/0895769X.2020.1743637.
Jamil, S. S. (2009). Emotions in The Story of an Hour. The Explicator, 67(3), pp. 215-220.
Karami, N. & Zohdi, E. (2015). Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”: a feminist interpretation. Research Journal of English Language and Literature, 3(3), pp. 430-436.
Khadafi, B. I. & Santosa, R. (2020). Evaluative language of male and female film critics in Atomic Blonde movie reviews: an appraisal study with gendered perspective. Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication, Language, Literature, and Culture. DOI: 10.4108/eai.8-9-2020.2301338.
Lacan, J. (2005). Écrits (B. Fink, Trans.). New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company.
Lakoff, R. (1972). Language and women’s place. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Larsson, D. F. (1981). Kate Chopin. In Magill, F. N. (Ed.), Magill's critical survey of short fiction. New Jersey: Salem Press.
Lock, G. (1998). Functional English grammar: an introduction for second language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Martin, J. R. & Rose, D. (2008). Genre relations: mapping culture. London: Equinox.
Mayer, G. H. (2010). A matter of behaviour: a semantic analysis of five Kate Chopin stories. ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 67(1), pp. 94-100.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2013). Phenomenology of perception (D. A. Landes, Trans.). New York: Routledge.
Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). London: SAGE Publication.
Nilsen, H. N. (1990). American women's literature in the twentieth century: a survey of some feminist trends. American Studies in Scandinavia, Vol. 22, pp. 27-29.
Papke, M. E. (1990). Verging on the abyss: the social fiction of Kate Chopin and Edith Wharton. New York: Greenwood Press.
Paudel, K. (2019). Existential angst in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour. NCC Journal, 4(1), pp. 97-99. DOI: 10.3126/nccj.v4i1.24742.
Santosa, R. (2017). Metode penelitian kualitatif kebahasaan. Surakarta: UNS Press.
Sabbagh, M. R. G. & Saghei, M. G. (2014). Conjured-up reality shattered: examining the “uncertain” ideology underlying Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 158, pp. 296-303, DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.091.
Sartre, J. P. (1984). Being and nothingness. (H. E. Barnes, Trans.). New York: Washington Square Press.
Smith, N. M. (2013, Aug 5). ‘Lovelace’ star Amanda Seyfried on nudity and why she still considers ‘Mean Girls’ her best work. IndieWire. Retrieved from https://www.indiewire.com/2013/08/lovelace-star-amanda-seyfried-on-nudity-and-why-she-still-considers-mean-girls-her-best-work-36091/. (Accessed 10 July 2021).
Solomon, R. C. (2005). Existentialism (2nd ed.). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tannen, D. (1996). Gender and discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Toth, Emily. (1999). Unveiling Kate Chopin. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.
Wan, X. (2009). Kate Chopin's view on death and freedom in" The Story of an Hour". English Language Teaching, 2(4), pp. 167-170.
Wang, X. (2008). Feminine self-assertion in The Story of an Hour. English Department, Tamkang University, Taiwan. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.au.edu.tw/dspace/bitstream/987654321/83/1/019604107120.pdf. (Accessed 10 October 2020).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30870/jels.v6i2.10419
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of English Language Studies
Journal of English Language Studies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright @ 2024 Journal of English Language Studies.