A Study Of "Impliedauthor" In Kate Chopin’s Short Stories For The Function Of Themetic Diversity

Kate Chopin (1851-1904) is one of the most celebrated female writers in the19thcenturyin America. She has written two novels and three collections of short stories. The variousheroines in her fictions and her exquisite writing skills have attracted the attention fromreaders and scholars both at home and abroad. Her representative novel, The Awakening, isseen as the origin of the women literature in America. Most Chinese readers becomeacquainted with Chopin from this novel. But in fact, besides The Awakening, many of hershort stories are classics, for example,“A Pair of Silk Stockings”,“The Storm”,“The Story ofan Hour”, etc. In “A Pair of Silk Stockings”, Chopin depicted the struggle of a womansearching for a balance between family life and personal satisfaction.“The Storm” focuses onsexuality, in which Chopin describes the adultery between the heroine and her lover aswoman’s natural rights. Chopin’s language in her short stories is simple yet impressive.This thesis focuses on Chopin’s short stories and explores the diversity of the themes inthem. In order to analyze the themes comprehensively and intensively, the research will beconducted in the light of “implied author”.The thesis falls into six parts. Part one is the introduction which provides a brief surveyof Chopin’s life, writing career, and a literature review of Chopin’s works. In addition, thispart also states the purpose of this thesis as well as its layout. Chapter two is the introductionof the concept of the “implied author”. This chapter summarizes the concept of “impliedauthor” put forward by Wayne C. Booth in his book The Rhetoric of Fiction. And meanwhile,it interprets the concept of “implied author” from three directions---the relationship betweenthe “implied author” and the real author, the relationship between the “implied author” andnarrator, the relationship between the “implied author” and reader. Chapter Three to ChapterFive concentrate on the analysis of the specific texts. Chapter Three studies the theme ofvaluing family, taking Chopin’s short stories “Regret” and “A Lady of Bayou St. John” asexamples. Chapter Four analyzes the theme of ambivalence manifested in short stories such as“A Pair of Silk Stockings” and “A Story of an Hour”. Chapter Four discusses the theme of awakening with the focus on “Wiser than a God” and “A Point at Issue”. The last part is theconclusion of the thesis.