A Study Of The “Betrayers” In Katherine Anne Porter’s Novels

Katherine Anne Porter is one of the excellent female writers in the 20 th American literature. In her long sixty years’ writing life, she brought to the world a small number but profound works with serious writing attitude, careful exquisite conception and profound keen insight. As a modern writer from the south to the world, Porter not only experienced the numerous wounds during the period of south social transformation, but also witnessed the huge disasters that the two wars brought to the modern person. She not only criticized the southern myth in her novels, but also showed deep concern about the spiritual predicament of the western modern society. She made careful consideration about modern persons’ problems,such as illusion and reality, virtues and vices, life and death, the conflict of new and old order,self-alienation and so on.Porter is good at exploring the spiritual world of the Characters. Besides, she can dig out the characters’ thought connotation fully. Many of her novels are covered with strong sense of betrayal, showed a variety of “betrayers”. These “betrayers” reflect Porter’s deep concern about the western modern society and individual life. These characters further inspired the modern people how to find the meaning of existence to achieve spiritual growth in the chaos of the world.This paper regards the “betrayers” as the research object, explores the consciousness of betrayal in Porter’s novels. Then this paper analyzes several types of “betrayers”, and digs out the further cultural meaning it behind. On the main structure, the present paper falls into four chapters. The first chapter combines with related social and cultural background, around Porter’s home complex and paradoxical religion views to analyze the cause of Porter’s betrayal consciousness. It intends to have a better understanding on Porter and the character in her novels. The second chapter mainly analyzes the “betrayers” in Porter’s fiction of American south. It mainly studies the causes, manifestations and outcomes that those women betray the old order. It shows the characteristics of betrayal. The third chapter mainly analyzes the modern western world’s “betrayers” which outside the American southern society. This chapter explores the characters’ living dilemma and spiritual crisis. The last chapter further explores the deep intention and meaning of the “betrayers”. It points out that these “betrayers”in porter’s novels have rich cultural connotations. Porter not only rethought the traditional cultural of American South, but also analyzed the cultural roots about the crisis of modern western society.