The Portrait of Women Characters in the Major Short Stories of Kate Chopin and Flannery O’Connor

Abstract

This dissertation carries out three purposes. First, how does Kate Chopin portray Mrs. Mallard/Louise in “The Story Of an Hour” and Athénaïse in “Athénaïse”? Second, how does Flannery O’Connor represent Joy/Hulga in “Good Country People” and Ruby Hill in “A Stroke Of Good Fortune”? Third, how do Kate Chopin and Flannery O’Connor depict their women protagonists’ womanhood, and their maternity when searching “the self”? .The First chapter tackles Mrs. Mallard/Louise and Athénaïse’ womanhood in “The Story of An Hour” and “Athénaïse” and how they make a valiant attempt in maintaining their self-conception and individuality in a social environment that does not allow them to do so. The second one scans how Hulga/Joy and Ruby Hill in “Good Country People” and “A Stroke of Good Fortune” live up to the dream of enjoying their lives and be the decision makers of what concerns them. Yet, they appear unfortunate for not realizing that dream for it is not acknowledged for them inasmuch as being women to live up to such a dream in their social milieu. The Third one represents the core of this dissertation, it scrutinizes comparatively from distinct dimensions how both writers Kate Chopin and Flannery O’Connor in their aforementioned short stories take of their literary creatures, women protagonists, to mirror the women’s experience in their society. It tackles the conditions of women in a way taking their women protagonists’ social and cultural state as an exihibition of how the American women were influenced by their social environment when seeking the female “Self”.