University of Oran 02 Faculty of Letters, Languages and Arts Dissertation for the obtaining of the Magister degree In North American Litertaure and Civilisation The Portrait of Women Characters in the Major Short Stories of Kate Chopin and Flannery O’Connor Presented and defended publicly by: Miss. Rezigue Fatima Zohra Members of the Jury: Belmekki Belkacem Professor University of Oran2 President Moulfi Leila MCA University of Oran2 Supervisor Dani Fatiha MCA University of Oran1 Examiner Academic Year: 2014/2015 Dedication I dedicate this humble work to my parents’ who sculptured me for who I am now. I dedicate it too to my young brother Mohamed Abd el Ilah and my young sisters Asmaa Hayat and Nourhane who have been my crutches and were at my service in a way making me feel a queen by my own. As I dedicate it to The Rezigue’s and Naçour’s and all my friends who supported and encouraged me. Acknowledgments I kneel to Allah thanking him for filling me with motivation, strength, cognition, and inspiration to produce this dissertation. No inky words would be adequate to thank my supervisor Mrs. Moulfi Leila for her guidance, patience and efforts in enlightening my journey to knowledge. I thank first the members of the jury for their time and observations and their constructive criticism. Special thanks go to Dr. Bouhadiba Malika, Dr.Belmekki Belkacem, St.Janet Hotine, Dr. Hadjri Bouhadjar, Nelson Fernandes, Dr.Fali Wafaa, Dr.Bessedik Fatima, Ms.Yahia Fatima, Dr.Ghassoul Belkacem,Mr.Ali Boukhalfa, the stuff of our local library, and the manager of the American Corner Mrs. Kazi Fatima. I dedicate it also to all my teachers from primary school to college who colored my parents’ sculpture throughout my learning journey. Without forgetting special thanks too to CEMA’s stuff: Mr.Robert P.Parks, Mr.Ouaras Karim and Mrs. Lansari Hayat. Table of Contents Summary Introduction Chapter One: Kate Chopin’s portrait of women characters in “The Story Of an Hour” and “Athénaïse” I.1. The New Perception of Louise/Mrs.Mallard’s Life Bestowed by Death 9 I.2.The Two Versions of Mrs.Mallard 10 I.3.The Dichotomy of Death in Mrs.Mallard’s Life 19 I.4.Athénaïse’ Strife in Search for the Female “Self” 23 I.5. Athénaïse’ Plight in Search for the “Self” 28 Chapter Two: Flannery O’Connor’s representation of women characters in “Good Country People” and “A Stroke Of Good Fortune” II.1.Hulga/Joy Enjoying Her Entity and Her Intellectuality 35 II.2. The change of Hulga/Joy’s Name as a No Mean Feat 38 II.3. Hulga/Joy’s Artificial Leg as a Source of Empowerment 40 II.4.The Shattered Facets of Hulga/Joy 42 II.5.The Erect Ruby 47 II.6.The Serious Denial of Ruby’s Pregnancy 51 II.7.Ruby’s Pregnancy as a Hazard to her “Self” 52 II.8.The Broken Ruby with a Broken Self-Conception 56 Chapter Three: A comparative study of Kate Chopin and Flannery O’Connor’s portrayal of the women characters III.1An analogy between Mrs. Mallard /Louise in “The Story Of an Hour” and Joy/Hulga in “Good Country People” 64 III.1.1.The Influence of Male’s Presence in Mrs.Mallard/Louise and Hulga/Joy’s Lives 64 III.1.2.Mrs.Mallard/Louise and Hulga/Joy versus the Other Women in Their Lives 71 III.1.3.The Name as a Device of Characterization 75 III.1.4.The Ambivalence Aspect in Portraying Mrs.Mallards /Louise and Joy/Hulga 77 III.2.An analogy between Ruby Hill in“A Stroke Of Good Fortune” and Athénaïse in “Athénaïse” 80 III.2.1. Ruby Hill and Athénaïse Enjoying their Womanhood before the Realization of pregnancy 80 III.2.2. Ruby Hill and Athénaïse being Affected by People around them 82 III.2.3. Ruby Hill and Athénaïse’ Reaction Towards Their Pregnancy 83 III.2.4.Their Mothers’ Reflection in Their Lives 87 Conclusion Work cited Annexes 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 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”. Key Words: Women, Womanhood, Male, Mother, Social Milieu. Résumé Ce mémoire a pour objectif de répondre à trois questions. La première concerne la manière dont Kate Chopin présente Mme. Mallard / Louise dans “The Story Of an Hour ” et Athénaïse dans “Athénaïse”.La deuxième porte sur la représentation de Joy / Hulga par Flannery O'Connor dans “Good Country People” et Ruby Hill dans “A Stroke of Good Fortune”.Enfin, comment Kate Chopin et Flannery O'Connor conçoivent la féminité de leurs femmes protagonistes ainsi que leur maternité lors de la recherche de “soi” .Le Premier chapitre aborde aussi bien la féminité de Mme Mallard / Louise et Athénaïse dans “The Story of an Hour” et “Athénaïse” que leur courage à essayer de maintenir la conception que chacune a d’elle-même ainsi que leur individualité dans un environnement social qui n’est pas favorable. Dans le deuxième chapitre il s’agit d’une étude dans laquelle nous avons essayé de montrer à quel point Hulga / Joy et Ruby Hill dans “Good Country People” et “A Stroke of Good Fortune” ont tentés de réaliser leur rêve à aimer leur vie et d'être en mesure de prendre des décisions concernant leur vie personnelle. Finalement, cette tentative à été échouée car elles n’ont pas pu faire face à la société .Elles n’ont donc pas pu accéder au bonheur. Le troisième chapitre qui est une étude comparative faite à partir d’aspects distincts insiste sur la manière dont les deux écrivaines Kate Chopin et Flannery O’Connor ont créé leurs personnages féminins dans leurs nouvelles. Leur but étant de mettre en évidence la réalité de leur condition sociale et culturelle dans la société pour mieux cerner la part de l’influence de l’environnement de la femme américaine dans la quête de “Soi”. INTRODUCTION Literature is the art in which life is presented, it tends to reflect the life of human world dwelled by human beings. American literature is the gate that is opened to many writers to utter and choose the appropriate material to reflect the American individual.Some take Realism as their package integrated in their imagination to render reality. Kate Chopin and Flannery O’Connor take this realistic frame to portray the American women’s experience to the readers in their society via their literary productions. In “The Story Of an Hour”, “Athénaïse ”, and “Good Country People”, “A Stroke Of Good Fortune” Kate Chopin and Flannery O’Connor make readers live in a fictional world that is not much distinct from the real one during the twentieth century .They are the short stories which are the matrix that show us the position of women in their social environment as entities rather than literary creations; regarding their own life, characters, and their own dreams. Observing the situation of women in the Algerian society and as being a woman part of that society, I was motivated to make of my dissertation a pulpit to cross the Algerian cultural boundaries in an attempt to reach the American ones to survey and picture the experience of the American women in their social milieu. Ruth Sherry mentions in her book “Studying women’s writing: An Introduction” that “we look to the wiring of women in cultures other than our own to help us to an imaginative understanding of their situation – an understanding which is a necessary prerequisite to the ideal of an international ‘sisterhood’” (Ruth 17).Ruth reveals how women’s writing is a window to other cultures and a binoculars to see and apprehend women’s situation in their societies. Since women are deemed to represent a vital slice of society not only for the reason that they play a fundamental role in their society but indeed they are the producers of their society; not only in terms of biological productivity but rather in terms of cultural and 1 social one. Women are responsible of taking care for their children and rearing them on certain manners, their children are later other fathers, brothers and sons to these women.