Alice Munro 的“How I Met My Husband”小说故事的赏析
2013-10-11 12:12阅读：
2013年诺贝尔文学奖授予加拿大女作家Alice Munro（中译为“爱丽丝·门罗”或“爱丽丝·芒罗”。
记得读研时期我的一篇学习文章即是对Alice Munro 的“How I Met My
Husband”小说故事的赏析，今贴在博客里，谨此纪念这位伟大的作家。
An Appreciation of
“How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro
As far as modern English literature is concerned, we cannot take no
notice of Alice Munro, a contemporary female writer who has a good
place among any literary stars in the history of Canadian English
literature. Though there are a few great writers like
Shakespeare, Milton, Fielding, Byron and Shirley and a few
magnificent masterpieces in the history of English literature as
well, we do meet some shining stars who belong to Canada.
Alice Munro is one of them. Reading How I Met My
Husband is a good way to approach her.
As a female writer, Alice Munro has a minute insight peculiar to
females and she is very good at psychological depiction of her ch
aracters and vivid description of the settings. We can find
all those characteristics in the story of How I Met My
Husband.
The story happens in a very small town. One day a plane
suddenly landed somewhere in the quiet town, causing quite an
excitement. People, both children and adults are full of
curiosity and they all want to have a ride. The first
meeting between the pilot and Edie is so embarrassing that she, as
a young girl who first falls in love with the young pilot, behaves
so naïvely and innocently. Here at their first sight and at
that embarrassing moment, our 15-year-old heroine happens to be
left alone in the house. I should say, she longs for an
opportunity to be alone, an opportunity to realize her secret
dream. She finds out the mistress’s dress, puts it on and
makes herself up. By exposing the young girl’s secret,
Alice Munro gives us a lively description of Edie’s naïve nature.
Then once again, at the time of their second meeting, the
young girl’s overcautiousness and embarrassment appears vividly to
readers’ eyes, yet which shows her innocent character. She
asks the pilot not to tell on her especially not to mention her
dressing at their first meeting. Upon reading here, we
cannot help laughing indeed. What a simple and
unsophisticated countrygirl she is. Our hero, the young
pilot, Chris Waters his name, seems to be welcomed by most of the
people in the small town and gets more and more familiar with Edie
who naturally falls in love with him. However,
unfortunately she does not know if Chris loves her just as she
loves him. That foreshadows who “my husband” really is in
the story. The appearance of Alice Kelling, the Pilot’s
financee causes Edie to show great jealousy of her. What
she said and did later on can only be understood as a young girl’s
instinctive responses. She is sincere to her first love.
That’s why she cheated Alice Kelling by telling her the
wrong place where the pilot goes. Alice Kelling’s
appearance also suggests that the pilot is a very romantic and free
man who flies everywhere, making friends. But somehow his
fiancée chases after him, which totally exceeds his expectations.
Is his departure for a much longer time due to Alice
Kelling or Edie? Aparently he wants to be away from Alice
Kelling. He promised Edie he would write a letter to her
and tell her where he is. Therefore she waits and waits for
the letter. But nothing comes from him. She even get
familiar with the mailman whom she sees almost every day.
We did not realize who “my husband” really is until the story
nearly ends. It is the mailman not the pilot who becomes
the “husband” of our heroine. The story ends in a rather
unexpected way, yet which is surprising and amazing.
The story appeals to us because of the simple and humorous language
that Alice Munro excels in. Simple English, the best
English, which is quite true. She is especially skilled at
writing country people and their simple lives with her peculiar
techniques. The description of the setting with local
colourism is vivid and lively. Its dialogues are colloquial
and in keeping with their characters. All that reminds me
of Thomas Hardy of his Tess of D’Urbervilles. There
are similarities between Hardy and Alice Munro, not in the plots,
the fateful circumstances and tragic coincidences, but in their
descriptions of the settings, their simple languages and
characters’ psychological process of their feelings.
Alice Munro uses the first person narration which embodies a
real-life story. It goes, especially when describing Edie,
with two voices: one by a middle-aged Edie, one by the 15-year-old
Edie. The two voices utter alternately, constituting this
wonderful story.
