| Summary: | 碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 英國語文學研究所 === 83 === In Katherine Anne Porter''s fiction, violence is an important
theme. This thesis starts from violence to Porter''s
premonitions of disaster in order to elucidate the causality of
human failures. I classify the thesis into three main chapters
with respect to its different forms of violence. The first
chapter is on corporal violence, which stems from a very
impulsive human instinct and some dark passion. In "Maria
Concepcion" and "Noon Wine," the characters take violent
actions with a simple desire of defending themselves from
offensive outer forces so that they can sustain their original
state of life. My second concern is about marital violence.
Porter believes that love and hatred are the edges of a knife,
but love needs to be learned, while hatred is instinctive. The
marriage relationships in Porter''s fiction are mostly failed
ones, which to some degree reflects Porter''s marriages in
reality. The latent hatred within the couples generates
conflicts and violence that eventually damage the relation-
ships. The last chapter deals with political (institutional)
violence between authority and subject. Family and social
government are both the insidious institutions to viciously
manipulate the inferior subject people. Readers shall be
expected to receive instructions from Porter''s unique sense of
violence and her premonitions of disaster.
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