Chopin on Women and Race
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It is nearly universally understood that American author Kate Chopin's views on women and womanhood were--at the least, progressive for their time on the national political scope, and at their greatest, even a bit radical. It is no surprise that Chopin then, has been billed a feminist writer, and her work, that of a feminist nature. Seemingly more interesting, and perhaps less well-known however, were her views on racial equality; coming from a southern female writer, Chopin's arguments for racial equality certainly cannot be ignored or dismissed, as they too were progressiveùalbeit radical for her time. In looking at three works of Chopin's Short fiction, we can compare and contrast how she presents, and effectively denounces the superficial ideas of race and gender as defining the social stratification within American culture. In "The Story of an Hour", "Desiree's Baby" and "The Storm", we see how Chopin contorts the audience's preconceived notions about race and gender within the context of the story, in order to give us a greater grasp of the concept of social unity, as it were. In Desiree's Baby, the audience is faced with both issuesùthat is, the issue of race, as well as that of gender, but more importantly, something that both seem to share; that is, a sense of powerlessness over the course of ones own life. The story begins of briefly by telling the readers about Desiree. Desiree was left lying asleep in a shadow of a big stone pillar.
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her identity. Chopin uses the setting as a tool to express the metamorphosis of the main character's life. There are many clues that speak of the characters life and the changes she undergoes.
The entire story takes place inside the house. Mrs. Mallard had also been trapped inside that house; the wrinkles in her face spoke of "repression" (Chopin, 182). Mrs. Mallard, a married woman, finds herself trapped. She has no real meaning to her life except that of a house wife. Her husband travels without her and by leaving her behind; she finds no excuse to leave the house. Overtime the daily drudge of a domesticated life makes her feel imprisoned within the house. Mrs. Mallard, although young, has lost her identity because she sees her life through her husband. She becomes Mrs. Mallard and loses Louise. Thus the story is one of the transformation that Mrs. Mallard must undergo. "It is in the mid-section of the story, set in Louise's room, that Louise and Chopin's reader explore and come to understand reaction and potential action, social selfùMrs. Mallardùand private, female selfùLouise," (Papke, 132).
After learning of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard is grief stricken and rejuvenated at the same time. The reader learns that Mrs.
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Approximate Word count = 2007
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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