For Kate Chopin

I read another short story, Desiree’s Baby. Basically Desiree and a man named Armand fall in love and get married. They move in together and have a child. For a few years they are really happy together, but then Armand becomes very harsh and unloving and is always away. Desiree didn’t know why until they argue and she finds out that Armand thinks she is half black [even thought she is fairer skinned then he], also making his son part black. In the very last pages she takes her baby and walks away into open plains, much like the suicide in The Awakening. The twist is, Armand finds an old letter from his mother to his father, saying this: “But above all, I thank God that we arranged out lives so that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.”

!!!!!

It was a good, sad story. Thinking of more thesis statements has been hard though. I cant think of a “so what” part for this one: Kate Chopin’s female characters are calm, caring, misunderstood and without exception have a hidden passion. Her male characters are usually kind, or blind, and un-understanding

Kate Chopin uses a lot of french in her writing. I know she is french american, but I wonder if she grew up speaking french with her family. Anyway, i started reading another short story. This one called Ma’ame Pelagie. This story took a little while for me to understand what was happening, but basically a family used to live on a big plantation. When the slaves rebeled and almost destroyed the big house the family lived in, only a few woman were left. They lived in a run down cabin next to the ruins of the big house. One woman, Madame Pelagie, had a fiance before the house burnt down. I can only assume he died in the rebellion because he is never mention except in Pelagies’ memories. Pelagie often at night visits the ruins and this is when Chopin fills us in on her past. It’s….pretty trippy when she writes about this past. Like a movie flash back would look like written.

So far more themes are places. In The Awakening Edna buys her own house away from her husband, to start her own life. This is where she connects with Robers [the guys she loves] and where she gives in to lust with Arobin. In Ma’ame Pelagie the ruins of her old house awoke her emotions from the past.

Beyond the Bayou is a short story about this one black woman everyone called La Folle who never leaves this bayou. In the story Chopin explains that in her youth, La Folle was literally frightened out of her senses, and had never really regained them. She used to babysit this one kid she called cheri. Basically, the little boy accidentally shoots himself in the leg when he gets his first rifle. La Folle freaks out and carries him back to his house outside of the bayou; the only way she ever left the bayou was for someone she loved very dearly. It was a vary good story, I wanted it to go on.

In Beyond the Bayou you can tell it’s still Kate Chopin who’s writing. Her description is amazing but not to long, and she still used a lot of metaphors. In both books so far, the main characters are connected to children, and water. In The Awakening Edna used the sea to drown herself in, and finally releasing herself from the bonds of society. In Bayou People water acts as a barrier to La Folle, one which is impassable until the one she loves is in danger.

So The Awakening ended in a sad suicide. All I thought was ‘good twist’. Anyway, symbolism.

I can’t think of any examples of symbolism, but Kate Chopin uses a lot of pretty, metaphoric writing. She writes, “There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love that which had held this cup of life to her lips“. Most of her emotionally rich scenes are written like this; lots of adjectives and metaphors. The way she writes, i don’t know what it is about her style but it’s very easy to relate to her.

Well, I havn’t finished The Awakening yet, im a little more then halfway though. The overall beginning of the book was really boring to read; the only thing that kept me reading it was the fact that it was a school assignment. That more then anything contributed to my slow-ish progress so far. But now that im halfway into it, the main character is finally feeling more interesting things. Or more human I should say.

In the start, she was very, i dunno, a classic 1800 century woman. Listened to her husband, ate dainty, didn’t lift anything heavier then a baby, and of course followed a routine. In short, she didn’t think for herself, didn’t do anything for herself, and basically followed the social sheep herd. It was a little hard to read.

But,

over a summer, she started to fall in love with a playful side character Robert. The writing got more colorful from here on out. The main character Edna [attractive name, huh?] started to open her eyes, and to start feeling again. It felt like the book was coming out of a coma. More and more as the book goes on Edna is independent and colorful, and very moody. Robert goes to Mexico, Edna has some kind of short, lustful [but not loveful] thing with another dude, and then she decides to move out to a tiny house down the street. I think i can predict roughly whats going to happen in the book by now; Edna and her husband will end up in a huge fight, probably divorce after a lot of drama with Robert and the other dude, and whether the book has a happy or sad ending Edna will either end up in Roberts arms or as an old loveless hag.

Who knows?

I think im actually looking forward to reading the journey in this book.

By far, her most well known book. I’ve only read the first 5 or so pages, but my favorite quote so far [p. 3] is

“He himself had taken a plunge at daylight. That was why the morning seemed long to him. “You are burnt beyond recognition,” he added, looking at his wife as a valuable piece of personal property which had suffered some damage. She held up her hands, strong, shapely hands and surveyed them critically, drawing her lawn sleeves above the wrists. “

There were many beautiful and descriptive paragraphs I could have chosen from, but I thought this paragraph was the biggest clue so far as to how the way things would play out in this book. There was one other passage im dying to mention thought, just because I love the contrast [p.2]

“She was a fresh, pretty woman, clad always in white with elbow sleeves. Her starched skirts crinkled as she came and went. Farther down, before one of the cottages, a lady in black was walking demurely up and down, telling her beads.”

It’s so easy to see the woman in short sleeves and white and the smooth lady in black the background. I fall in love with pictures like this.

    I am going to do my American Author project on Kate Chopin. What caught my eye about her was the controversy of her most famous book The Awakening. I think Kate Chopins’ most American quality is her mixed decent [Irish and French] but she was born in the U.S. She was later realized as an early feminist author, and this also caught my eye. She wrote a number of widely read novels and stories, which only came to light as the social conservatism of the early 1900’s wore away. After publishing The Awakening [a book about a discontent wife who seeks passion away from a passionless marriage] Chopin was endlessly criticized and all but banished from the literary world. After her harsh rejection, she continued to write normal stories, to continue by herself to support her children .
I am defiantly going to read The Awakening, and I also want to read most of her short stories, Bayou People, and At Fault.