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.