Essays on Kate Chopin

Literature

The story of an hour centers on a young woman who is married, and it is indicating her reaction to her husband’s death in a train accident (Chopin n.d). The cat in the rain is also a short story of an American wife who is suffering from the mistreatment she is receiving from her husband. She figures herself in the cat that she sees in the rain thus goes ahead to look for that Cat (Hemingway, n.d). This paper will discuss how the two authors use contrasting or similar elements of fiction, the impact of those items on ...

Love and marriage have always been an inexhaustible topic in the literature of all nation and all times. Depiction of various shades of emotion in this context has offered the reader a great enjoyment as well as some food for thought. The short story The Story of an Hour by an American writer Kate Chopin is one of the examples of Considering the moral conventions of the her time, especially with regard to female rights and behavior, this story was definitely an unusual approach to interpreting the relationship between the sexes: the female protagonist hears about the abrupt death ...

Around the world, societies have placed immense responsibilities on women as the pillars of their families and it is sad that the responsibilities become oppressive. “The Story of an Hour” is Kate Chopin’s story about a woman who is told that her husband had died in an accident. The story was first published in 1894 in Vogue. In this story, Chopin shows great determination in her opposition to the oppression women face. At the time, Chopin wrote her story, women were undergoing great oppression especially from the domestic front. In the story, Chopin depicts marriage as taking away ...

Answers: I

3. How is the setting in the stories listed below essential to our understanding of the events in these works? The setting of the story, The Lottery, stirs the readers to the very core as it helps in setting up the ambiance that leads to the climactic sequence in the course of the narrative. The description of the beautiful day and the open space in stark juxtaposition to the final barbaric act in the course of the story makes one understand the dichotomy between the societal norms and logical outlook. Right up to the very end, one is unable ...

It needs to be taken into account that literature goes on to reflect the true nature of the society of this world. The stalwart literary artists have for long engaged in portraying the dynamics of the interpersonal relationships in their works, and the theme of domination and its subsequent subversion has come to find commonality in the works of many literary artists of the world. If one closely introspects on some specific works, it would be easier to gauge how the thematic content of domination has been portrayed in the literary texts over the span of the history of ...

Katherine O’Flaherty was born in Missouri in August 1904. Kate was a renowned novelist and short story writer whose works reflected the status of the society during her time (Chaeyoung, 59). In The Story of the Hour, Kate weaves a tale of a woman who is mistakenly told that her partner had perished in an accident. Interestingly, the woman is euphoric at the thought of her husband’s death and feels physically and psychologically free. However, her joy was curtailed when her husband comes home one hour later alive and well. In fact, he had not even heard ...

Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening,” is a novel that entirely talks about the life of a newly married young woman. This woman unfortunately feels that her freedom is significantly curtailed. As for this reason, she goes about various errands in a bid to get her personal freedom since, in her view; this move will make her live a more reasonable and fulfilling life (Chopin 25). But the way to go about it presents her a major turmoil, how can she manage to get her personal freedom in a society that defines a woman not by her character, but ...

“The storm” by kate chopin

The character of Calixta is the protagonist or main character of the story although she appears to be visible only in a few of the pages in the novel. However, the main bulk of her character comes from her personal point of view about love and life. I have chosen the character of Calixta because of her mysterious character that was slowly revealed until the end of the story. Calixta’s character is interesting because there more to her than what meets the eye. In the beginning, the audience perceives Calixta’s character to be ordinary in the sense ...

Composed by Kate Chopin a short story Désirée’s Baby presents passage from life of a girl without a name who finds her love and her bitter end. Désirée was found by Valmondé a wealthy and aristocratic family from the antebellum South who adopts her despite that fact that Monsieur and Madame Valmondé do not know girl`s origin. She is loved and admired not only by her new parents but also by Armand Aubigny a representative of another influential and wealthy Creole family in Louisiana. It seems that Désirée is surrounded by ...

Literary works have always been the mirrors of the society, and many of them have come to critique the subjugation of women. One can take into consideration the literary works, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House that delve into the influences of the society and the family in oppressing women. The respective narratives would lead to a better comprehension of the intricate influences and experiences that finally pave the way of the emancipation of the characters of Edna and Nora from the shackles of patriarchy and subjugation. A comparative analysis of the ...

Literature is the perfect mirror of the world society as the creative artists take resort to their works of art to portray the society and culture. A close scrutiny of the literary works of various authors ranging across time in the history of literature would be helpful in bringing an introspective perspective about the state of women in the society. For the purpose of the scrutiny, one can take into reckoning the short story The Story of an Hour penned by Kate Chopin, the short story, The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, the seminal article by feminist film critic, Laura ...

Tragedy is the outcome of a story when the protagonist loses the battle against their opponents in the end. “Desiree’s Baby” is a short story written by Kate Chopin which deals with the theme of racial prejudice. Desiree is an adopted girl who marries Armand who is an aristocrat in Louisiana. They get married and she gives birth to a child who is a mulatto. Since her ancestry is unknown being adopted, Armand is convinced that the Desiree is of black heritage and he disowns both his wife and his son. The tragedy in this story is related ...

The story "The Story of the Hour" written by Kate Chopin presents new and revolutionary view of marriage near the end of the nineteenth century. Through the character of Mrs. Mallard, Kate Chopin presents the position of a married woman trapped into marriage and the possibility of different life when a husband is out of the picture. Symbols of heart and open windows and the use of irony as a powerful literary tool are dominant in this story and they give its readers an unexpected ending. The story is set in Mrs. Mallard's house. The writer explores reflections of ...

The short fiction work of turn-of-the-century author Kate Chopin regularly deals with the recurring themes of womanhood, agency and identity, usually telling stories of women trapped in stifling lives due to the patriarchal expectations placed on them to live a certain way. Through these explorations of gender roles, particularly through marriage and motherhood, Chopin uses these central themes to explore the imbalances found between men and women in terms of power and agency. At all turns, the protagonists of Chopin’s stories must make unconventional, taboo decisions to reject the white, male-dominated judgments and expectations placed on them. Two ...

One can take into consideration the famous song, “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga that can be related to the essence of the course of study. This song sung by the famous singer leaves a lasting impression with the lyrics and the video that can very well be understood as a powerful expression of female sexuality and desires. If one analyzes the content of this song with relation to the societal ideology of patriarchy, it can be found to be a subversion of the imposed passivity on the women folks. The song is an energetic expression of the desires and ...

Musings and Longings

She sat quietly. She looked calm. She was all drenched. The park was empty. It was raining heavily. The leaves were all wet.

The sudden rain was livening after the long summer.

A bird had just flown back to the nest atop that big tree. She was happy that no one could see her tears. She wanted to look calm.

She was happy that no one could know she was broken from inside.

She thought of the baby. She thought of her life. She wanted to cry her heart out. But, that would make her look weak. Although alone, she wanted to look strong. She is now a killer. She didn’t want to. But she did. He wanted her to. ...

Literary works have always been the mirrors of the society. In a society that is immensely patriarchal in its standards, many significant literary works have come to critique the subjugation of women. One can take into consideration the seminal literary works, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin and Henrik Isben’s A Doll’s House that delve into the influences of the society and the family in oppressing women. The female protagonists embody the inner spirit of female empowerment that is brought about by the surmounting effect of the patriarchal influences as Edna faces social pressure and Nora faces onus ...

Thesis statement: Edna achieves her awakening thanks to her social problems that push her to discover herself and her freedoms while Nora’s family life when she starts to question her morality courtesy of her familial obligations that pushed her to indebt secretly herself.

INTRODUCTION

Society and gender roles Introduction of the required texts Introduction of the two protagonists, Edna and Norah and their awakening Thesis statement NORAH HELMER AND HER AWAKENING TROUGH FAMILY PROBLEMS Treatment by her husband Her maturity as exhibited through borrowing of money Her acknowledgement as an unhappy woman Her disengagement from her “play- room” of ...

“The storm” by kate chopin

The character of Calixta is the protagonist or main character of the story although she appears to be visible only in a few of the pages in the novel. However, the main bulk of her character comes from her personal point of view about love and life. I have chosen the character of Calixta because of her mysterious character that was slowly revealed until the end of the story. Calixta’s character is interesting because there more to her than what meets the eye. In the beginning, the audience perceives Calixta’s character to be ordinary in the sense ...

After the American Civil War, the South lay prostrate before the specter of the Lost Cause. There was a general poverty, both economic and personal. The war had had such a devastating effect that the intellectual capacity of a whole region shuddered, moaned. There could not be a more devastating occurrence to Southern pride than the ignoble defeat of the entire culture. The extent to which the South declined is documented in its literature. An examination of Southern literature during and after the Civil War provides a perspective on how far down the South had been driven before it ...

The first wave of feminism swamped the world in the second half of the twentieth century and was swooped up by a great amount of women, who finally got the opportunity to sound off their discontents and complains. The supporters and mediators of feminism appeared from different fields of activities and of various strata of society. As the issue of feminism gathered momentum, it fell under thorough research and detected that feminist ideas appeared centuries ago and can be found in literary works of unrecognized authoresses and poetesses. Kate Chopin was one of them, who cherished feminist spirit in ...

Introduction

Desiree's baby is a short story by Kate Chopin, which talks about the racial discrimination of the black people in America. The story aims at showing the disadvantages of racial discrimination and the need to fight against racism in generations. It has shown the effects of racism through generations and how it affects the living of many who have a mixed race. It expresses pain, rejection and isolation. The black color is tainted with slavery, and the people lack respect. Desiree's baby was black, yet his parents were white leading to an array of questions. Who among the parents ...

Comparison between that The Storm by Kate Chopin and “My Life I had Stood with a Loaded Gun” by Emily Dickenson Despite the fact that The Storm by Kate Chopin and “My Life I had Stood with a Loaded Gun” by Emily Dickenson seem to have nothing in common at first glance. If a person analysis the works a little closer, they can see that they have the following connections.

In The Storm the story tells of an extra-marital affair during a storm. The passion of the lovers is unbridled and dangerous just like the storm. While in “My ...

The point of view is a perspective from which the author chooses a narrator to tell a story. The third-person narrators are usually observers but not characters in the story. Kate Chopin in “The Story of an Hour” uses the third-person omniscient narrative, which captures the reader and makes him sympathetic to Louise Mallard. The reader has a possibility to see how the woman interacts with other characters, her thoughts, and feelings. Indeed, the omniscient narrator is able to tell the story of Louise’s hour of evolution and freedom but the happiness lasted only for an hour before ...

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

In Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” the author paints a rather effective picture of heartbreak. However, rather than showing the devastation of Louise Mallard’s devastation upon hearing news of her husband’s accidental death in the train wreck, Chopin takes an unexpected turn. As the reader experiences Louise’s shock at the news of her husband’s death one is led to believe that she is overwhelmed with shock and unable to comprehend the tragedy of becoming a widow. Instead, as the final scene in the story unfolds the reader is made aware ...

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is an insightful work of art that possesses a great literary significance. The short story depicts one hour from the life of Louise Mallard, but touches upon several serious themes that are still important in modern society. Louise Mallard is a young married woman, who gets informed that her husband has tragically died. In one hour she evolves from the grief and sorrow to realization of her joy of finally becoming free to be in charge of her own life. However, her happiness does not last long, as her husband appears ...

The short story “Desiree’s Baby” was published in 1893, in “Vogue”. Its first title was “The Father of Desiree’s baby” to focus on Armand’s identity and origin. The story touches important issues that plagued the South of that time such as racism, the position of women, gender inequality. “Desiree’s Baby” is one of only two major stories Chopin set in antebellum Louisiana, portraying woman character whose life is ruined by a cruel and deeply-seated racism, but intellectual readers of the day would have been aware of the complex cultural history in the background of the ...

The 20th century was a remarkable period for many women who are fed up with the discrimination they faced based on gender. Females in the previous centuries were confined to the spheres of their homesteads and not allowed to participate in public activities. The patriarchal perceptions dominated the thoughts of most Americans. The work of Kate Chopin, a renowned feminist, motivated woman to evaluate their situations critically so that they could realize the unfair burden society placed on them. One of the pieces she wrote was the Story of an Hour. Succinct analysis indicates that Chopin tackled complicated issues ...

Ideally, the marriage institution depicts love between two people and their desire to spend the rest of their lives with each other. Kate Chopin’s works portray a different view as the ideologies of marriage in the fiction stories “Désirée’s Baby” and “The Story of an Hour” are more detrimental that advantageous for the women. Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” relays the story of a woman who is ecstatic after learning that her husband is dead, only for her to die when the man returns unharmed. Concurrently, “Désirée’s Baby” constitutes racism ...

Infidelity and Scandal in “The Storm” and Other 19th Century Writing

Many authors and artists in the nineteenth century tackled a great number of pressing issues in their time, particularly relating closely to the nature of adultery and infidelity. In the world of art, Augustus Leopold Egg’s famous triptych Past and Present demonstrated a husband’s discovery of his wife’s infidelity, and the consequences that ensued, creating a subtle breakdown of the traditional family unit that was thought to be impenetrable in the 19th century. Prominent writers like Leo Tolstoy and Kate Chopin also tackled this issue as well – Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina explores the inherent acceptance of male infidelity and ...

Gender is defined as the activities, roles and behavior assigned in a social place with reference to women and men. Though it is normally confused with sex, it is not. Sex is the biological issue of whether a person is male or female. Gender on the other hand is the society’s code of behavior as to how a man or woman is supposed to behave and act. These distinct given roles are what give rise to inequalities. This difference is that which gives systematical favor to one group and disfavors another. This may occur in terms of health services, job opportunities, ...

Introduction

Individuals read stories and books since they are interested in what is contained in those books and stories. Stories make us love or hate characters, provide us details, and build up to the point where we get the climax. "The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin gives us the details all through the story to set up sudden climax of Mrs. Mallard death. For this reason, this essay examines the sympathetic character of Mrs. Mallard as presented by the author in the short story.

After reading this epic short story, I think that Mrs. Mallard qualifies ...

Non-material notions such as courage, love, truth or faith have been debated in terms of philosophical studies, as well as became central topics of literary works of different genres. Despite the fact that lots of approaches to defining these concepts have already been developed, new ones continue to emerge. For the purposes of this assignment I would like to demonstrate how different truth can be by examples of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “After Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics” by Wustan Hugh.Auden.

Truth can be very different. Someone may associate absolute ...

Introduction

This paper aims to capture the possible conflicts in the literary styles used by the author in writing her book. The degree of agreeableness of the plot and the style of writing will also be considered. Criticism that the author was subjected to shall also be captured. The paper will start by outlining the context in which the narrative was written and will proceed to give a critical view of the plot, and the style employed by Kate in writing her novel. Kate grew up in an environment surrounded by women, both at school with the nuns and at ...

- Brief Introduction - Analysis of A Clean and Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway - Analysis of The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry - Analysis of The Storm by Kate Chopin - Conclusion Within the story, lies the dark theme of death and loneliness which is portrayed by the old customer who only exists in despair despite his wealth and providing a brief description of the author’s life, having a physical defect (deafness) and living in old age. The old and the young waiter were the author’s representation of himself as a youth ...

Kate Chopin was born in Missouri and she has represented the rebellious spirit of her era. She led an unconventional lifestyle, which was depicted in all her writings and was the kind of woman who dared to stand up for her true beliefs and ideas. According to her biographers and literary critics, ‘Kate Chopin’s writing style was a result of her passionate love for the writing style of Guy de Maupassant.’(1996, Le Marquand). Chopin was influenced by Guy de Maupassant who wrote about people’s everyday lives, but she went a step forward. She created her own unique way ...

The Storm is a story Written by Kate Chopin. The time at which the story was set is in the 19th century. The story was set in Louisiana and in real sense; Louisiana is a place that is best known for violent storms. The story is about is a confrontation of the theme of femininity and complexities of the married people in the storm. The storm is used throughout the story, and it only ends after the characters, Alcee and Calixta’s sexual encounter, which brings out the theme of femininity, and sexual desires. Kate Chopin opens her story with the ...

The Awakening is a novel written by Kate Chopin. The story takes place in the 19th century in a Victorian society. The Awakening focuses on Edna who is the protagonist in the story, and she is the wife to Mr. Pontellier. It is a story about a woman who tried to transform herself from a housewife and mother into an independent woman, but she was not successful. Edna was just a normal wife like the other women in the nineteenth century who played the full role of an ideal woman who obeyed her husband, and cared for her kids. Edna now gets an idea that ...

The novel At Fault, published in 1890, brought its author, Kate Chopin, a great deal of attention and appreciation from critics, especially for the impressive realism with which she built her characters. Some were extremely powerful and bold, too bold for that time, like the protagonist, and others were very straightforward, uniquely American, like the half-black half-Native American, half-black Joçint. The mythical and historical association of Native Americans to nature is livelier than ever in Chopin's character, who has no desire of following the path set for him by his father and is drawn to the woods. He ...

There are various approaches of women and feminism in the literature of the early 20th century. For depicting the feminine psych, authors use various literary devices for allowing readers to enter the mind of their characters. Susan Glaspell’s “Trifle” uses symbolism and irony for resenting her character, Mrs. Wright and for illustrating her hardships that drove her to murdering her husband. Moreover, after studying Glaspell’s “Trifle”, the manner in which she develops the narration indicates that she considers Mrs. Wright’s action as justified. Mrs. Wright, a character of the early 20th century, resembles Kate Chopin’s Mrs. ...

The story of Louse Mallard, who dies of a heart condition from the surprise showing up of her presumed dead husband suggests a succesful conspiracy to cover up major issues in their marriage. The fact that Louise died concealing the abusive nature of her husband reveals the dreadful reality of women surviving in abusive relationships and opt to conceal the truth. This paper seeks to analyze Allen Stein's Women and Autonomy in Kate Chopin's short Fiction and Joseph Rossenblum's The story of an hour. Allen supports Kate Chopin efforts in revealing the reality of difficulties that women encounter in the ...

Literature possesses a vast territory for expressing meaningful human feelings, abstract emotions, or themes. Desperation and comfort is a common theme in literature, encompassed in short stories, poems and dramas and reflected differently through the mechanisms of each literary genres, the style of each literary piece or the personality of the authors. Various literary genres like short stories, poems or dramas, possess their unique mechanisms for reflecting the theme of desperation and comfort. Looking at Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”, the poet uses techniques specific to poetry space for transmitting his desperate adversity to resisting ...

Thesis Statement 1: Society has a way of punishing people they envy by emphasizing the latter’s weakness and making a ridicule out of that individual only to boost their personal worth. - Claim: When the beautiful and poised Hester Prynne arrived at Boston, she came alone awaiting for the arrival of her husband Roger Chillingworth, however, to everyone’s knowledge. This made the women of Boston threatened by her.

Interpretation: That left the young, beautiful and poised Hester Prynne the interest of men. This grew the displeasure of the women of Boston. - Claim: Many believed that Hester ...

Readers find many ways to understand the literary works; one of such way would be to comprehend the themes and corresponding these literary works. In addition to it, a read has many choices to analyze and comprehend the themes and corresponding in a story or a poem. This paper focuses on literary devices that can be utilized by the author R. Wayne Clugston, in “Journey into Literature”. From this, literary work of the author two short stories has been selected for themes and corresponding works. The literary writers in the 19th century were very few. The women who wrote usually belonged ...

Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour" is concerning an unhealthy wife who for a short time supposes her husband is deceased and visualizes a complete new life of independence for herself. The speaker’s portrayal of Mrs. Mallard gives you an idea about someone who removes off the ideas of love and even the greatest of marriages for the wonderful thought of pure independence. This paper provides the complication of the concept of Freedom for Mrs. Mallard as the lead character of the story. It gives the impression like an awful thing to Mrs. Mallard, who's constrained in ...

The Awakening, an early twentieth-century novel by Kate Chopin, is often cited as one of the first feminist pieces of literature written for a modern audience. The novel follows a woman named Edna through her everyday activities, as she goes through a transformation that can only be described as an “awakening.” Chopin’s work is heavily concerned with the difference between masculinity and femininity in Victorian-era society. Throughout the work, her protagonist’s continual self-awareness is tempered by her increasing isolation from everyone in her life; thus, Chopin suggests that society, as it existed, does not allow femininity to be self-sufficient without ...

“Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway

The title of the story “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway carries an inner meaning besides its literal meaning of cat in the rain. Hemingway uses iceberg theory to fix a title for his story. The title has a meaning outwardly and has a deep meaning behind it. Even though, the story says the incident when a cat caught in the rain, the protagonist of the story indirectly refers to the title by confronting the element of confinement that resembles the cat. Thus, the title signifies nothing but the American Woman. “Cat in the Rain has two points of view: full omniscient ...

Two women, two different stories, two destinies. Calixta and Desiree had one important common goal in their lives – happiness of their children and husbands. In the short stories “Desiree’s Baby” and “The Storm”, Kate Chopin showed us the attitude of women of those years to the marriage, to their own happiness and what was the life like for a young ordinary woman. In this essay I would like to compare two absolutely different but in some ways similar situations and bitter experience of Calixta and Desiree. The story “Desiree’s Baby” shows us the racial prejudice and how ...

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is a short story that begins and ends with heartbreak. The story begins with the news that Mrs. Louise Mallard's husband, Mr. Brently Mallard has died. Mrs. Mallard, who suffers from heart trouble, reacts to this news rather unusually, unlike how a normal woman would, and secludes herself in her room. What follows are some vague descriptions and Mrs. Mallard’s frequently joyful exclamations of finally being free and being able to live herself for herself. Naturally, this makes readers wonder whether Mrs. Mallard was even happy with her marriage. However, before they ...

American Literature, Essay Exam

1. Mark Twain has made use of various features of Local Color such as in his book Huckleberry Finn. Local color is a style used in writing to show the features and peculiarities of the people in a given locality. The first feature is that of narration which makes use of a narrator who in most cases is educated to draw a distinction between urbanized audience and the locals. An example is when Huck displays moral maturity by saying, “what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong” ( ...

In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin presents readers with a view of marriage that is not very commonly heard of these days. After learning that her husband has died, Mrs. Louise Mallard, the main character of the short story, experiences the delight and glee of freedom instead of the depression and sorrow of having lost her life partner. Chop has chosen such a structure for her short story that seems to be well suited for its subject matter. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is one of her most famous work because of how she is able ...

Kate Chopin, the author of the short stories, "The Storm" and "Story of an Hour," was a tremendously forward-thinking and feminist author - in both of these tales, marriage is viewed as a restrictive hold on the women who are the subjects of each story. In "The Storm," the desperate Calixta temporarily frees herself of her stifling marriage by engaging in a passionate love affair with a paramour from her past who finds himself in her house in the wake of a nasty storm. Meanwhile, in "Story of an Hour," a woman discovers that her husband has passed away, and starts to have fantasies about ...

The Story of an Hour is an acclaimed literary work by Kate Chopin. Kate is well known for writing story emphasized on freedom or independence of women during the 1890s. Kate’s works were written before any feminist movement was begun. During that time women were considered as property of their husband. This fact impacted author on great way hence she emphasized on liberalization of women in her stories. Throughout the story of an hour, Kate utilizes various literary techniques to display forbidden joy of women’s freedom in male oriented society. Kate’s short story revolves around a ...

I have chosen to examine four short stories whose characters are people with physical markings or mental disorders. People who have these traits are unusual and regarded as odd by "normal" people. Usually, they develop some mental powers and become able to achieve much more than people who have neither physical nor mental problems. Maybe these "marked" people achieve success because they believe in themselves, whereas, "normal", healthy people tend to be paradoxically more self-conscious which hold them back. However, they are always there to judge the challenged ones. The stories that were particularly interesting to me are: Roman ...

In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin strongly employs symbolism throughout the story to intensify the drama. The symbols fit the subject matter of the story perfectly. The short story contains several symbols that make the readers feel a sense of comfort, wellness, and wonderfulness in their mind, somewhat the same feelings that overcome Mrs. Mallard when she learns of the “news of her husband's death.” The symbols in the short story embody Mrs. Mallard’s sense of freedom from the moment she murmurs “free” to herself and intensify the story’s twist ending. The very first symbol ...

‘Desiree’s baby’, written by Kate Chopin, is one of the most anthologized and critically acclaimed short stories of the nineteenth century. First published in the year 1893, the story captures with vivid detail, the societal attitudes that prevailed during the dawning years of that century. It is set in the days where rich, White, plantation owners, had slaves working for them tirelessly, yet did not have the heart or will, to treat the blacks equally, despite the many laws that legally abolished slavery. African Americans were not the only ones, being discriminated and marginalized, but the society of ...

It is widely believed that literature functions as a representative of the period in which it was conceived. More specifically, it is sort of a reminder of the moral values and principles upheld by the society of its era. Throughout the human history, many things have changed, some discovered and some evolved. But one thing has always been constant for the overwhelming majority of human history (at least what we know of it) - women were considered meek individuals, who were forced to bend towards the will of the men of their family and society. Take any civilization across the globe ...

Kate Chopin’s landmark novel The Awakening is often cited as one of the first modern feminist novels written about a woman’s plight and the difficulty of women’s choices. In the novel, Chopin fearlessly addresses issues that were previously considered distasteful or even inappropriate for a female author to consider; however, Chopin considers these issues thoughtfully, without prejudice, and with extreme empathy. The main character of the novel, Edna Pontellier, is faced with a variety of choices; however, in a move that was unprecedented for the time in which the novel was written, the protagonist takes charge of her fate and ...

Kate Chopin’s, the story of an hour, is well crafted in terms of its plot, content, and character choice. However, one of the overarching literary devices that Chopin employs is irony. First of all, the story begins with a friend contemplating on how to explain the news of the death of Mr. Mallard to his wife. Mr. Richard struggles to make sure that the news of death is unveiled to Mrs. Mallard in a way that it would not cause harm to her due to her heart condition. Josephine who is the Mrs. Mallard’s sister is used as the ...

Essay 2

1 Literal borrowing is one of the issues that are discussed by people in the literal world on a daily basis. Authors borrow ideas for their literal works to improve on the quality of work presented. Borrowing of intellectual material can be good or bad. Good borrowing of literal material is an act that almost all researchers perform. It is perfectly genuine if done according to the standard guidelines and the act is documented correctly (Yu and Peter 45). Bad literal borrowing also known as plagiarism is a wrong act since the author copies the works of another author to a wide ...