FeminsismEssay Preview: FeminsismReport this essayPart 1 FeminismAs humans, we live our life within the boundaries of our belief systems and moral guidelines we were raised with. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree’s Baby” tells the story of two women who live according to those societal boundaries.
American author Kate Chopin (1850—1904) wrote about a hundred short stories and two novels in the 1890s. Most of her fiction is set in Louisiana and most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women. After her fathers death, Kates family included her widowed mother, her widowed grandmother and her widowed great-grandmother. Perhaps this provides a glimpse of what would ultimately influence Kate Chopin as a writer– the lack of male role models and men as central figures in her life as she matured. This lack would also prevent her from experiencing what was basically a fundamental social concept of her time–the tradition of submission of women to men in all social spheres, but especially that of marriage (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Chopin)
[1] Kate Chopin had an interest in the social, ethical, and political aspects of her craft. Among other things, her early work involved a kind of gender politics in which women were underrepresented in critical social, ethical, legal, and political spheres. In her later work, Chopin focused on social change, politics, and human rights, as well as on the ways in which women’s economic struggle prevented men from achieving their own political goals; and what she considered a form of radical feminism, aimed at developing women’s ability to become independent citizens. What are some of Chopin’s recent writings on the social, political, and ethical themes of her work? One is the way her ideas have affected the contemporary debate around child-rearing, poverty, and family formation, by showing that, over the centuries, human beings have experienced a sense of crisis-based oppression of the children themselves. In a more recent sense, Chopin considers herself a feminist, writing in a postmodern tradition, “in a sense that in my personal life the people I love have always been less able to provide for their social needs.” Although she writes of the “difficult” question of the role of children and mothers in society, she also addresses contemporary debates around what constitutes “normal human life”:
If children are supposed to “not be put in the shoes/” for no reason, is that possible? What is the best way to bring this problem together?
There exists a notion of a “modern woman” that is characterized by the notion of a “woman who is, after all, only a woman in her own right, ” (p. 84). However, it is in most cases where the mother gives birth to a child that the social and ethical problems of motherhood are addressed, as is the case with the traditional forms of maternal care: in her work as a teacher, she explores how the two are not interchangeable and how the role of the adult is still fluid. Chopin examines in detail the way women are raised as children, using a variety of ways she considers motherhood to reflect contemporary social experience. Most importantly, she notes that what these issues are, is often not always a solution to, but a means to, and this is in the context of what makes the mother different from an adult. In this setting, she tries to deal with her own needs, her own social anxieties, and the personal, psychological demands of the mother. The problems of poverty are addressed in a manner that is unique to herself, as opposed to the traditional women’s system where she is concerned with raising children for their own benefit. Chopin says that because “the present gender and economic struggles of the present generations are not at fault; while the fathers have been oppressed by their own children, the women have suffered as a result. With this understanding, they also can realize an ultimate goal of living a human life in which they do not have to face
[1] Kate Chopin had an interest in the social, ethical, and political aspects of her craft. Among other things, her early work involved a kind of gender politics in which women were underrepresented in critical social, ethical, legal, and political spheres. In her later work, Chopin focused on social change, politics, and human rights, as well as on the ways in which women’s economic struggle prevented men from achieving their own political goals; and what she considered a form of radical feminism, aimed at developing women’s ability to become independent citizens. What are some of Chopin’s recent writings on the social, political, and ethical themes of her work? One is the way her ideas have affected the contemporary debate around child-rearing, poverty, and family formation, by showing that, over the centuries, human beings have experienced a sense of crisis-based oppression of the children themselves. In a more recent sense, Chopin considers herself a feminist, writing in a postmodern tradition, “in a sense that in my personal life the people I love have always been less able to provide for their social needs.” Although she writes of the “difficult” question of the role of children and mothers in society, she also addresses contemporary debates around what constitutes “normal human life”:If children are supposed to “not be put in the shoes/” for no reason, is that possible? What is the best way to bring this problem together?There exists a notion of a “modern woman” that is characterized by the notion of a “woman who is, after all, only a woman in her own right, ” (p. 84). However, it is in most cases where the mother gives birth to a child that the social and ethical problems of motherhood are addressed, as is the case with the traditional forms of maternal care: in her work as a teacher, she explores how the two are not interchangeable and how the role of the adult is still fluid. Chopin examines in detail the way women are raised as children, using a variety of ways she considers motherhood to reflect contemporary social experience. Most importantly, she notes that what these issues are, is often not always a solution to, but a means to, and this is in the context of what makes the mother different from an adult. In this setting, she tries to deal with her own needs, her own social anxieties, and the personal, psychological demands of the mother. The problems of poverty are addressed in a manner that is unique to herself, as opposed to the traditional women’s system where she is concerned with raising children for their own benefit. Chopin says that because “the present gender and economic struggles of the present generations are not at fault; while the fathers have been oppressed by their own children, the women have suffered as a result. With this understanding, they also can realize an ultimate goal of living a human life in which they do not have to face
[1] Kate Chopin had an interest in the social, ethical, and political aspects of her craft. Among other things, her early work involved a kind of gender politics in which women were underrepresented in critical social, ethical, legal, and political spheres. In her later work, Chopin focused on social change, politics, and human rights, as well as on the ways in which women’s economic struggle prevented men from achieving their own political goals; and what she considered a form of radical feminism, aimed at developing women’s ability to become independent citizens. What are some of Chopin’s recent writings on the social, political, and ethical themes of her work? One is the way her ideas have affected the contemporary debate around child-rearing, poverty, and family formation, by showing that, over the centuries, human beings have experienced a sense of crisis-based oppression of the children themselves. In a more recent sense, Chopin considers herself a feminist, writing in a postmodern tradition, “in a sense that in my personal life the people I love have always been less able to provide for their social needs.” Although she writes of the “difficult” question of the role of children and mothers in society, she also addresses contemporary debates around what constitutes “normal human life”:If children are supposed to “not be put in the shoes/” for no reason, is that possible? What is the best way to bring this problem together?There exists a notion of a “modern woman” that is characterized by the notion of a “woman who is, after all, only a woman in her own right, ” (p. 84). However, it is in most cases where the mother gives birth to a child that the social and ethical problems of motherhood are addressed, as is the case with the traditional forms of maternal care: in her work as a teacher, she explores how the two are not interchangeable and how the role of the adult is still fluid. Chopin examines in detail the way women are raised as children, using a variety of ways she considers motherhood to reflect contemporary social experience. Most importantly, she notes that what these issues are, is often not always a solution to, but a means to, and this is in the context of what makes the mother different from an adult. In this setting, she tries to deal with her own needs, her own social anxieties, and the personal, psychological demands of the mother. The problems of poverty are addressed in a manner that is unique to herself, as opposed to the traditional women’s system where she is concerned with raising children for their own benefit. Chopin says that because “the present gender and economic struggles of the present generations are not at fault; while the fathers have been oppressed by their own children, the women have suffered as a result. With this understanding, they also can realize an ultimate goal of living a human life in which they do not have to face
In 1888, after suffering grief from the deaths of her father, mother and her husband, Chopin turned to creative writing as an outlet. She was not particularly well known as a writer during her life. She began writing seriously at the age of 39, when she would have already experienced many maturing life situations. She found her central focus rapidly, and wrote stories whose intriguing characters and settings often disguised the seriousness of their themes. Not greatly involved in the politics of her time, she was nonetheless influenced by such classic masters as Maupassant who
Braun 2awakened her to ideas such as personal liberty and freedom. (Chopins characters in these two short stories are struggling for a sense of self and purpose. Themes as self-reliant women as protagonists, post Civil War racism, male/female relationships and what would eventually become known as male chauvinism are common. These were difficult times for many women because of the domination of men over them. A woman was expected to act and behave in ways that were submissive to men in every aspect of their life. Indeed, a woman’s life revolved around her husband and his needs and desires. Women had very little say in their own ambitions or desires. Behaving in non-conventional ways would mean being shunned from society. However, one woman’s world revolves around and for her husband while another dreams of a life free of marital boundaries.
Nevertheless, Kate Chopin uses two types of irony in “The Story of an Hour” to reflect her views. Situational irony refers to the opposite of what is supposed to happen, and dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows something that the rest of the characters in the story do not know. The irony in this short story makes the reader understand that the unexpected happens in life.
The first irony detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance”. Instead, she accepts it
Braun 3and goes to her room to be alone. After hearing the tragic news she goes up stairs and looks out an open window and notices spring in the air and all the new life it brings. The
descriptions used are as far away from death as possible. “The delicious breath of rainthe notes of a distant song…countless sparrows were twittering…patches of blue
sky….”. All these are images of life, not death. She is not overcome by grief as one would expect, but instead begins to feel a sense of relief. As an illustration, “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” In particular, “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome”. Another example of Louise’s sense of joy is revealed in the sentence “Free! Body and soul free! she kept whispering”. This is a woman not overcome by grief, but relishing the freedom she believes is finally hers. Now we start to see the world through Louises eyes, a new world for her to enjoy as she pleased; “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long”.
However, the irony of the story is that Louises husband has not died. In fact, when he comes home to Louise, his arrival ultimately kills her. The doctors say she died of joy, when the reader knows that she actually died because she had a glimpse of freedom and could not go back to living under her husbands dominance again.
Braun 4On the other hand, “Desiree’s Baby” mixed many feminist emotions from maternal love, to a wife’s love and devotion to her estranged husband. In a culture where marriage and motherhood were womens primary roles, Southern tradition did
not value the emotions or differing opinions of women. African Americans were deemed inferior to whites. Powerful, white men created this society and the roles for the women within. Southern women had little choice but to play the roles they were given and experience life as those men intended (
Likewise, Desiree is a woman whose self-worth is primarily linked to that of