Kate Chopin’s feminism expressed through her literature works
Kate Chopin was one of the most memorable female writers of all times. Her works were often short stories that were published in magazines which had overwhelmingly gained a large number of readers over the time. Kate Chopin was one of the writers that express their emotions and feelings through the use of her characters. Specialist and fanatics of her short stories believed that Chopin used her characters to express her feministic side. She would do this by using feminine characters that fought for their rights seeking liberation and who were more decisive than the typical women of her time. Born in an era when women were naturally oppressed, Kate had to use a way to reach her fellow women and empower them (Green & Caudle 4).
The first story in which Chopin used her characters to express her feminism was in The Awakening: Edna Pontellier. Edna was the character used by Chopin in the novel to express her feminist side. The character was fated to die and went through much suffering but persevered all through thus expressing the strength of a woman in this story. A number of analysts have seen an incredible similarity between the life of Kate, the author and Edna (Dewitz 3). Edna’s suffering began at home with her husband whom she didn’t love. Edna was initially an obedient wife and the mother of two (Chopin, Wilson & Seyestered 121). Edna’s feminism started becoming prominent after she had begun working towards achieving her dreams and wishes in life. She got awakened in several ways sexually, emotionally and physically. In the story, the rest of the women in her society were always heard stating that Edna was different and unlike as compared to them since she lived her life differently.
The second story where Chopin expresses feminism through the use of her characters is Madame Célestin’s Divorce. In the story, Chopin uses a character known as Madame who is married to an oppressive husband. A certain lawyer who is infatuated with Madame, advises Madame to break up with her husband since he convinces her that she deserves to be treated in a better manner (Chopin, Wilson & Seyestered 276). Feminism in this story is shown by the characters determination to live a better live and deciding to leave her husband for a better lover. Her family and her friends were all against her decision to divorce her husband but against all of them, she went ahead and filed for a divorce (Schulman 46).
Feminism has also been illustrated in the story The Story of an Hour. The story is about a woman whose husband dies and she is left grieving. After grieving for some time, she eventually realized that she was free though this realization makes her feel guilty. The death of Mallard in a train accident was a blessing in disguise. In this time, she lives her live in her own terms and it feels great for her. The story however ends up with Brently Mallard, the husband, eventually returning and it so happens that his death was a case of mistaken identity (Chopin, Wilson & Seyestered 352). This story shows how women should enjoy themselves and incited thm to search for the freedom that they deserve. The story advocates for women’s personal freedom and liberation (Zubiller 2).
In the story “The storm” by Chopin, marriage has been to be confining women and depriving them their very own rights to enjoy life and it lacks regards for women’s needs. It is definite that a woman wants to be looked at differently and lovingly by men. The story is about a woman named Calixta who is married and has one son, Bibi. One day a storm causes Calixta to be separated from her family for a while but in the process unites with her with her former lover Alcee. Alcee and Calixta, forced by a storm to unite for a while, rejuvenate their passion for a while. It is then that Calixta discovers what marriage had taken away from her life. Marriage had bound her and transformed her to a worrisome mother who lacks time for herself as well as freedom (Chopin 12). Alcee too discovers how he had bound her wife to household chores and in the end decides to allow her wife to stay for longer in Biloxi where she had gone for a vacation (Toth 206). This story also shows women what they have been missing while in marriages including passion with their husbands. It should be noted that however, the story does depict a scene in which adultery has been shown but it does not advocate for it.
Kate has also portrayed how women can improve their lives by liberating themselves from their everyday activities by satisfying their desires. She managed to achieve this through literature. In majority of hr stories, her main characters are women and their plot is always about liberation of women from the world that had naturally tyrannized them as compared to the men. Mostly, her style of writing entailed the use of women characters to pass a message as well as motivate the women. The use of these characters ensured that the target readers, the women, put themselves in the characters shoes and experienced the magic of liberation and this may have made them yearn for it more. Other works by Chopin that call for women liberation include; Athenaise (Chopin 48), A Respectable Woman (Chopin, Wilson & Seyestered 333) and A No- Account Cleole (Chopin 3). Almost all the stories written by Chopin are written in a manner that advocates for women’s liberation.
Works cited
Chopin, Kate. The Storm. California: Short Story Press, 2005
Chopin, Kate. Athenaise. New York: Dodo Press, 2009.
Chopin, Kate. Bayou Folk. Indianapolis: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895
Chopin, Kate., Wilson, Edmund. & Seyersted, Per. The complete works of Kate Chopin
Louisiana: Louisiana state university Press, 2006
Dewitz , Claudia “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin – Edna Pontellier, a Woman Fated to Die
Noderstedt: GRIN Verlag, 2010
Green, S Disheroon. & Caudle, J. David. Kate Chopin: an annotated bibliography of critical works Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999
Serafin, R Steven. & Bendixen, Alfred. The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature
New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005 .
Schulman, Myra. Journeys Through American Literature Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2000
Toth, Emily Unveiling Kate Chopin Univ. Mississippi: Press of Mississippi, 1999
Zubiller, Cora. “The Story of an Hour” – Kate Chopin’s Voice Against Patriarchy
Berlin: GRIN Verlag, 2010.
