Kate Chopin

Another theme of this story is that patience can be taught. Young people can struggle with patience, and this is the case with Babette; older folks tend to have a bit more patience because they...

The ripe figs seem to symbolize the idea that there is a good time for everything, and everything happens in its own good time. We cannot force the figs to ripen sooner than they will; they will...

The main theme of the story is that a woman cannot possibly expect both passion and wealth in marriage: she must choose one. Chopin often writes about the untenable choices women had to make during...

The three characters in Kate Chopin’s short story “The Kiss” are Nathalie, Brantain and Harvy. As with much of Kate Chopin’s work, this story sheds light on women’s lives and their place in...

Kate Chopin's short story, "A Respectable Woman," has several themes, to be expected from an author with such strong female protagonists. However, the story may also demonstrate the universal truth...

The author used several plays on word that succintly imply the matters at hand. The first thing we see is her description of the main character's condition as "heart trouble"- what sort of trouble...

Settings play a key role in establishing the characters of this terrific short story all about the way that a woman is able to manipulate her way into a wealthy marriage, in spite of an incident...

This short story by Kate Chopin features the characters Athenaise, who has been recently married to Cazeau, her brother, called Monteclin and another man called Gouvernail. The story starts with...

The key theme in this short story is a theme that is explored in many of Chopin's works, which is the theme of marriage and woman's role within it. What leads Athenaise to reject her husband and...

"Beyond the Bayou" by Kate Chopin features a black woman called Jacqueline, but who is known as "La Folle" (Crazy Woman in French) because of the way that she has drawn "an imaginary line" through...

Unfortunately I had to edit your question to focus on just one question. You are not allowed to ask multiple questions. You have picked a rather intriguing story to focus on. I think "Ripe Figs" is...

The feeling I get when I read this short story is one of mystery. The author sets the stage for this right from the very beginning when she describes the locket as some sort of good luck charm....

There is a frightening modern relevance to Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper": Both these short stories point to the power that people can wield...

The city in which "A Pair of Silk Stockings" is set is unnamed; however it is large enough to have a department store, theatre, and a trolley car. In the 1890s this could easily be New Orleans...

Kate Chopin was an advocate for women's liberation from Victorian restrictions. Her narrative of "The Story of an Hour" exemplifies the stultifying impact of biological determinism, social...

The conflict of this story falls into the character vs. character kind. Mrs. Sommers is no longer used to spending money on herself. She has, apparently, several children who require all the things...

Chopin certainly puts the ingredients together for adultery to take place in "The Storm," but the foreshadowing is very subtle, so it definitely sets the reader up to be surprised by Calixta and...

Well, I suppose this question depends very much on who you side with when you think about the characters in this short story. The protagonist is the character who is trying to achieve something and...

I am not quite sure what you mean by "hook-up" sentence. Are you referring to a "hook" which is the initial sentence of an introduction (used to grab the attention of the reader), or are you...

I think one can argue that both Calixta and Desiree truly do love their husbands. However, one would be hard-pressed to make the same argument about Louise Mallard. When Louise learns of her...

In Chopin's short story "At the 'Cadian Ball," Bruce, the manservant of the Laballières, tells Mademoiselle Clarisse that Alceé Laballière has gone to the Cajun (Acadian) ball. He explains that...

Mrs. Mallard lived in a society that, presumably, gave very little opportunities to women to succeed on their own. Moreover, she was ill and possibly unable to support herself independently, even...

Kate Chopin is able to write complex short stories in brief lengths for several reasons. In both of the examples listed, Chopin uses a third person limited point of view and spare figurative...

I think that the basic idea of Chopin's work is to express what it means to be a woman. Writing from the age of 37, Chopin is able to bring out the unique dynamics and conditions that govern being...

The Kate Chopin story "A Night in Arcadie" opens with binary opposition representing binary system. Binary opposition (BO) is used in contemporary literary criticism by structuralist,...

One language technique that Chopin uses is imagry. This is where you use the 5 senses to describe a scene, helping it to seem more vibrant and alive. After Louise has heard the news of her...

In Kate Chopin's 1892 short story "Ripe Figs," very little is made explicit about the two characters, Babette and Maman-Nainaine. The term "Maman-Nainaine" translates to grandmother, but Chopin...

In "Odalie Misses Mass," the main character, Odalie, is a young white girl who goes to visit her an older black woman named Aunt Pinky. At first, Odalie says and does many things that could be...

[ While Enotes educators do not compose essays, we are glad to assist with ideas as to the composition of comparison/contrast. ] Certainly, Katherine Mansfield's short story named after a Chopin...

This story by Kate Chopin deals with issues of race, family, and racial stereotypes with minor references to religion. The reaction of a mother to her child is repeated in three different ways. The...

I think that any potential answer to this question is going to be larger than the space here will allow. Chopin's understanding of women's identity and, basically what it means, to be a woman is...

Like previously stated, the loss of freedom due to marriage, and the existence of the self-assertive woman despite of social limitation are, indeed, themes in the story. However, upon performing a...

At the time The Awakening was published women were expected to behave in a certain way. Women were supposed to be demure, submissive, subservient to their fathers and husbands. Patriarchal society...

In both "At the Cadian Ball" and "The Other Two," we meet women who arrange, manage, and control their men. They are self-possessed people who know how to get what they want. A more negative...

I think that in the two stories specified, Chopin views marriage as an institution that inhibits individual desires, specifically those of women. Calixta and Louise Mallard are both repressed, to...

Kate Chopin's short story "The Storm" was not published during her lifetime because of its scandalous (for that time) content. In the late-ninteenth century, women writing about adulterous and...

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To answer your question, Kate Chopin may have written Odalie Misses Mass as a literary experiment. Chopin wrote in the 19th century, when stories about female friendships were rare. In fact,...

Muckraking is considered investigative writing meant to expose social ills or corporate and political corruption. In her short story "Odalie Misses Mass," Kate Chopin exposes some of the social...

In "The Storm", Kate Chopin's main character Calixta lacks the understanding of what marriage is in terms of sexuality. She lives life as it is expected of her, and the relationship in her marital...

In addition to the ideas raised earlier, Chopin examined the changing perceptions of women towards their social roles in her short story, "The Story of an Hour." Chopin takes the notion of a...

I'll be happy to provide whatever help I can (feel free to "message" me). Let me say for now that there are three things that I always try to do when beginning to develop a research project on a...

Lousiana is the setting for "The Storm" by Kate Chopin. (See the sources cited below.)Kate Chopin (1851-1904) was an intelligent and witty debutante who traveled to Europe and then...

Concerning your plans to analyze Kate Chopin from the feminist point of view/feminist literary theory, it is every critic's goal to discover and relate something new. It is a particularly...

This is a very good approach to Kate Chopin. When her husband died, he left her with six children and substantial debts in a period in which women had few avenues open to earn money. Her career as...

Many of Chopin's stories are highly psychological. In my opinion, this is no better seen in the short story, "The Story of an Hour." Mrs. Mallard's extreme emotional roller coaster upon hearing...

I think that one can find a couple of links between both of Chopin's short stories. The depiction of women being able to act on their autonomy or consider a life where this freedom is activated is...