Kate Chopin: Bold Writer - Ahead of Her Time

KATE CHOPIN: BOLD WRITER - AHEAD OF HER TIME

CHOPIN'S LITERATURE:

THE AWAKENING, ATHENAISE: A STORY OF A TEMPERAMENT,

AT THE 'CADIAN BALL, & THE STORM

Elizabeth Fox Genovese of Emory University shared in a PBS interview that "She [Kate Chopin] was very important as one of the earliest examples of modernism in the United States or, if you wish, the cutting edge of modernism in American literature" (PBS - Interviews). Kate Chopin published At Fault, her first novel, in 1890 and The Awakening, her last novel, in 1898 (Guilds 924). During these years Chopin wrote numerous other works and most, like At Fault and The Awakening, centered around upper-middle class Creole or French women involved in womanly uncertainties; such as, extramarital affairs, acceptable behavior in society for females, duties as a wife, responsibilities as a mother, and religious beliefs. Chopin was an extraordinary woman, and no indication was made, during the investigation of this research paper, reflecting her having regrets regarding her position as a wife or mother. This document is an attempt at comparing the issues the main characters experienced and presenting Chopin's unique skill in writing about the culture she observed during her years of living in Louisiana. The tragedy of this author's existence is that during her life the literary world did not recognize such exceptional skill.

This author was born Katherine (Kate) O'Flaherty Chopin in February of 1850 to a father of Irish descent and a Creole (French settlers of the southern United States, esp. Louisiana) mother (Guilds 293). Chopin was a bicultural mixture of strength. Due to measures beyond her control, she grows up in a life surrounded by strong willed women. These ladies were passionate women Chopin loved and respected; her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. They each added their individual spice of life to a brew of pure womanhood. Thus, seasoning a woman that would become one of the most influential, controversial female authors in American history. Kate Chopin created genuine works exposing the innermost conflicts women of the late 1800's were experiencing. The heroines of her fictional stories were strong, yet confused, women searching for a meaning behind the spirit that penetrated their very souls.

Living a normal youth, Chopin immediately suffers the loss of her father in 1855, at the young age of five. This is later followed by another extremely difficult year in 1863 when she loses two people she loved very much, her great-grandmother, Victoire Verdon Charleville, and her half-brother, George O'Flaherty, a Confederate soldier. Chopin goes on to marry at the age of 20 to Oscar Chopin and bears 6 children. Mr. Chopin dies of malaria after 12 years of marriage and, lastly, her mother passes three years after Mr. Chopin. Chopin is devastated, left to raise 6 young children alone. Thus, began a writer's career based on an essential need to support her family.

The Awakening was Chopin's major work and the most recognized in the literary world. This story centered around Edna Pontellier, a woman searching for meaning of 'self' in a society that held distinct understandings of a woman's role in life, as a wife, mother, and woman. Edna didn't excel in any of these areas by any stretch of the imagination. Chopin wrote this character in a form that was difficult to accept during the year it was published, 1899. This fact caused most critics to negatively examine her best work. Chopin endured extreme humiliation for a creation that is in current day considered an excellent novel. The intriguing characters supporting the lead role are a clear array of life during this era and the location it is written about.

Leonce Pontellier loved his wife, although, his concern for her was questionably expressed by the author. Leonce valued his wife as property and he consider her the sole object of his existence (Culley 7). He felt he had made a good decision in his choice of a wife, taking pride in the children she bore him and his life as a whole. In a part where Mr. Pontellier noticed his wife had a sunburn, Chopin shared, "[Pontellier] looked at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of property which has suffered some damage" (Culley 4). Edna didn't share the same devotion towards her husband and merely accepted marriage as one accepts gravity - it's a fact of life. She found delight in the company of other men and frequented flirtation nonchalantly. The characterization Chopin shared with respect to the position of a wife in this aspect was ill received. The reasoning behind the critics of The Awakening for this issue is available in a Dorothy Dix article, written in 1898, on the American wife stating "the average American wife . . . She must be a paragon of domesticity, an ornament in society, a wonder in finance and a light in the literacy circle to which she belongs" (Culley 144).

Edna Pontellier's role as a mother also left much to be desired. Her two sons, ages four and five, were an inconvenience to Edna and were constantly found in the care of their nanny. Chopin wrote into her novel Leonce Pontellier reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children (Culley 7); and also, "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman" (Culley 9). Another example in The Awakening, "Edna was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them" (Culley 19). But this was not Chopin's only visit to the topic of motherhood. Kate herself was an astonishing mother and excelled as a writer because of her dedication to supporting her children in the manner in which they were accustomed.

In 1896, Chopin wrote the short story, Athenaise: A Story of A Temperament (Guilds 295). The lead spirit is the character, Athenaise Cazeau, a young woman that marries a man who courts her, loves her, and improves her position in society. Yet Athenaise, who originally consented to her marriage, is not satisfied and finds, after only two months into this marriage, she has made a terrible mistake and strongly believes she immensely dislikes the man she married. With the help of her brother, she leaves her newlywed home and hides in a town some distance away, New Orleans. Here she finds respite from her miserable marriage and settles into a life of seclusion along with a new gentleman friend, Gouvernail. As the story progresses, a reader is expecting