Kies 1

Clarice Kies

Dr. Stone

American Literature

May 15, 2017

Kate Chopins Separate Identity and Individualism in Literature

Alfred Habbegger writes Realism was an analysis of quiet desperation. [Authors]

Attempting to break out, and to help their readers break out, of a suffocated, half-conscious

state, (106). Realism was the most popular genre in American Literature from 1860-1900, as

novels started to shift into more character development. Kate Chopin wrote heavily in realism

and was particularly popular because she was writing from a Southern perspective, when most

authors were based out of Boston, and writing about the New England experience. Chopins

works heavily feature women trying to find a sense of self in a society that does not allow

women to have independence from a male figure. Due to the realistic nature of the characters,

Chopin was often accused of having the same morals and values as the female characters in her

stories. Two female characters that are successful in finding their sense of self during the time

period are Mrs. Mallard in The Story of An Hour and Calixta in The Storm, however both

stories raised questions from readers about Chopins moral standing. Chopins writing was so

strong and realistic that readers believed her characters morality reflected her own, especially

since Chopins relationship with her husband was unique, which not only shaped her own life,

but the type of characters she created, and as a result blurred the line of identity and

individualism between her and her character, most notably Louise Mallard and Calixta.
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Kate Chopins upbringing and marriage were unique, she was raised by widowed women

for the majority of her life, and as a result, became quite an independent young woman. She was

educated in a private Catholic school, run by nuns who were known to be quite intellectual. As a

result she had the foundation of writing that she would come to depend on years later. Soon after,

she married Oscar Chopin, who started as a businessman in the cotton industry, they had six

children together, and twelve years into their marriage Oscar passed away. Kate was not

involved in the finances of Oscars business, or their estate. It was not until he passed away that

she realized there was no sort of savings, and she had to find a way to support herself and her six

children. This is when her background in writing came back into the forefront of her life. Since

women were not able to work until they were a widow, they had no way of gaining expertise in

the job market that men worked in, so writing was a common way for women to support

themselves if they chose not to marry, or if their husbands died. Chopins situation was unique

because she had a strong sense of self before she was married, so the transition back to being

independent was less severe for her. This served her with first-hand experience of the feme

covert and the feme sole, which were also large parts of realism, yet she realized that being a

feme sole was not inherently a negative thing, just as a feme covert was not paradise.

Louise Mallard is an example of a feme covert who realizes that societys rules on

women have affected her marriage. The story begins with the narrator telling readers that Mrs.

Mallard has a heart condition, and in the next line we are told that her husband has recently died.

It is not coincidence that those two lines are right next to each other, or that they open the story.

Chopin was aware that The Story of An Hour would have a controversial message, and in

order to hide that from the everyday, recreational reader, she gives an easy explanation about the

ending: a weak heart; as to not raise too much negative attention. However, upon a closer
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reading, it is clear that Louise Mallard died because she saw a life where she could truly be

independent, and do everyday tasks such as leaving the house by herself. When her husband

came home alive, having not actually been in any accident, going back to an oppressed lifestyle

was not an option. However, there are those who do not agree with that interpretation. For

example Lawrence Berkove writes in Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an

Hour', Louise's whims imperiously; put her husband into a no-win situation

where anything he does is not only wrong, but also a crime against her absolute freedomIn

truth, Louise is sick, emotionally as well as physically (156). Not only does Berkove believe

that Louise Mallard simply had a weak heart and was emotionally unstable, but that she was also

over-reacting to married life, and was looking for anything to complain about. He backs up this

statement by saying Marriage of course restricts freedom. Whoever marries, or even loves,

gives up large areas of freedom--usually willingly (156). Yes, while Louise did marry Brently

Mallard willingly, it is not true that one should give themselves up in marriage, much less solely

on being in love. It is a common misconception that a person, particularly a woman, should give

themselves up in marriage; that is a fast-track to losing ones mind: complete loss of

individualism. Marriage is based on two people coming together and going through life as two

distinct people willing to be there for one another, and that was something that society during the

late 1800s did not understand. Women were brought up thinking that they were meant to be the

angel of the house, completely complacent, stay out of the mans affairs in business and really

anything outside of the home and any children. The only way out of the negative connotations of

being unattached to a man, was if the woman was a widow, because death is not something that

can be controlled. Louise got a glance of what her life would be, unaffiliated with her husband,

and she was thrilled about this unforeseen opportunity. There was so much freedom in her just
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being able to think about a feme sole lifestyle, that the thought of going back to a submissive

Mrs. Mallard was not a life she could live any longer.

Despite vastly different stances on what Louises death signifies, Berkove does have the

same thoughts on authors individualism, Further, it would be a mistake to project them onto

Chopin, for that would confuse narrator with author, a move that denies Chopin the full range of

literary technique, and that would reduce this brilliant and subtle work of fiction to behind-the-

scenes sermonizing (153). The narrator in The Story of An Hour is omniscient, so in addition

to knowing what is happening from a typical third-person story, readers are allowed the added

information of the characters inner thoughts. While all stories are based off something, an

experience, a dream, or just a thought, Chopins story is in fact fiction, however that was

something that readers during the time had a difficult time differentiating. Due to realism being

so popular, and following Romanticism, Chopin was naturally intrigued in writing in that style.

She was quite effective, her characters are real and have normal thoughts and questions that are

believeable, but it is understandable to see where readers blurred the lines. Habegger explains

this occurrence of realism, particularly in literature written by and for women, saying Women's

novels offered a heroine who the reader could playfully and temporarily becomeFiction

worked by offering the reader an alternative ego (107). This is certainly true of Chopins works,

her writing is effective in giving a readers a place that is similar to their reality, while creating an

interesting story. To take it a step further than Habegger did, realism also supplied the author

with an alternative ego. An example of this is Chopins short story The Storm which she wrote

for herself, to see what would happen with the characters.

The Storm was not meant to be published. Chopin knew it would be appalling to her

audience, so she kept it hidden by writing it down in her diary. She was smart, she knew that
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stories like The Awakening would push society enough, but that they were not ready for

something like The Storm. Ironically, when she was rediscovered years later, The Storm

became one of her most popular works, surely due to the fact that it was so different than

anything she, or other authors, were writing at the time. Berkove also wrote a critical essay about

The Storm of which I happen to agree with him more frequently on, however still finding

errors in his critique. Berkove also notes that had Chopin published this story, there would have

been serious backlash, Chopin no doubt felt that its graphic sex scene was inappropriate for its

time, but even so, that she wrote the scene proves only that she was ahead of her era in literary

experimentation; it does not mean that she approved--or refrained from disapproving--of Alce

and Calixta's adultery (184). The sex scene would have been scandalous at the time to some

extent still is even by todays standards and would have once again raised question about

Chopins values. Two people acting against the values of marriage and forgoing social protocol

would have, unfortunately, reflected badly on Chopins personal character, rather than that of the

actual characters. It would have not only ruined her as a writer, but as a woman.

It seems that Berkove understands the difference between the characters journey in

finding their identity and Chopins identity, which in a fictional story, is not present. However,

further into his critical essay, he asks

Reading the last line as amoral, matter-of-fact realism also begs some important moral

questions that Chopin could not have intelligently ignored. To be specific, if everyone

was truly happy at the end of the story, is this story intended to be a "realistic" picture of

married life? If such escapades can be excused on these grounds, is happiness the

greatest good in life, even greater than morality? To put it a little differently, is Kate

Chopin advocating hedonism? (192)

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No. Chopin is not advocating for a destructing, self-indulgent lifestyle. Rather she is writing a

commentary on the caste system of the time. Alce is a creole, and Calixta is not. Regardless of

the fact that they fell in love years before either of them were married, society would have made

it impossible for two people of different caste systems to be together. As a result Alce and

Calixta end up married to people they do not truly love, just to appease everyone else. Chopin

noticed the complete lack of logic with the caste system, and had to see how these characters of

different social standing would have reacted, it the most realistic way possible. Infidelity was not

a new concept, and Chopin was certainly not the first one to write about such a topic, but she was

one of the few people talking about it. She realized that had Alce and Calixta been able to marry

each other, they would have a better marriage than the ones they ended up with. Chopin herself

married a creole when she was not, due to the fact that she was Irish, and she had her share of

unpleasant experiences because of it, especially when her husband passed away, but to link the

authors life with that of a fictional story is illogical.

Chopins identity was often misidentified with those of her characters. In The Story of

An Hour a woman who discovered individualism through her briefly new found identity, and in

The Storm a woman who was aware of her identity, but was hindered in expressing her full

individualism due to a caste system. However that did not stop her from writing in the realism

genre, because it was the best way for her to connect with her readers on important topics. An

independent woman was a difficult thing to be in that time, since married women had very little

rights, and single women were not seen as capable. Through Louise and Calixta Chopin explores

the feme sole for all women of society, allowing them an opportunity of a different option.
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Works Cited

Berkove, Lawrence I. "'Acting Like Fools': The Ill-Fated Romances of 'At the 'Cadian Ball' and

'The Storm'." Critical Essays on Kate Chopin. Ed. Alice Hall Petry. New York: G. K.

Hall & Co., 1996. 184-196. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Joseph Palmisano. Vol. 68.

Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 May 2017.

http://ezproxy.loras.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.loras.edu/ps/i.do?p=

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Berkove, Lawrence I. "Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour'." American

Literary Realism 32.2 (Winter 2000): 152-158. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary

Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center.

Web. 14 May 2017.

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Habegger, Alfred. "Realism." Gender, Fantasy, and Realism in American Literature. New York:

Columbia University Press, 1982. 103-112. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature

Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 120. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center.

Web. 10 May 2017.

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