Christopher Saddler
Assignment 4
Writing and Humanities

Kate Chopin born in 1850 and passing in 1904 is a very talented writer that has wrote numerous short stories that have gained attention in classrooms and by readers for many years and many years to come. "Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer; than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life." These such quotes serves as a template for the witting style of the talented writer. Many people have stated they believe she foreshadowed future events in her writing, it is amazing that she had the knowledge and wisdom of the future in the 1880’s. She started writing due to the deaths of the people she loved to help cope as a therapeutic method for coping with significant loses in her life. She lost her father and step father at a young age, and she also lost her step brother and husband during these trying times. Two years after her fathers' death, Kate returned to the Academy of the Sacred Heart . During this time Kate met a girl named Kitty Garesche who she then befriended and started to write with on a constant basis, but was suddenly separated from her due to the civil war in St. Louis when Kitty’s family was banished for their Confederate sympathies. Kate most definitely was the poem and the poet. She was known for living her life the way she wanted and wrote about the things that she felt. This is what led many people to get lost into her stories, and feel a sense that they were there themselves. Kate had many stories that touched the hearts of many people in the years of her writing. Three stories that stood out would be The Storm, The Canadian Ball, and The Respectable Woman. Two of her stories that the most enjoyable are, The Canadian ball and The Storm. It may be no coincidence that the two stories are enjoyable due to the fact they have many similarities. These similarities are represented by the fact that in these two stories she uses the same characters, and that the setting is in the state of Louisiana. In both of these stories the characters, Calixta, Bobinot who is the husband of Calixta, Bibi who is there four year old son, and Alcee Libarlliere and his two brothers Dider and Alphonso who also appear in several other stories written by Kate. This gives her stories a sense of consistency and a way for the reader to really get in touch with the characters that she had created within her writing. Another consistent aspect of her writing is that she portrayed her male and female characters in the same light, where there were a hand full of writers that choose to point out the two genders respectively. It is also evident that due to the things that made her start writing pours out into the stories that she writes. For example it’s proven in her stories that she writes about ill fated romances like in the stories The Storm and the Canadian Ball. The first of the two part short stories the Canadian ball, is one of her early local color stories set in the Bayou of Louisiana. The story is powerful in its use of place, dialects and characters. The story "is more local color than realism," and its conclusion "more like poetic justice than realism". The Canadian Ball reflects the cultural values of the late 19th Century Acadian, Creole and Cajun society which limited women's expression of their sexual needs. The characters in the story, male as well as female, achieve true personal freedom. As said before she has a way to have readers be in touch with the male and female characters written about. The men, however, had rights denied to the women, and so the possibilities for freedom from convention existed for them. A sequel to the story, "The Storm," written four years later, fills in some of the gaps in "Canadian Ball”. In the story The Storm which was written in 1898 on the 19th day of July, where the setting is late 19th century at Friedhemer’s store in the state of Louisiana is said to be the sequel to the Canadian ball. The way she ties the two stories together is wonderful and it makes you feel that you are actually a part of the story being told. When you read the poem The Storm Kate Chopin’s to main characters are Calixta and Alcee whom had a flirtation several years before the story takes place, but each made a more suitable marriage to someone else and they have not seen each other since. the action takes place they are reliving that time when their passion was at its climax. Chopin begins to illustrate this sexual restraint of the time by using the title "The Storm." In the final story “The Kiss”, the name of the story tells a lot before your even able to read it. Think about this the kiss, one would say that it would be filled with romance. The evident aspect of Kate’s writing is that she writes about different personalities, and ill fated love or love in general. In The Kiss People might appear different than they really are. It gives a feeling of being misled so throughout the tale we must examine each character in different ways. During the story Kate portrays how deceitful a character could be. She talks about what is happening around the world still today, but in a more out front manner in a way that people are judged by there appearance and not by who they are inside. This is one of Kate Chopin’s more self-seeking stories. Kate uses and portrays the same ting that most of her stories consist of, love. To be more elaborate in this story Nathalie is in love with Harvey and Brattain at the same time. She choose Brantain because he is very rich, and if she marry him she thinks that her live will be better After Nathalie and Brantain's wedding ceremony, Harvy comes and says that Brantain has sent him there to kiss her. In conclusion Kate Chopin was a author that talked about her life and the things that she felt. Its obvious that love was a part of her life that was extreme, and she suffered from a lot of despair. It pours out into her writings to the point where the ill fated love that she has experienced has affected her life in a way that she has to get it out. This is what keeps readers either entertained, and anxious to find out what happens next. It is sure that although she is no longer alive , her words and thoughts will be used for lifetimes to come.

` Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin, A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969.

Skaggs, Peggy. Kate Chopin. Boston: Twayne, 1985.

The Complete Works of Kate Chopin , 1969.