The fall of masculinity

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

March 3rd 2011

Journal for writings on Chopin

Author Quote: "As a girl, Kate was surrounded by the voices of women--from her grandmother to the Sacred Heart Nuns, to her best friend Kitty Garesche. Many of the voices spoke French, some of them exclusively. The deep, blustering voices dominated most nineteenth-century households were absent from the O'Flaherty/Faris/Charleville home. It was the world of a woman" (Toth 10)

Author Quote: A case can be made then - in writing "Her Letters" Chopin undoubtedly borrowed a great deal from the French 'master', engaging herself in a degree of imitation. Even the opening of the story, which centres not on the male protagonist but on his wife, is reminiscent of Maupassant's frequent use of the technique of narrative framing, beginning his stories as he does, Edward Sullivan explains, with preliminary discussions or scenes which serve to introduce the main action (p.12). Further to this, the wife is established as providing motivation for his madness. Her actions drive him into the state of insanity which ends, ultimately, in self-annihilation, and nothing could be more Maupassantian in terms of treatment of women than such portrayal of the feminine threat to man. Donaldson-Evans further elaborates this point, exposing the way in which Maupassant continually constructs his heroes' involvement with sensual women as terrifying experiences, resulting even in death; in Maupassant's androcentric world women become the cause of male demise (p.16). (Paragraph 12 Subverting)

Internet Quote: Not many writers during the mid to late 19th century were bold enough to address subjects that Chopin willingly took on. Although David Chopin, her grandson, claims "Kate was neither a feminist nor a suffragist, she said so. She was nonetheless a woman who took women extremely seriously. She never doubted women's ability to be strong".^[8] Despite this fact, there is no question regarding where Kate Chopin's sympathies lay: with the individual in the context of his and her personal life and society. (Kate Chopin, Wikipedia)

Summary: In the first chapter of Unveiling Kate Chopin, we learn of Chopin's life growing up in St. Louis. We learn that from a young age, Chopin did not know her father since he died while she was away at boarding school when she was only five years old. From that point, we learn that she was raised by many women, from her nanny (Mammy), great grandmother, mother, etc. From the "Subverting" reading, we learn that Kate was a feminist, yet the fact is contradicted by her grandson who states that she was not. But from what we've seen from her various writings, the truth is that Chopin was a feminist.

Personal Opinion: I myself believe that Chopin was a feminist. There is no wrong in standing up for what you believe in. Yet I think it is a little too much to say that women are the cause of a man's demise. I honestly think that what can cause a man to fall is their ego. I mean, I myself have fallen victim to my ego, and lost a great girlfriend because of that, yet I was too prideful to state the obvious. I think that with the time of when Chopin was alive, was when women were not allowed to vote, or even work a decent job such as being a lawyer or doctor. If anything I believe that feminism back then was something that was justified, as opposed to modern feminism today where it seems that bashing the male gender is what is the right thing to do. I honestly do not think that Chopin tried to make the male gender the victim in her writings, I just think that she tried to show the world through a French/Southern/Creole woman's point of view and the possible struggles that woman could have faced at the time. Women are not the cause of man's demise, it's their ego.