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Kate Chopin A Respectable Woman Analysis

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Kate Chopin, one of the most important and influential writers of her time, uses sensory language, symbolism, and themes to closely relate her short stories, A Respectable Woman, and The Story of an Hour, to her personal life. Chopin grew up in a house of all women, her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother who were very opinionated and down-to-earth people, and taught her to always think and act for herself. Kate quickly became curious about standards in society and the “norms” of women, all of which result in her success in the works of American feminist literature. As a young child, Chopin experienced two horrible deaths, one being her father, and the other her half brother. Unfortunately her half brother was killed in the civil war. Her father died in a …show more content…

She also uses sensory language to convey a mood and give her readers a sense of how she actually felt both internally and externally at that time. “She did not stop to ask is it were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.” (Chopin 2) This is an example of a part in Chopin 's short story, The Story of an Hour, that gave her readers a sense of what she was actually feeling in the moment. In her short story, Chopin feels a sense of freedom when her husband dies because she would always feel that she needed to meet certain expectations as a woman. “Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been” (Chopin 1) Again, this is another example of how Chopin used much sensory language to convey a certain mood for her readers. Sensory language helps Chopin with both better connecting her life with her short stories, and giving her readers a sense of how she felt

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