STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF

                                             

                              KATE CHOPIN’S  “REGRET”

1.       The text analysis is dedicated to the novel by Kate Chopin “Regret”. Kate Chopin was an American writer, who wrote in the turn of XIX and XX centuries and represented realism.

She is most famous for her short stories, the most  brilliant of which are "Desiree's Baby," a tale of  miscegenation in antebellum Louisiana, "The Story of an Hour " and "The Storm".The usual setting of most of her stories is Louisiana; many of her works are set in Natchitoches,which is the northern part of Louisiana. Each author’s style is a unique thing to deal with. But Kate Chopin represents such peculiar author’s style of writing, which creeps into your soul and spreads there with intense emotion and agitation. Kate Chopin started investigating such themes, which were banned at her time: women’s sexual appetite, their struggle for independence, their role in the society. She is known to be the first feminist writer of her time, who created at the point of freedom, in writing and in life.

2.       This short story is about Mamzelle Aurelle who is still single at the age of 50. She has never been married; in fact, she has never been in love. She is alone except for her dog named Ponto and her workers who are negroes. One day, her young neighbor Odile has to visit her sick mother, leaving her four children to Mamzelle Aurelle who has never experienced taking care of even one kid. She struggles and complains in watching over them, especially the baby. She pours out her disgust and complaints about the kids to her cook named Aunt Ruby. However, as the days pass, she finds that she actually enjoys caring for them, thus the feeling of emptiness when Odile comes to take them back at the end of two weeks. Soon after they all leave, Mamzelle Aurelle cries so hard, like a man, and she is not even aware that Ponto is already licking her hand.

3.       The basic theme of the story is feminism, gender conformity, solitude, and children. The main idea is women need somebody to love and care for.

4.       The setting of the story is realistic and is described in a detailed way: “ She left them crowded into the narrow strip of shade on the porch of the long, low house; the white sunlight was beating in on the white old boards; some chickens were scratching in the grass at the foot of the steps, and one had boldly mounted, and was stepping heavily, solemnly, and aimlessly across the gallery. There was a pleasant odor of pinks in the air, and the sound of negroes' laughter was coming across the flowering cotton field.”Though there are no indicators of place and time, one may assume that the time is spring, as the flowers blossom.

5.       From the point of view of presentation the text is the 3d person narrative, which sounds more objective: “One morning Mamzelle Aurélie stood upon her gallery, contemplating..”; “She left them crowded into the narrow strip of shade on the porch of the long, low house.”

The text is written mostly as narration with the elements of description (“She left them crowded into the narrow strip of shade on the porch of the long, low house”; “She wore a man's hat about the farm, and an old blue army overcoat when it was cold, and sometimes topboots.”) and dialogue (“"I tell you, Aunt Ruby, me, I'd rather manage a dozen plantation' than fo' chil'ren.

It's terrassent! Bonté! Don't talk to me about chil'ren!" "'Tain' ispected sich as you

would know airy thing 'bout 'em, Mamzelle Aurélie.”).

6.       The main character of the story is Mamzelle Aurélie, her direct characterization is provided at the very beginning: “MAMZELLE Aurélie possessed a good strong figure, ruddy cheeks, hair that was changing from brown to gray, and a determined eye. She wore a man's hat about the farm, and an old  blue army overcoat when it was cold, and sometimes topboots.” Judging by such appearance, she is rather manlike and brutal, even her gestures are of mannish nature: she holds her hands “akimbo”. She is rather well-off and she’s made fortune by her own hands, as she has never had a husband: she has a cook and negroes, who are working for her in the field; her household is very rich in different animals: “and the fowls, a few cows, a couple of mules.”

7.       She is extremely reserved and misanthropic: “Mamzelle Aurélie had never thought of marrying. She had never been in love. At the age of twenty she had received a proposal, which she had promptly declined, and at the age of fifty she had not yet lived to regret it.” She is a kind of a feminist, because she refuses to accept the proposal and even doesn’t regret about it. She is alone in the world, her nearest neighbour is not a friend of hers: “so unexpected and bewildering was their coming, and so unwelcome”; “her nearest neighbor, Odile, who was not such a near neighbor”. She is disgusted by a bunch of childer, whom she treats as something more of little dirty animals: “She began by feeding them.”; “But little children are not little pigs.” She begins to complain about her accidental burden to her cook: "I tell you, Aunt Ruby," Mamzelle Aurélie informed her cook in confidence; "me, I'd rather manage a dozen plantation' than fo' chil'ren. It's terrassent! Bonté! Don't talk to me about chil'ren!" But the character of Mamzelle Aurélie is not static, she develops her  personality throughout the story. If in the beginning the children simply irritate and bother her , she considers them a burden; shortly afterwards the children’s unconditional love and warmness melt her stone mannish heart: “Ti Nomme's sticky fingers compelled her to unearth white aprons that she had not worn for years, and she had to accustom herself to his moist kisses-the expressions of an affectionate and exuberant nature.” She tries to make comfort for them, to win their favour: “She got down her sewing-basket, which she seldom used, from the top shelf of the armoire, and placed it within the ready and easy reach which torn slips and buttonless waists demanded.” Even her temperament changes: “It took her some days to become accustomed to the laughing, the crying, the chattering that echoed through the house and around it all day long.” Two weeks has taken her to enter the children completely upon her heart: “But at the end of two weeks Mamzelle Aurélie had grown quite used to these things, and she no longer complained.” The arrival of Odile, her “closest” neighbour wasn’t happy for her: “But this coming, unannounced and unexpected, threw Mamzelle Aurélie into a flutter that was almost agitation.” That was the moment when Mamzelle Aurélie realizes the real value in her life: she becomes so stuck to the children, that the fact of their departure shocks her. Her life becomes even emptier then it was before: “She let her head fall down upon her bended arm, and began to cry. Oh, but she cried!” She abandons herself to tears, but her manlike character is still evident:  “Not softly, as women often do. She cr ied like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul.” The last sentence indicates that her dog is licking her hand, but she doesn’t notice it. This moment is notional, because the image of the dog is symbolic in the story: the dog is the symbol of the woman’s solitude, she has had the dog before and the state of things remains the same at the end of the story.

         Another protagonist in the story is Mamzelle Aurélie, who is characterized as “her nearest neighbor, Odile, who was not such a near neighbor, after all.” The woman is a complete opposite to Mamzelle Aurélie. She is young, but she already has four children, and in contrary to Mamzelle Aurélie, she realizes the main value in life  – children: “As they drew near,the young woman's beaming face indicated  that her homecoming was a happy one.

8.       This short story is about Mamzelle Aurelle who is still single at the age of 50. She has never been married; in fact, she has never been in love. She is alone except for her dog named Ponto and her workers who are negroes. One day, her young neighbor Odile has to visit her sick mother, leaving her four children to Mamzelle Aurelle who has never experienced taking care of even one kid. She struggles and complains in watching over them, especially the baby. She pours out her disgust and complaints about the kids to her cook named Aunt Ruby. However, as the days pass, she finds that she actually enjoys caring for them, thus the feeling of emptiness when Odile comes to take them back at the end of two weeks. Soon after they all leave, Mamzelle Aurelle cries so hard, like a man, and she is not even aware that Ponto is already licking her hand.

9.       The novel contains primarily bookish vocabulary (“the apparent  purpose”, “determining upon a line of action”, “convulsive leave”), but dialogues contain colloquial, very informal vocabulary. The speech of Mamzelle Aurélie, her cook, her neighbour Odile and the children is characterized by the technique of graphon: “jus'”, “fo' me”, “Dieu sait”, “n' botha”

, “with 'em”, “otha way”, “don' spare 'em” ( Odile); “'Tain't”, “'im”, “w'at” (Marcéline); “fo'”, “plantation'”, “chil'ren” (Mamzelle Aurélie). Such speech can be characteristic of a particular

dialect of the region the characters live in. This region can be close to France, because the pronunciation is similar (the omission of sounds, Frennch words as “Bonté” – “make me a favour”).

10.     In order to portray the characters and describe the setting vividly and convincingly the author of the analyzed story resorts to various expressive means and devices.

Lexical devices are very diverse in the text.

Epithets are found heavily in the text and perform various functions: render the atmosphere (“irresolute steps”, “disconsolate family”, “hasty and convulsive leave - the shrill”, “glad voices of the children”); describe the main character (“ruddy cheeks”; “a determined eye”; “a critical eye”); describe the children (“the chubby Elodie”; “affectionate and exuberant nature”).

 Similes are very bright: they indicates the initial attitude of Mamzelle Aurélie towards the children: “very small children who… might have fallen from the clouds, so unexpected and bewildering was their coming, and so unwelcome”(with parallel construction); “She surveyed with the same calculating air Marcélette mingling her silent tears with the audible grief and rebellion of Ti Nomme” (implicit simile);“determining upon a line of action which should be identical with a line of duty”; “it seemed to her a million miles away” ; “they snapped like ox-whips”. The following simile is indicative of the change in the behaviour of the main character: “the little one's warm breath beating her cheek like the fanning of a bird's wing”.

Metaphors perform important functions in the story: provide description to the setting (“the white sunlight was beating in on the white old boards”; “the sound of negroes' laughter was coming across”);describe the characters (“the young woman's beaming face indicated”); underline the inner change of Mamzelle Aurélie (“But this coming, unannounced and unexpected, threw Mamzelle Aurélie into a flutter that was almost agitation”). There is one example of synecdoche, used in a sentence together with antithesis, which contribute to the understanding of the extremely positive attitude towards the children, developed by the protagonist: “the little tired, dusty, sunbrowned feet had every one to be washed sweet and clean”.

 Cases of personification are found in the story, they make the atmosphere of the story be more ironic and warm: “she dragged Ti Nomme by an unwilling hand”; “Ti Nomme's sticky fingers compelled her to unearth white aprons”. But there are also negatively charged instances of personification: “She had been summoned to a neighboring parish by the dangerous illness of her mother”.

Hyperbole characterizes the initial attitude of Mamzelle Aurélie to the children, she is rather critical of them:“me, I'd rather manage a dozen plantation' than fo' chil'ren.” Oxymoron characterizes Odile, the neighbour: “disfigured from tears and excitement.”

Syntactical devices are also numerous in the story and are represented by various means.

Repetition of conjunctions is used to render the feeling of warmness, which the children create: “the story of Croque-mitaine or Loup-garou, or both; or that Elodie could fall asleep”.

Antithesis characterizes the characters: “If Mamzelle Aurélie's responsibilities might have begun and ended there, they could easily have been dismissed”; “who had "raised five an' bared (buried) six" (about Aunt Ruby). Anticlimax is crucial in the understanding of the change, which happenes inside Mamzelle Aurélie,when it comes to the moment of them leaving and her parting with the children:”The excitement was all over, and they were gone. How still it was when they were gone! Mamzelle Aurélie stood upon the gallery, looking and listening. She could no longer see the cart; the red sunset and the blue-gray twilight had together flung a purple mist across the fields and road that hid it from her view. She could no longer hear the wheezing and creaking of its wheels.”Тo create an ironic atmosphere and to reveal the main message of the author numerous cases of irony are found in the text: “some chickens were scratching in the grass at the foot of the steps, and one had boldly mounted, and was stepping heavily, solemnly, and aimlessly across the gallery”; “During those few contemplative moments she was collecting herself, determining upon a line of action which should be identical with a line of duty. She began by feeding them.”

11.     Summing up the analysis of the given extract one should say that the the author uses brilliantly various expressive means and stylistic devices to convey the message, but the most prominent are similes, irony, metaphors and epithets.

In conclusion, I want to say that I was greatly impressed by the story. I was sympathetic about the main character, but the story made me smile very often, because of its ironic nature. I would like to get acquainted with other stories of the author as her texts are full of impressing imagery, which excites me as a reader.