Kate Chopin and the Fiction of Limits: "Désirée's Baby"
Author(s): Cynthia Griffin Wolff
Source: The Southern Literary Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring, 1978), pp. 123-133
Published by: University of North Carolina Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20077591 .
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Kate
and
Chopin
the Fiction
of Limits:
'
''
'D?sir?e
'sBaby
By CynthiaGriffinWolff
For many
tion
most
that
her
tance
"D?sir?e's
years,
to be
likely
second
with
novel
known;
has
there
won,
work
Chopin's
was
Baby"
even
is
Rankin
Unfortunately,
today,
despite
are still readers
to
whose
this
acquain
one,
widely
did not feel the need to
Chopin and Her Creole Tales,
who
. . . one
"perhaps
of
fic
Chopin's
the wide
respect
piece
left
of
future
the
world's
a
critics
best
short
with
terminology
to describe
the value of this and the other studies in Bayou
it had the "freshness which
springs from an unexplored
which
Folk:
field ?the
dian
it
judged
stories."1
one
restricted
short story. Rankin,
anthologized
"D?sir?e's
reprint
Baby" in Kate
nonetheless
the
quaint
folk of
1. Daniel
Pennsylvania
2. Ibid.,
S. Rankin,
Press,
pp.
and
Kate
1932),
136-37.
life
picturesque
the Louisiana
p.
Chopin
133.
bayous."2
and
among
the
In short,
her Creole
Stories
Creole
it was
(Philadelphia:
and
Aca
excellent
Univ.
of
124
THE
work?hence
"regional"
SOUTHERN
to
limited
LITERARY
certain
JOURNAL
tri
circumscribed
umphs.
Critics' tendency to dismiss Chopin's
fiction as little more
than
local color began to diminish by the late 1950's; nevertheless,
old
habits died hard. "D?sir?e's Baby" continued
to be the most fre
of her short fictions, and while the comments
quently anthologized
on
it strained
that
some
was
still
"tragedy"
terms.
M.
Claude
brief
on
essay
draws
of
after
the
a reader's
from
slave
short
stories,
Patrick give Chopin
upon
the
story
they
Baby."4
Other
critics,
elements
in
observes
of
openness
Maupassant's,
reverses
the
of
clusion
the
tale
Creole
that
"Desiree's
remarks
the
notes
somewhat
though
was
Baby"
story
then
central
depend
Thus
Larzer
stories,
while
and
turn
initially
presented.."5
an
"So,
example:
on a twist."6
Taking
and
compression
some
(with
asperity)
a bitter,
has
contrived,
in
He
as
events
could not have been surpassed by [Maupassant]
do
which
the
cites
characteristically,
a similar
view,
restrained
that
Ziff
they
the easy
themselves,
as
"taut
is "Desiree's
English
or
the
course,
of
regional
its persistently
importance
reasons
for
concern
quirk
of
talent
lilt of Creole
of
R.
to touch
for daring
Chopin's
story
anthology
Walton
and
the structure.
manners,
situation
and
the
the
cruelties
impartial
and,
the
of Mrs.
popular
some
another
particular
Chopin's
acknowledging
to discover
seek
with
Chopin
Seyersted
ing,
"the
in
miscegenation;
by examining
most
the
a
with
that
of
Current-Garcia
full use of the charming
make
the
tale,
quality
that
of
illustrate
still
the
compelling
does
to
later,
"regional"
collection
concludes
(again as a regionalist)
subject
select
and
years
Eugene
credit
forbidden
the
of
definition
in
exclusively
in his
tale
appreciation
Several
system.3
American
the
significance,
almost
introduces
Simpson
local
color movement
the
its effect
tragic
larger
formulated
con
Per
of
intensity"
"the
end
surprise
piercing
quality
that
in the
himself."7
Yet,
American
Short
Stories
R. Patrick,
eds., American
and Co.,
Scott, Foresman
1964).
(Chicago:
1890's (New York: The Viking Press, 1968),
Ziff, The American
Short
M. Simpson,
ed., The Local
Brothers,
(New York: Harper
1960).
See Eugene
Current-Garcia
and Walton
3. See Claude
Colorists:
1857-1900
4.
1820
Stories,
5. Larzer
6.
to the Present
p. 297.
Ibid.
7. Per
State Univ.
Kate Chopin:
Seyersted,
Press, 1969), p. 94.
A Critical
Biography
(Baton
Rouge:
Louisiana
"DESIREE'S BABY"
final
judgments
narrow
the more
if significant
effects
grow
orist":
are
these
from
analysis,
that
125
of
deft
management
or
"surprise"
a
to evoke
which
are
dialect
"trick"
no more
seldom
and
as
of Chopin
achieved
it
scenery,
merely
is also
never
is almost
conclusion
than
satisfactory
definition
and
col
a
through
case
that
the
a sufficient
reaction
those
"local
means
from
a
by
reader.
poignant
an
to admire
We
"D?sir?e's
remains
Thus
still
tend
Baby"
enigma.
our admiration
to demonstrate
it and
it to appear
in an
by selecting
the
admiration
is
somewhat
yet
given
thologies;
grudgingly?perhaps
we
cannot
because
the
The
story.
fully
comprehend
specifically
seem
Southern
of the story
elements
the nature
however,
significant;
of their
force
The
reversal
is not
clear.
of the situation
that concludes
powerful
the tale is important
no
but,
surprise),
pact
patently
has
been
to
contrary
not derive
does
to a discerning
(although
as
the
this writer's
"trick."
And
im
full
story's
while
the
it is in
work,
Chopin's
or
one of her fictions
to
unusual
the only
ways
?being
unique
re
the subject
of miscegenation,
We
for example.
upon
might
to this
a
accumulation
of contradictions
that
by
assuming
has been made
somewhere
the line ?that
the tale has
along
story
several
touch
spond
mistake
accepted
or
been
misinterpreted
Yet
such
fiction.
many
of
years
an
readers'
understand
why
critics'
presuming
such
judgments
and
ticulates
in
"D?sir?e's
incorrect.
But
of
see
the
explain
it would
end,
but
not
central
resolve
the
fun
perhaps,
our
expand
in which
ways
to
try
might
so different,
been
not,
we must
those
Chopin's
of those
force
we
Alternatively,
the story have
precisely
are
that
of
representative
importantly,
themes
develops
really
not
insufficient
more
to
of
the
Baby."
judgments
to be
in order
story
would
response;
of
damentally
sion of the
it is not
that
assumption
enigma
persistent
characteristic
itmay well be
reader
remarks,
Seyersted's
from
the
to other
of
vi
it ar
Chopin's
works.
A majority
permanence
the
time.
vulnerable;
turn
More
as
istence
his
state:
impassive
individual
governable
of
fictions
of
vagaries
are set in worlds where
of Chopin's
is a precarious
passions,
we
generally,
attention
by
the
to
artist
those
who
change
the
or merely
might
uncertain.
necessarily
and
fate,
By
would
intimate
say
is always
assaults
threatened?by
of
that
capture
timeless
then,
to
essence
moments
passage
ex
construes
Chopin
the
un
potentially
by the inexorable
definition,
and
stability or
live
of
is to be
life will
when
the
126
THE
illusion
comforting
may
and
disrupt
we
might
[her] own being
to
than
tell
vision
Chopin's
ominous
even
that
dary?always
into some
this
dissimilar
our most
is,
to
as
look
be
her
"out
avowed
upon
that
to emulate
said
life
literary
through
sees
"in
a direct
and
to
for
simple
what
is
Nor
way."9
she sees
is the
Maupassant's,
fact
of the margin:
the
inescapable
on the boun
must
moments
be
experienced
us into
to
from
else,
something
slip away
of
The
careful
exploration
contingency.10
for much
of her
the true
sense,
then,
subject
presence
vital
threatening
dark,
bourne
best
she
strives
by those forces
can
Chopin
alone
JOURNAL
[her] own eyes"; that she desires no more
and with
insistent
and
virtually
she
that
us what
as
Insofar
stands
say
LITERARY
is unbalanced
of certainty
destroy.8
who
Maupassant,
model,
SOUTHERN
undefined
in some
fiction.
8. The list of stories that might
fit this description
is too long to give. A few major
ones might
be: "C?line,"
"The Story of an Hour,"
"At the 'Cadian Ball',"
"Lilacs,"
"The Storm," "Ath?naise,"
"A Vocation
and a Voice."
It is worth remarking
that slip
as
state is often portrayed
hitherto
ping over the edge into another,
unexplored,
so? it is not always a necessarily
disastrous ? or at least potentially
negative movement.
an awaken
in "Ath?na?se"
is jolted into womanhood
Thus
the heroine
?experiencing
ing
to her
full
sensual
and gratifying.
hilarating
9. Kate Chopin,
The
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana
cited as Works.
self as a result
of pregnancy?and
Works
Complete
of Kate
State Univ. Press, 1969),
finds
the adventure
ex
2 vols.
ed. Per Seyersted,
Chopin,
this work will be
II, 701. Hereafter
of the first effective
intimations
of this theme may be found in an early
short story, "Beyond the Bayou." The tale is concerned with a madwoman,
"La
in
Folle," who, in her youth, was jarred out of sanity by a severe shock. The narrators
"The bayou
like a crescent
troduction
is immensely
curved
around
the
suggestive:
the stream and the hut lay a
point of land on which La Folle's cabin stood. Between
the bayou supplied
them with
field, where cattle were pastured when
big abandoned
10. One
(1891)
the woods
that spread back into unknown
enough. Through
regions the woman
had drawn an imaginary
line, and past this circle she never stepped This was the form
are of interest here. Initially, of
of her only mania"
(Works, I, 1975). Several elements
water
course,
madness?a
entity,
use of the "line" between
is the quite
self-conscious
sanity and
that assumes quite palpable
dimensions
here as a geographical
boundary
even more
ar
that bourne between
Second,
bayou and civilization.
perhaps
is that utterance:
"This was the form of her only mania."
It is a way of constru
there
resting,
ing the situation,
a way of delimiting
of
the fictional world,
that suggests the possibility
and offers a splendid
"manias," perhaps?
many dangers ?many
insight into the direc
tion that Chopin's
interest will take with
confidence.
The
theme
is ar
increasing
we shall presently
in A tFault?as
ticulated even earlier?
with
see, and it is developed
virtuoso
finesse
in The Awakening.
127
"DESIREE'S BABY'
center
work
is almost
experience,
of Chopin's
necessary
strues
tions
that
tions
of
"value"
as
we
fiction,
are
natural
in a
this
story
of
her
if we
consequence?one
say
might
life
as
to
position
is no mere
"twist"
?of
the
typically
that
also
The
In
demarcating
is so
"representative"
What
is more,
conclusion.
that
story
economy.
the
subject
intuition
concommitant
of
one
one's
damning
con
Chopin
problem
many
to
stories
can
the
of
implications
the "negro"
comprise
Chopin
ever
treat
we
be
our
focuses
she
determination:
more
are
distinc
carry
defini
emphatic
those
many
upon
to use
quite
or
directly
?this
hues
of
Yet
population.11
not
the
about
that this is the
noted
miscegenation
attention
chooses
there
that
implications
race
is managed
of
in this tale: we have already
probe
to
beginning
inescapable
she
tion;
Baby,"
of pigment
more
The
"identity."
however,
deemed
even
and
of Chopin's
to
differences
coloration,
caste
social
in "Desiree's
level
superficial
attend
explicitly;
even
story
very
is the
of
study
this
correct.
this
its
inevitable
idiosyncratically
were
ruthless
it.
the most
At
only
of
of
it
rather,
and
Baby"
with
fundamentally
focus
success
the
comprehend
writer's
trick;
as
?a
"D?sir?e's
continuing
to stand
selection
true
the
understand
the
attention?our
appropriate
seen
be
quite
must
of
subject
and uncertainty
a
paradigmatic
and?since
ambiguity
tale
of human
limits
is a
of
the
deed,
core
is the
it
Certainly
treats
layers
this
is the
only
skin
that
from
element
the
with
conversa
dialect
to a
the description
of architecture
and
reduces
vegetation
?
minimum
elements.
The
the
necessary
thematically
only
leaving
re
result
is a tale where
between
"black"
and
"white"
the differences
?
as the
events
to
main
locate
the
its
aspects,
only
only way
"regional"
we
cannot
to them.
if you will ?and
avoid
attending
Yet for all this artistic direction, Chopin is clearly not primarily in
in dissecting
the social problem
of slavery (as Cable might
she
limits herself almost entirely to the personal and the
be); rather,
terested
interior.12
Thus
the dilemma
of
"color"
must
ultimately
be
construed
to this state
11. One might
that "La Belle ZoraTde" proved an exception
suppose
a close reading of that tale will suggest that although
Zora?de is light
however,
and favored because of her "white" ap
of miscegenation)
skinned (clearly thcproduct
ment;
pearance,
Zora?de's
favor
the
theme
plight would
of "Madame."
of
inter-racial
be unchanged
sexual
congress
if she were
deep
is simply not at issue here.
so long as she enjoyed the
black,
128
THE
with
emblematically,
can never
tions
the
as
be
In the antebellum
the public
barrier
were
boundaries
this
tions
an
us
reminds
been
left
whose
uncertain
of
"by
slave
lesser
and
clear
to prove
inevitable
a
party
and
The
situa
upon
that a
that
of
truth,
them
from
these
territorial
its very
en
?pioneers
that
infrac
the
story
to have
territory
annexed
it was
when
contested
of
beginning,
is
presumed
to the
route
D?sir?e
the
was
course,
to a multitude
ahead:
bitterly
human
security depended
a safe compound,
separated
susceptible
unstable.
At
so
that
JOURNAL
white."
existence,
change
of Texans"13
were
policies
and
inviolable.
margin,
destined
and
fact
unstated
"black
proportions
some
of
horrors
was
as
insurmountable
unknown
and
ironic
clear
LITERARY
South, much private
that whites lived within
illusion
of
SOUTHERN
that they proved to be a significant precursor to the Civil War
that
followed. Chopin's touch is light: the implications of this detail may
be lost to amodern audience, but they would have loomed mockingly
to a reader
Even
dant
in
1892,
within
the
evidence
of
remarks proudly
day
as
far
we
Blanche,
cabin?
away
"One
a Southern
especially
supposedly
violation.
of her
as
La
"
lusty child;
Blanche's
Blanche's
reader.
social
the
vokes
a half-brother,
of
this
in fact)
infant's
mixed
"
D?sir?e
(241).
was
Armand's
eventually,
his
that
uttered"
she
could
not
(242). None
help;
which
of the "blacks"
to
clue
pro
presence
'Ah!'
a cry
double
visual
baby?a
over.
It was
fanning
a kind of nightmare
for D?sir?e's
is La
in her
errand
the shock of recognition
for D?sir?e.
"She looked
to the boy who stood beside him, and back again;
of having
the other
color
. . . stood
boys
quadroon
blood;
What
child
conscious
is abun
there
cried,'
'Armand heard him
the child slowly" (242), and he becomes
(perhaps
the secret
he
"
what
little
system
way
cabin'
and
wonder,
might
of La
segregated
"
'And
from her
over and
she
was
not
is referred
to deny the suitability
an
12. Chopin made
explicit effort in her few critical essays
the
She excoriates Hardy's
of "social issues" as subjects for fiction.
attempts
infude
even
and social criticisms
Obscure
to marry fiction
(see "As You Like It, IV"), and
after "local
for striving too particularly
Garland
and his followers
criticizes Hamlin
"
Idols' by Hamlin
and
of Writers"
Association
color" (see "The Western
'Crumbling
in its subtle,
Her own true subject was always clear: "It is human existence
Garland").
stan
true meaning,
complex,
stripped of the veil with which ethical and conventional
it" (Works,
dards have draped
II, 691).
from "D?sir?e's Baby" will be cited in the
13. Works,
I, 240. All other quotations
to the first volume of the Complete
Works.
text, giving page number
"DESIREE'S BABY"
to
as
In
the
end,
is a
caretaker
baby's
Armand's
only
"yellow
between
been
has
crossed
towards
posture
was
"rule
questionable?his
a strict
demonic
and
hand
in his
one
as
effective
shadowy,
one
the
slaves
the
more
that
on
kindness
and
"dark,
it would seem, by
gives a literal clue
it is even
mystery,
story's
Armand
mercy
His
other.
always
the
of
to character.
index
boundary
on
the
colored?a
(242) momentarily
brightened,
of marriage. And if this description
denouement
the
is genuinely
skin
face"
the happiness
to
the
(241).
handsome
an
even
dark-skinned;
actually
nurse"
129
cruelty
has
possession
. . . and under
it
his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the
old master's easygoing and indulgent lifetime" (241). Little wonder,
when
then,
that
Satan
seemed
his
wife's
child
D?sir?e
journey
into some benighted
he
reads
that
than
the
fateful
last,
wonderingly,
Armand'
yours,
parentage
more
alike
region;
of
each;
as
reliably
Underlying
skin
'my
"
a
to
the
context
this insistent preoccupation
with
of the human
labyrinth
lost in the wilderness
to
tyranny
of
and
soul,
we
his
own
in the tale. The
stems
from
his
by
agery
salvation
underlies
white"
as
A world
our most
she
of
damnation
defines
the
it?is
Southern
not
slave
system
mundane
activities,
but
at
a
of
into
has
only
who
absolute
Armand
sinks
for
potential
the
of
horror
per
im
that
"black
the
the
become
(as the leit motif
to
of
"yellows"
level
social
and
ar
all.
that lies along
it is not
figures
master
mystery
limited
really
of evil is one sort of wilderness
and
the
Thus
ultimate
the
quality
who
by
from
suggests).
the
tenuous
into which
but
to
it
behavior.
impulses?a
Satan,
lesser existence
tale ?and
Chopin's
rangements
of
and
story,
the literal question
the
sonal evil that he shares with all fellow creatures
of
the
a man
discover
parentage,
Negroid
the
whiter
hand;
relevant
"quadroons"
from
this overt
"blackest"
is possessed
darkness
not
will
sign
be
humane
of
then,
reverts
of
of
is Chopin's
ironic
perception
to call
such
distinctions:
it is simplistic
"blacks"
and
And
if we move
"negroes."
color,
at my
may
boundaries
guide
the
. . .Look
comment
within
however,
light
of
in his soul. Thus when D?sir?e
is fair.
her
(243),
irreversible
by whose
a visible
than
of
spirit
inhumanity
an
bespeaks
is no more
letter,
very
(242). His
and the bonfire,
of those powers of darkness
"
triumph
exclaims
and
servants
towards
"the
him,
displeases
to take hold of him"
suddenly
the
only
the margins
horror
that
lies
130
THE
in wait.
moments
Our
form
of
sions
that
we
can
Thus Chopin's
an
insistent
joyful
to
open
neither
nor
forsee
is to be
rendering
of
compression
ourselves
D?sir?e
Armand
opposites.
to
vulnerable
protect
fully
of the love between
us with
threaten
too,
passion,
love
JOURNAL
as
love,
if struck
by
when
day,
a
pistol
her
saw
he
. . .The
shot.
at
the gate,
against.
that
like
along
and
eye.
something
no more
than
?is
cruel
?
force
other
an
avalanche,
be
of emotional
the
reckless
separated
has
an
of
fluttering
at all.
entanglement
it is even more
if anything,
over all
love and
more
but
or
breadth
cannot
forces
the peril
case,
yet
origins;
two
the
Linguistically,
In D?sir?e's
turbulent
equally
a hair's
fell in
in him
awoke
or like a prairie fire, or like anything
that drives headlong
in Armand's
life between
obstacles" (240). The difference
some
is
to have
is supposed
passion
swept
a
inva
and Armand
in love at first sight: "That was the way all the Aubignys
fallen
that
of most
to be
annihilation:
LITERARY
SOUTHERN
different
She has been
dangerous.
to her
of love as her name
im
the child
parents,
gift
adoptive
to
but
and delicate
and unable
anything
helpless
comprehend
in its purest
"beautiful
and gentle,
affectionate
manifestations,
God's
plies,
love
and
sincere, ?the
love ?of
idol of Valmond?"
violence
and
?she
is entirely
passions
a
marked
characteristic,
most
is her
innocence
(240). Of
baser
the other
side of
innocent.
In fact,
kind
of
childlike,
'Itmade
[Madame Valmond?]
laugh to think of
helpless ignorance.
a
it
seemed
but
D?sir?e with
baby. Why,
yesterday that D?sir?e was
a
more
herself.
little
than
baby
Repeatedly,
Chopin displays her in
her
"in her
fantine charm: D?sir?e couched with
baby, for example,
so
much as a
soft white muslins and laces" (241), looking like nothing
child herself. The
naive
has
questions,
rejected
When
tingencies.
plantation,
necessary,
black
ed
of
like
the
yellow
this
the
estate
delicate
house.
far-reaching
must
beyond
Big,
branches
accept
to
even
creature,
out
reaching
came
live
this
"The
roof
the wide
solemn
oaks
shadowed
refuge
husband
that
garments
and such a home
its name.
belie
stuccoed
D?sir?e
she
married,
to her
who
were
surely
from harsh con
be protected
life might
(The Shelter);
for
a cowl,
thick-leaved,
However,
D?sir?e
L'Abri
of her
fragility
only for one whose
intended
realities
in the
in her
is captured
turn
to
tendency
trusting
even
her,
of such innocence
vulnerability
in her
at her
husband's
seems right, even
the
though
physical
came
down
and
steep
that
galleries
grew
close
encircl
to
it like a pall"
at mere
face
value:
it,
and
(241).
she
131
"DESIREE'S BABY"
cannot
to see
herself
bring
the
ominous
the
acknowledge
long. When
with
sibilant
balance
civilization
her
For
and
and
explanation,
branches.
nor
garments
tore
and
to
for
so
cruelty,
own
her
when
tenuous
only
are measured
bayou
that
the
by
echoes
on
grasp
one
final
line
one
from
the
between
love-child
the
steps,
had
not
walked
who
con
no word
with
under
away,
the
changed
. . .She
she wore.
which
arms
the nurse's
the
thin
white
across
walked
Much
of
her
thin
effect
to shreds.
gown
of
internal
which
condition?the
all
through
perhaps,
can
see
She
it in her
either
necessary
emergent
significant
consistent
of
choice
destructive
and child
for
derives
the
among
disappeared
sexuality.
We
the
and
the
more,
Armand's
comes
effect
perhaps,
the precariousness
captures
shadow-line
that
threads
she
transactions
theme
in
of
all
subject
?preoccupation
or
replenishing,
development,
can
see it even
of
our
Chopin's
with
the
and
more
the
This
fictions.
is,
We
that
marriage
between
fulfillment
convulsive
subtlely
the
of
its way
lives.
relationship
of personal
slug
understatement
annihilation
that is both hindering
full womanly
from
D?sir?e's
persistent
the
the most
be
mother
of
tale
Even
hell.
with
economy
human
this
to render
employs
Chopin
inescapable,
from
the
may
the
a
the stubble bruised her tender feet, so delicately
reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep,
gish bayou; and she did not come back again" (244).
that
the
boun
lies just beyond.
to claim
wait
ignored
L'Abri
in the face of life's inescapable
little
slippers
field, where
deserted
shod,
the
forced
she has
choice,
these
descending
. . . D?sir?e
live-oak
the shock of being
existence
hungry
stability
the
took
ancestral
one
alternatives
her
"She
trarieties.
seems
death?all
not keep
could
loses
the patient,
murder,
into
slips
there
the
and
Madness,
of
mockery,
D?sir?e
to cross;
dary
contingencies
love
life.
of
whose
Armand's
in those
possibilities
trees that portend both life and death.
In the end, D?sir?e cannot withstand
(but
effects
more
and
of
in
sistently) in her imagistic patterns.
As early as the first novel Chopin was already focusing on the impli
cations
of
that margin
the domesticated
between
the bayou
and
the
transient
clearing
of
her management
of this
plantation,
although
theme is less skillful than it will become
in later works. M?licent
is
charmed by Gr?goire's Southern passion and inclined to suppose that
a game. Similarly,
it is harmless?merely
she is intrigued by the
132
THE
recesses:
its dark
into
imagination
her
upon
erratic
realms
romance."14
of
to project
and disposed
bayou
tropical
SOUTHERN
fancy,
simple,
wildness
a
it for
in
of
JOURNAL
uncomplicated
scene
the
caught
into
the
moment
quick
realizes
M?Ticent
soon,
force
her
"The
speeding
Very
LITERARY
is an
there
that
the
that
bayou's
primitive
depth?something
and
her.
"Nameless
voices?weird
sounds
that
repels
frightens
at
a
in a Southern
forest
awake
twilight's
approach,?were
crying
to the
she
welcome
is
sinister
shocked
Eventually,
settling
gloom."15
a
in
and
irrational
strain
ominous
for
by
similarly
Gr?goire's
passion
unknowable,
both
of a potential
the hint
her,
Chopin
her
to honor
need
ing
ventures
out
thereafter;
in
the
her
Much
Northern
stories
between
written
the
theme
with
the
her
appears
linguistic
their
violation.
tainly.
was
in
and
water;
are
at
advancing
the
blue
ment
the
a snail's
camomile.
of yellow
of
of
the
II, 750.
16. Works,
II, 882.
bayou
to the
white
The
is
gulf
As
the beach.
a white
to
could
across
include
tension
meets
sky
uncer
sunshade
and
this
of
announce
waver
He
progresses,
freedom
there
and
boundaries
far away, melting
novel
to render
book
lines
demarcating
looked
the
the
irresistible
and throughout
of
the water-oaks
sex
emergent
passages
descriptive
water
meets
land,
sun,
deals
Chopin
The
elements.
feelings;
where
from
of
Here
again
the many
in this work
and
novels);
fixed his gaze upon
pace
would
throughout
significance
expanded
and waking,
possibilities?sleeping
death?and
the almost unendurable
14. Works,
15. Ibid.
She
returning
Chopin
throughout
earliest
beach
trunks
horizon."16
theme
echoes
the
the
tropical
gaunt
show
the
by
artistry.
Pontellier's
Edna
nascent
upon
"[Mr. Pontellier]
ly between
the
the
at
second
its destructive
sea
and
Indeed,
we
the motif:
and
of
and
insistence
wakening,
(as she had
first
the tidal pull of the heroine's
is a
A
The
implications
its positive
of the sun
uality?both
sensual
call
drawn.
shunning
too,
lover,
consummate
with
many
the
by
has
society
once,
only
of margins
this metaphor
employ
that
cases,
innocence
home.
she wrote
when
later,
and
boundaries
pirogue
she rejects
In both
destruction.
reluctance
certain
eventually,
of
safety
for blind
M?licent's
demonstrates
see
the
it plain
stretch
hazily
initial
that
into
state
many
paired
life and
isolation,
that is felt by all who
and
"DESIREES
must
a balanced
maintain
in life
The
by Chopin's
suggested
vision
in all of Chopin's
of
Baby"
life's
tenuous
may
be
economical,
ample
tight
context
significance
cern?the
for strength
as
fiction
repeated
fiction
best
use
stabilities.
psychological
Read
a
quite
superb
of
However,
Chopin's
complete
the most
vivid
and direct
interior,
to confont
the bleak
"D?sir?e's
independently,
piece
drama.
opposites
"melting."17
is consummately
work,
of
the
warring
the word
of
upon her willingness
judged
of
between
separation
is
and it draws
fact
133
BABY"
the
statement
short
seen
story
fiction?an
in
the more
accrues
of her
major
added
con
limits.
17. Two essays touch upon this subject. Donald A.
"Romantic
in
Ringe,
Imagery
Kate Chopin's The
"American
43 (January 1972), 580-88; and
Literature,
Awakening,
Griffin Wolff,
"Thanatos
and Eros: Kate
The Awakening,"
Cynthia
Chopin's
American
25 (October,
Quarterly,
1973), 449-71.