A Respectable Woman by Kate Chopin (Summary and Analysis)- NEB Grade 12 (New Course) English

About Author

Kate Chopin, original name Katherine O’Flaherty (1851- 1904) was an American novelist and short-story writer. She was born and brought up in St. Louis and lived in New Orleans after getting married to Oscar Chopin. Her first novel At Fault appeared in 1890 and the second novel The Awakening in 1899. She wrote more than 100 short stories and among them, ‘Disiree’s Baby’, ‘Madame Celestin’s Divorce’ and ‘A Respectable Woman’ are more anthologized than others. The language in her novels and short stories is full of sexual connotations and her novel The Awakening was condemned for its sexual frankness and the publishers had refrained from publishing it. Later after 1950, her works were reinterpreted and she was praised for depicting modern sensibility. The story ‘A Respectable Woman' is taken out from her collection The Awakening and Other Short Stories (2005). 

Characters

Mrs. Baroda

Gaston Baroda (her husband)

Gouvernail (her husband's friend with whom her husband is planning to spend a week or two at their plantation)

Main Points/Summary

Mrs. Baroda was a little provoked to learn that her husband expected his friend, Gouvernail, up to spend a week or two on the plantation. This was a man she had heard much of but never seen. He had been her husband’s college friend; was now a journalist.

She had never met him, but she had unconsciously formed an image of him in her mind. She pictured him tall, slim, cynical; with eyeglasses, and his hands in his pockets; and she did not like him. Unlike she had formed an image of him, he was not very tall and cynical, she rather liked him when he first presented himself. But why she liked him she could not explain satisfactorily to herself when she partly attempted to do so.

When Gouvernail visited them, he sat rather mute and receptive before her chatty eagerness to make him feel at home and in face of Gaston’s frank and wordy hospitality.

The air that swept across the sugar field pleased him also to get on familiar terms with the big dogs that came about him. He did not care to fish, and displayed no eagerness to go out and kill grosbecs when Gaston proposed doing so.

Gouvernail’s personality puzzled Mrs. Baroda, but she liked him. Indeed, he was a lovable, inoffensive fellow. When Gouvernail does not pay his attention to Mrs. Baroda, she argues with her husband:- "I expected him to be interesting, at least. I’m going to the city in the morning to have my spring gowns fitted. Let me know when Mr. Gouvernail is gone; I shall be at my Aunt Octavie’s". Gaston tells Mrs. Baroda that Gouvernail does not expect a commotion over his presence and that he simply wishes for a break from his busy life, although she declares that she expected him to be more interesting. 

When Gouvernail met Mrs. Baroda to give her a filmy, white scarf given by her husband, he talked freely and intimately in a low, hesitating drawl that was not unpleasant to hear. He talked of the old college days when he and Gaston had been a good deal to each other; of the days of keen and blind ambitions and large intentions. She wanted to draw close to him and whisper against his cheek—she did not care what—as she might have done if she had not been a respectable woman.

Analysis of A Respectable Woman by Kate Chopin

The short story ‘A Respectable Woman’ is structured around the character of Mrs. Baroda and her inner conflict as she finds herself attracted to her husband's friend. The conflict follows the pattern of classical fiction and moves from exposition to rising action and then to climax and resolution.

In "A Respectable Woman," Kate Chopin explores the psychology of Mrs. Baroda. She is a wealthy woman living happily with her caring husband. The story opens with a revelation that her husband's friend Gouvernail is visiting their plantation, but she faces temptation in his personal behaviors. When she met him, she struggles with the self-imposed limitations of her identity as "a respectable woman."

the story shows Mrs. Baroda is ultimately able to control her emotions and she expresses her positive statement about Gouvernail. She tells “I have overcome everything! You will see. This time I shall be very nice to him.”

This statement tells something about her emotions. overcome everything might suggest the overcome of her unrespectable romantic feelings. She has overcome her mental restrictions and she has got a desire of having an affair. But, Chopin has not disclosed about sexual independence of women in the story. 

It is the mental conflict of Mrs. Baroda to be a respectable woman restricting all her emotions privately and repressing her desires. By choosing to invite Gouvernail for a second visit, she shows that she has developed a new comprehension and appreciation of herself, and in possibly having an affair, she hopes to find what has previously been missing in her life.

Mrs. Baroda is not being introduced by her name in the story, which is limiting women connecting them with the title of a respectable woman.