Summary, Character Analysis, Setting, and Themes of A Respectable Woman by Kate Chopin | Class 12

About the Author

Kate Chopin (1851 to 1904)

• She was an American author of short stories and novels. She was born in St. Louis but became a resident of New Orleans after getting married to Oscar Chopin.
• Her stories aroused controversy because of the sexual connotations in her short stories. Her novel The Awakening was even banned from publishing because of this reason.
• She wrote more than 100 short stories, among which “Disiree’s Baby”, “Madame Celestin’s Divorce”, and “A Respectable Woman” are more popular than others.

Background of the story:

• This story talks about the psychological conflict of the main character Mrs. Baroda as she gets sexually attracted to her husband’s friend. 
• This story follows the classical pattern of fiction, therefore moving from exposition to rising action and then to climax and resolution.

Classical Pattern of the Fiction:

Character Analysis:

Mrs Baroda: She is the major character of the story who initially seems to hate her husband's friend, but later she cannot stop herself from sexually attracted towards him. 

Gaston: He is Mrs Baroda's husband. He feels great to invite his friend Gouvernail to his farm. So, he persuades her wife to host him for some days. He does not know the conflict going on in his wife's mind.

Gouvernail: He is Gaston's friend. He visits the Baroda plantation and becomes an object of interest to Mrs. Baroda. He stays reserved because of his moods but opens up while talking with Mrs. Baroda.

Setting:

This story takes place on Gaston Baroda's sugar plantation in Louisiana, apparently in the 1880s or early 1890s.

Style/Point of View:

A Third-person limited point of view is used in this narrative.

Plot:

Mrs. Baroda has never met her husband's friend Gouvernail, but she doesn't like him anyway. Her husband Gaston invites Gouvernail to stay in their plantation for one or two weeks with them, which makes her somewhat disappointed. It is because she has a plan to spend some time resting and having an undisturbed conversation with her husband, Gaston Baroda. She knows that Gouvernail and her husband had been friends in college and that he is now a journalist. She pictures him as a tall, slim, cynical man and does not like the mental image. But when she meets him in person, although she does not find him interesting, she likes him for no reason.

Gouvernail shows no interest in Mrs Baroda and stays humble in front of her. He just enjoys listening to Gaston sitting on the veranda of their cottage. Mrs. Baroda does not know why she likes Gouvernail since she does not see any positive traits described by Gaston. He does not seem brilliant to her, but she cannot stop herself liking him secretly.

Although Gouvernail puzzles Mrs. Baroda, he is lovable and harmless. She leaves him alone with her husband at first but soon begins to support him on walks as she attempts to change his reservedness. Her husband tells her that he will stay for another week and asks why she does not wish him to stay. She responds that she wants him to be more interesting.

One night, she sits by herself on a bench, feeling confused and wanting to go to the city in the morning and stay with her aunt. While she sits, Gouvernail sees her and sits next to her, not knowing her displeasure at his presence. He hands her a scarf on Gaston's behalf and tells an apostrophe about the night. He talks freely and intimately in a low and hesitating voice. She does not listen to his words so much as his voice, and she thinks of drawing him closer, although she resists because she is "a respectable woman." Eventually, she leaves, and Gouvernail remains there, finishing his address for the night.

Mrs. Baroda wants to share this incident with her husband, but she realizes that she must handle this feeling by herself. The following morning, she leaves for the city and does not return until Gouvernail departs. Gaston wants Gouvernail to return the following summer, but she refuses. At the end of the year, she herself proposes to invite Gouvernail, which makes her husband happy. He tells her that Gouvernail did not deserve her dislike. She kisses her husband and tells him that she has "overcome everything" and that she will now treat him more nicely.

Themes/Conclusions:

Inner Conflict and Appearance: 

Mrs Baroda has an inner conflict between her two identities- her desire and self-respect. Her desire is natural as she gets attracted sexually to Gouvernail. Hormones control this identity of her because she unconsciously almost gets involved in an intimate relationship with him. At the same time, her self-respect is constructed from the social rules and regulations. Because of her inner conflict, there is a difference in appearance and reality. Outside, it seems like she hates Gouvernail, but in fact, she secretly likes him. However, at the end of the story, it looks like her self-respect overcomes her desire.

Search for selfhood, self-discovery, and identity: 

Mrs Baroda gets puzzled about who actually she has been after she discovers her feeling towards Gouvernail. She comes to understand herself from this feeling. She defines herself as a respectable woman and embraces the identity which is appropriate for society.