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 feelings 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.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. Why was Mrs. Baroda unhappy with the information about Gouvernail’s visit to their farm?
Ans: Mrs. Baroda was unhappy with the information about Gouvernail’s visit to their farm because she was looking forward to a period of unbroken rest and spend private time with her husband. Besides, she had formed an image of Gouvernail through the descriptions from her husband which she did not like.
b. How was Gouvernail different from Mrs. Baroda’s expectation?
Ans: Mrs. Baroda had pictured him tall, slim, cynical; with eyeglasses, and his hands in his pockets but when she met him in person he wasn’t very tall nor very cynical; neither he wore eyeglasses nor carry his hands in his pockets.
c. How does Mrs. Baroda compare Gouvernail with her husband?
Ans: Mrs. Baroda compares Gouvernail with her husband and finds:
Gouvernail was mute and receptive whereas her husband was frank and talkative.
He did not like fishing and hunting whereas her husband liked them.
He liked to smoke cigars whereas her husband did not.
He had none of the brilliant and promising traits which her husband seemed to have.
d. Why and how did Mrs. Baroda try to change Gouvernail’s solitary habits?
Ans: Mrs. Baroda tried to change Gouvernail’s solitary habits because she did not like his unsocial habits of remaining reserved, silent and receptive. She wanted him to enjoy her company and be more interesting and frank.
For this, she tried to impose her social companionship by joining him in his idle strolls to the mill and walks along the batture.
e. How does Gaston disagree with his wife on Gouvernail’s character?
Ans: When Mrs. Baroda complains to Gaston of Gouvernail’s character for being reserved and boring, he disagrees with her by saying that Gouvernail had been run down by overwork resulting in those traits of him.
f. Why is Gaston surprised with his wife’s expression towards the end of the story?
Ans: Gaston is surprised with his wife’s expression towards the end of the story because she, who once opposed the idea of inviting Gouvernail, proposed helself to have him visit them again. Gaston was delighted with the suggestion coming from her thinking she had overcome her hatred for Gouvernail
Reference to the context
a. What is the cause of conflict in Mrs. Baroda’s mind? What role does Mrs. Baroda ‘being a respectable woman’ play in the story?
Ans: The cause of conflict in Mrs. Baroda’s mind is her meeting with Gouvernail leading her to get attracted to him.
For being a respectable woman, Mrs. Baroda controls her temptation to reach out her hand in the darkness and touch Gouvernail’s face or lips with the sensitive tips of her fingers. She wanted to draw close to him and whisper against his cheek, however, she went away from him to save her dignity.
b. Sketch the character of Gouvernail and contrast it with Gaston.
Ans: Gouvernail, a Gaston’s friend since college, comes to live with him and his wife in their plantation. He is a slim person with a gentle personality. By profession he is a journalist, however, he likes the farming life of Gaston. He has a mute, reserved, and antisocial personality in contrast to Gaston’s friendly and chatty nature. He hates adventurous activities like fishing and haunting, and likes to spend most of the time sitting leisurely, smoking his cigar lazily and listening attentively to Gaston’s experience as a sugar planter. Later, it is revealed that he is not a shy person, rather his reserved behavior has been the result of his moods. He is even a traitor unlike kind and helpful Gaston. It is because Gouvernail tries to seduce Gaston’s wife through a random apostrophe about the night and his intimate talks.
c. Why does Mrs. Baroda not disclose her feelings towards Gouvernail to her husband?
Ans: Mrs. Baroda does not disclose her feelings towards Gouvernail to her husband because she comes to know that there are some battles in life which a human being must fight alone. She understands that sharing the issue with her husband might further create problems, so she takes some time to overcome the temptation towards Gouvernail.
d. The last three sentences of the story bring a kind of twist. After reading these three sentences, how do you analyze Mrs. Baroda’s attitude towards Gouvernail?
Ans: Indeed, the last three sentences of the story bring a kind of twist. The last three sentences leave a space for the audience to imagine the further lead of the story. In the second last sentence, as she says, “I have overcome everything”, it delivers two meanings. First, she might have won her temptation and she no longer has any romantic feelings towards Gouvernail. And second, she has overcome the society's restrictions to stay as a respectable woman and she will pursue to fulfill her desire of getting involved with Gouvernail when he visits the next time.
Reference beyond the text
a. The entry of an outsider into a family has been a recurring subject in both literature and films. Narrate a story real or imaginative where an outsider’s arrival destroys the intimate relationship between the husband and the wife and causes break up in marital relationship without direct fault of anyone. Anton’s Chekhov’s story ‘About Love’ is a story on this subject.
Ans: In my hometown, an incident happened recently where an outsider’s arrival destroyed the intimate relationship between the husband and the wife causing break up in marital relationship. Sandesh Khadka, a man of 32, was pursuing a decent relationship with his wife Binu. They also had a daughter of 8 who was studying in grade 3 in a reputed school in the town. Sandesh and Binu had dated for two years and got married almost 10 years ago.
But four years after their marriage, Sandesh decided to go abroad to the UAE for employment. Although he came back twice a year to visit Binu and their child, he continued to renew his contract overseas. He and Lama eventually lost touch, so Binu pursued a relationship with another man from her village, who was married with two children.
After six years, when Sandesh returned home forever intending not to return, Binu had already fled with her lover. They recently got married after an extramarital affair for three years, without divorcing their original spouses. When Sandesh knew all of it, he lost his mind and went crazy.
b. Mrs. Baroda makes an expectation about Gouvernail even before meeting him. Suppose you are a mature girl/boy and your family members are giving you pressure to get married. Write in about 200 words describing what qualities you would like to get in your future husband/wife.
Ans: I want my future wife to be honest, kind, witty, and well educated. Besides, she should be smart, jolly, optimistic, ambitious and insightful.
I want maturity in my wife because I don’t want her to be practical and act like a grown up. She should be able to handle everyday problems herself with confidence. She should not fight with me over trivial issues.
Openness is another quality that I want in my partner. When I will be spending time with my female friends, she should not have a suspicion over me. Rather, she should trust me with all her heart. I want respect and independence in terms of pursuing my hobbies and interests. Besides, I want her to be empathetic and affectionate towards me.
She should realize the importance of honesty and integrity in a close relationship. For a healthy and delightful conjugal life, we both must be honest to each other. There should not be any kind of communication gap between us.
I don’t want an extraordinary person to be my life partner, rather anyone who is smart, jolly, kind, witty, optimistic, and well educated can win my heart. Most of all, she should love me more than herself.
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