Desiree's Baby Kate Chopin Analysis
Exploring the Characteristics of Local Color Writing Local color writing began proliferating in the late 1800’s with the focus on fiction and poetry with dual influences of romanticism and realism. Kate Chopin one major American author of local color writing who wrote about local color in various works of literature .By analyzing the specific characteristics of local color writing one can explore the settings, characters, plots, and themes of Kate Chopin in “desires baby”, “The Awakening”, and “ The hour”. One of the characteristics in Kate Chopin’s short stories having to do with settings in local color is, “Desiree’s Baby” which takes place in Louisiana. For example, Chopin describes the setting in the story in the following passage.
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At first it seems that a setting cannot be defined in this story after all it takes place in such a short time and the dominate part of the story takes place in the Mallard house. So, what exactly is the setting in “The hour”? To begin with, Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard as having a heart condition so therefore, she must spend most of her time in her home due to this fact. Another thing known is the house has stairs so there is more than one level in the Mallard house. Chopin also describes how the doors lock by a latch key .Lastly, she mentions how Mrs. Mallard sinks into an arm chair, yet she never mentions the color of it. This leads the reader to draw the conclusion that this indeed is a comfortable chair to sit in. Finally in Kate Chopin story “The Awakening” The setting takes place in Grand Isle of Louisiana which is a vacation spot for the creole .another instance that displays Kate Chopin local color writing.
The second characteristic of local color writing is the characters portrayed in the stories. The characters of local color writing are usually stereotypes; women are often portrayed as young or unmarried. The usage of dialect and personality traits that are central to the region is very prevalent as well. Once again upon examining Kate Chopin’s stories it is clear to see how these are played out in the following stories. “desirees baby” “ The Hour”
At first it seems that a setting cannot be defined in this story after all it takes place in such a short time and the dominate part of the story takes place in the Mallard house. So, what exactly is the setting in “The hour”? To begin with, Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard as having a heart condition so therefore, she must spend most of her time in her home due to this fact. Another thing known is the house has stairs so there is more than one level in the Mallard house. Chopin also describes how the doors lock by a latch key .Lastly, she mentions how Mrs. Mallard sinks into an arm chair, yet she never mentions the color of it. This leads the reader to draw the conclusion that this indeed is a comfortable chair to sit in. Finally in Kate Chopin story “The Awakening” The setting takes place in Grand Isle of Louisiana which is a vacation spot for the creole .another instance that displays Kate Chopin local color writing.
The second characteristic of local color writing is the characters portrayed in the stories. The characters of local color writing are usually stereotypes; women are often portrayed as young or unmarried. The usage of dialect and personality traits that are central to the region is very prevalent as well. Once again upon examining Kate Chopin’s stories it is clear to see how these are played out in the following stories. “desirees baby” “ The Hour”