Gender Roles And Freedom Through A Literary Lens - 852 Words

The main critical approaches that each author has touched on deal mostly with the themes of race and the patriarchy discussed in Chopin’s work and how they are portrayed within the story. Perhaps one of the greatest criticisms that each author has noted is that Dà ©sirà ©e’s Baby, leaves too many questions unanswered. Jon Erickson addresses Kate Chopin’s means of addressing the issue of gender roles and freedom through a literary lens. Erickson claims that Chopin juxtaposes two frame of reference: expectation and reality, themes commonly found within the fairytale genre. Because, â€Å"the primary expectation raised by the fairy tale is that there will be a happy ending, that the hero (ine) will overcome† (Erickson 1990), however due to Dà ©sirà ©e’s death the archetype was naturally not fulfilled. Chopin shifts the tone of the story from light and surreal to dark and depressing as it progresses because it highlights the reality of being a woman in the nineteenth century. Moreover the fairy tale motif is touched on briefly throughout the story giving the reader false hopes of Dà ©sirà ©e being saved only for Chopin to force them back into reality. For example the scene where Dà ©sirà ©e’s mother writes to her, â€Å"â€Å"My own Dà ©sirà ©e: Come home to Valmo ndà ©; back to your mother who loves you. Come with your child†, it appears as though her â€Å"fairy godmother† is there to make everything right again however this is not the case. Before Dà ©sirà ©e leaves she first seeks approval of Armand, although this is aShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Zora Neale Hurston s The Eyes Were Watching God Essay1690 Words   |  7 Pagesrace and gender through the story of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God. However, rather than seeing the way in which Hurston deals with this intersection, the author Richard Wright claims, â€Å"The sensory sweep of her novel carries no theme, no message, no thought. 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