The Short Fiction of Kate Chopin

Kate O'Flaherty (Chopin) was born in Saint Lewis in 1850. Shortly after marrying, she and her husband Oscar Chopin moved to New Orleans where Chopin dived into local culture and "local color" (Espey 246). Kate Chopin is a well recognized author for her two novels (At Fault, and The Awakening), though there were countless other stories written by her, most of which take place in either New Orleans, Grand Isle, or Natchitoches Parish. Kate Chopin's Creole background plays a major role in her short fiction.

The class system in relation to slaves in Creole society is very influential in many of the short stories of Chopin. Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, collections of short stories, portray all aspects of Creole and Non-Creole life in Louisiana, including the lives of those with "Negro blood." Negro blood consists of the following: mulatto, which is half black and half white; quadroon, which is a quarter black and three quarters white; and Griffe, which is a person three quarters black and one quarter white (Alien 322). Titles such as these are, according to literature critic Michele A. Birnbaum, "representative not as indictments of an arbitrary colorline, but as reminders and reinforcements of cultural tiering." The relationship between Marshall and his master Doctor John-Luis in "Mamouche" is a good representation of the companionship one usually never hears of when it comes to slavery. Marshall is fiercely loyal to Doctor John-Luis, and is encouraged to give his opinion on any matter on hand (Chopin 448).

The epitome of oppression is the Negro woman of the south. Chopin recognizes the oppression and includes at least one woman of color in most short stories. Anna Elfenbein, a writer on stereotypes, said in an article in the Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature that "[black women] appear at critical junctures�€� encoding both the social and psychological reality of female oppression." This stands true, for it is a black woman (LaBlanche) and her "quadroon" son who make Desiree in "Desiree's Baby" realize that something is odd about her baby: