Kate Chopin’s first published story, “Emancipation. A Life Fable,” sets up the theme to which guides her fiction: freedom from repression. In the story, an animal finds himself bound in a cage where he is given the provisions of a comfortable daily life. One day the door is accidentally left open, but the animal is “dreading the unaccustomed” life outside the cage to explore. Gradually, he becomes more comfortable and leaves. Though he finds it harder to acquire food and water, he finds fulfillment in “seeking, finding, joying, and suffering." A successful awakening to freedom, according to Chopin, is possible through struggle and sensual identification.
Athénaïse’s Ironic Awakening
Athénaïse’s Ironic Awakening
Athénaïse’s Ironic Awakening
Kate Chopin’s first published story, “Emancipation. A Life Fable,” sets up the theme to which guides her fiction: freedom from repression. In the story, an animal finds himself bound in a cage where he is given the provisions of a comfortable daily life. One day the door is accidentally left open, but the animal is “dreading the unaccustomed” life outside the cage to explore. Gradually, he becomes more comfortable and leaves. Though he finds it harder to acquire food and water, he finds fulfillment in “seeking, finding, joying, and suffering." A successful awakening to freedom, according to Chopin, is possible through struggle and sensual identification.