Mid-Term Exam: Feminism

Different, yet the Same

The world is not yet ready for feminine freedom, say Henry James in “Daisy Miller: A Study” and Susan Glaspell in “Trifles.”  Kate Chopin, on the other hand, has quite the opposite view, and makes her point in “The Storm.”

In “Daisy Miller: A Study,” the narrator, Winterbourne meets a young woman who calls herself Daisy.  This woman is unlike any other he has ever met, and he is captivated by her manner, by the way she talks to him “as if she had known him a long time” (507).  Daisy is very straight-forward, and Winterbourne is unused to this behavior from women, uncertain if it is a trait shared by all American women of the time, or just one of Daisy’s traits.  When Daisy takes some actions seen as scandalous by the other society ladies, Winterbourne is torn between his interest in her and the mores of the society in which he lives.  Ultimately, Winterbourne chooses society, and tries to get Daisy to stop her flirtatious behavior.  She refuses, and eventually dies of Malaria, which she contracted while out visiting with an Italian man in the Coliseum.  Through Winterbourne’s rejecting actions, and Daisy’s subsequent death, Henry James shows that, in the late 1870s the world—or at least Europe—was not yet ready for women’s freedom.

In Kate Chopin’s “The Storm,” however, the situation is quite different.  Although both Calixta and Alcée still hide their one-night affair from their spouses, neither feels remorse for the encounter, and they both become more loving toward their individual families.  There are no negative consequences to the affair between Alcée and Calixta in “The Storm,” as including such consequences in Calixta and Alcée choose—even though they choose in a moment of high emotion and particular circumstance, they still choose—to have their affair.  Overall, it does them both good.  Alcée writes a “loving letter” to his wife (691), Clarisse, which shows her that he is concerned about her well-being and wishes as well as that of their children.  Clarisse, on the same note, is delighted that her husband wishes her to be happy, and being able to have a break from Alcée is “the first free breath since her marriage,” and restores “the pleasant liberty of her maiden days” (692).  Meanwhile, Calixta greets her husband and son at the door with the table set and supper on the stove.  The little family enjoys the shrimps that Bobinôt has brought home, and they “[laugh] much and so loud that anyone might have heard them as far away as Laballière’s” (691).  Through Alcée’s and Calixta’s experience after their brief encounter, Chopin shows that freedom is already there for the taking, and that doing so without anticipation of reprisal can help relationships that already exist.

Susan Glaspell, in her play “Trifles,” shows that the world is not ready for women to be completely free to choose.  She also adds another note: women should stick together, protect each other as much as they can, from the problems of the world.  In the play, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale each start with differing opinions on what to do about the dead bird they find in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen.  The dead bird is a possible link to a motive in the murder of Mr. Wright, and Mrs. Hale wants to show it to her husband, the sheriff.  Mrs. Peters, however, is more sympathetic to Mrs. Miller, knowing how difficult it can be to live with a man who keeps to himself, prefers quiet, and kills a woman’s spirit day by day without even knowing he has done so.  She eventually convinces Mrs. Hale, and the two agree jointly to conceal the evidence.  In fact, Mrs. Hale is the first to attempt concealment.  While early-twentieth-century middle America is not yet ready for women to be completely liberated, Glaspell shows that women do have choices, and that they are free to make those choices.

Henry James, Kate Chopin and Susan Glaspell all have differing views on women’s freedom.  However, they are all in agreement about one particular: women—and in Chopin’s case, men as well—need freedom to choose their own destinies.  The difference in their view stems from whether or not they believe that their own groups within society are ready for such change or not.

Teacher Comments and Grade: Good work, Darcy!  Organizationally I might have left Chopin until the end to better show the difference from the others, but chronological organization works also.  Good job!  A