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Regret by Kate Chopin Essay

In the short narrative “Regret” by Kate Chopin. a adult female named Mamzelle Aurelie has to watch a neighbor’s four kids for two hebdomads. Mamzelle is an old and alone adult female who ne'er believed in love or matrimony. She has ne'er had a adult male. nor been married. and lives entirely on her farm with some animate beings. She besides has African Americans. or “negroes” . who work around her house for care. Because of a unsafe unwellness that her female parent acquired. the younger neighbour had to go forth. and could no longer ticker after her kids. This is where Mamzelle comes in. who has ne'er had kids before. In the beginning. she has great jobs pull offing the kids. However. after a short period of clip. she begins recognizing that worlds need more than merely nutrient and a topographic point to kip. This is when she truly starts to develop a relationship with the kids. Once the kids return to their female parent. Mamzelle cries really to a great extent in compunction.

In the beginning. Mamzelle is described as “a good strong figure. ruddy cheeks” and “a determined eye” . She wears “a man’s hat” and “a bluish ground forces overcoat” . and even sometimes “top-boots” . From her brief description. it is clear that there is no muliebrity. nor does at that place look to be any desire to go more feminine. Before run intoing the kids. there was no desire to go more feminine. until recognizing what she had been losing out on. She is forced to play a feminine function. by cooking. run uping. and stating the kids bedtime narratives to fall asleep. She softens to the point in which she cries. and carries a sorrow in her bosom from ne'er holding her ain kids.

The chief subject of the narrative. which is the rubric of the verse form. is regret. The adult female in the narrative has lived a alone life. and she thought that she was happy with the life she had. It wasn’t until taking attention of her neighbor’s kids did she recognize what she was losing out on by being entirely. For the first clip. while caring for those kids. she began to recognize all the joys and unhappiness that life brings. She has sorrow that she didn’t unrecorded life to its fullest. sorrow that she didn’t want that priceless joy in her life. and repent that she was excessively old to seek and get it.