In conclusion, I was greatly impressed by the story; it’s definitely to my liking. I was sympathetic about the main character, but the story made me smile very often, because of its ironic nature. I would like to get acquainted with other stories of the author as her texts are full of impressing imagery, which excites me as a reader.

So, ‘Regret’ is a wonderful story that really builds and changes the main character. This story shows how a seemingly heartless person can grow to care for people against all odds.  'Regret' is a beautifully written story that is one of my favorites.  I would suggest this story to anyone." -Stephanie Landas

This short story by Kate Chopin impressed me greatly. The story is instructive and conveys a very vivid message: people shouldn’t be alone; women’s happiness is found in children. The author uses brilliantly various expressive means and stylistic devices to convey the message, but the most prominent are similes, parallel constructions, irony, metaphors and epithets.

Stylistic Devices

     In order to reveal the idea vividly and convincingly the author resorts to the following devices:
Lexical:
 Describing Aurelie’s life, Chopin uses zeugma: So she was quite alone in the world, except for her dog Ponto, and the negroes who lived in her cabins and worked her crops, and the fowls, a few cows, a couple of mules, her gun (with which she shot chicken-hawks), and her religion. Placing human beings, animals and inanimate objects in a row emphasizes how lonely she is.
    To describe the children’s first reaction to Mamzelle Aurelie, the writer uses the epithet “irresolute steps” and another epithet, based on metonymy “unwilling hand” (to my mind, it is based on metonymy, because not only his hand was unwilling at the moment, but the boy himself). The family then is described as “disconsolate” (also an epithet). On the contrary, when the mother returns, the epithet “beaming face” describes her emotions, and the epithet “sad disorder” shows how lonely it is again for Mamzelle Aurelie.
    Syntactical devices:
In order to describe the character’s lifestyle, the author uses parallel construction: “Mamzelle Aurelie had never thought of marrying. She had never been in love. At the age of twenty she had received a proposal, which she had promptly declined, and at the age of fifty she had not yet lived to regret it.”
    The vocabulary,  used by Kate Chopin, is mainly colloquial, as she tries to represent conversational speech of the characters. The usage of foreign words (sich, armoire, encore, dieu sait) contributed to the same aim. There also are some poetic words, elevated, hight-flown vocabulary, that helps to create beautiful images. Besides that, there are some attempts of formal language usage, namely, scientific vocabulary: “critically studying their botanical construction”, that refers to a child and therefore creates some humorous effect and also emphasizes the child’s natural curiosity.

The Main Character

The main character of the story is Mamzelle Aurelie her direct characterization is provided at the very beginning: “Mamzelle Aurelie possessed a good strong figure, ruddy cheeks, hair that was changing from brown to gray, and a determined eye. She wore a man's hat about the farm, and an old blue army overcoat when it was cold, and sometimes top boots.” Judging by such appearance, she is rather manlike and brutal. The narrator presents her as a lonely woman, who at the very beginning of the story doesn't quite realize it. She never regrets not being married and it seems to her like the company of dog and plantation workers is enough. But her plain world is torn apart by sudden realization of losing a possibility to become a mother.

The Plot

"Regret" is a story about a woman who has no regrets.  Everything she has done in her life up to this point has been correct in her eyes.  She owns her own farm and has assistants and workers.  She is a kind but stern woman who knows exactly what she wants and always is in control until one day her neighbor dropped of all of her kids at her doorstep.  The children's names are Elodie, Ti Nomme, Marceline, and Marcelette.  Over the course of the short story, Mamzelle Aurelie has to learn how to be compassionate and loving towards these children.  She has to learn to be okay with having her house be a mess all of the time.  When she finally gets into the habit of taking care of these kids and starts really loving them, her neighbor comes back and takes her children back.  Mamzelle Aurelie doesn't fight and lets the children go.  After she is alone and looks at her messy house, she knows she should be relieved but in reality she really is sad and realizes now she has one regret.

The story is dedicated to the difficulty, importance and joy of  being a parent. The plot includes:

a)  Introduction: Mamzelle Aurelle is described as a strong-figured woman with ruddy cheeks, hair that is going from brown to gray, and a determined eye.

b)  Rising Action: Odile has to leave her four kids to Mamzelle Aurelle.

c)  Climax: When Mamzelle Aurelle sees the car which Odile is riding, she feels agitated because the kids have to be gathered.

d) Falling action: Mamzelle Aurelle is alone again, although she can still faintly hear the shrill, glad voices of the kids who have just left with their mother Odile.

e)     Denouement: Crying soulfully hard,  Mamzelle Aurelle does not notice Ponto licking her hand.

Setting Of The Story

        The events in the analysed story happen in a big estate, where Mamzelle Aurelie (and perhaps also her workers) live. The house is described as “long and low”. It is filled with laughing, crying and chattering… and then it is painfully still without the children. The setting of the events is realistic and it provides a background for further action. 

The Author Of Story

Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty is an American novelist and short-story writer. She is now considered by some to have been an advocate of the feminist authors of the 20th century. When her husband Oscar Chopin died in 1882, Kate was suddenly a young widow with six children. She turned to writing and from 1892 to 1895, she wrote short stories for both children and adults which were published in such magazines as Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, The Century Magazine, and The Youth's Companion. Her major works were two short story collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). The Awakening, the novel considered Chopin's masterpiece, was subject to harsh criticism at the time for its frank approach to sexual themes. It was rediscovered in the 1960s and has since become a standard of American literature, appreciated for its sophistication. Chopin reported that she was neither a feminist nor a suffragist she just wrote about women's issues she saw during her lifetime. Kate Chopin is one of the earliest examples of modernism in the United States. She was interested in the perspective, point of view, craft, use of imagery, multiple perspectives just as much as the story itself. Her style was influenced by French writers Guy de Maupassant (she loved his economy of detail) and Émile Zola (she was impressed by his determination to tell the truth); besides that, she often places her characters in a geographical and historical moment and details their sometimes exotic speech patterns and cultural dispositions. Conclusively, Kate Chopin is known to be a woman ahead of her time. Even though during her lifetime she was looked down upon for the things she wrote, she is now celebrated and acclaimed by people around the world.

I have chosen a story by Kate Chopin which is called "Regret". This story touched my heart and soul very much and was extremely interesting and made me want to keep reading. I loved the way the author made me feel like I was in the room with all of the children and Mamzelle Aurelie. This story involves the reader emotionally and makes you want to keep reading. It also makes you think about real life situations and how you need to stand up for things you believe in. I would recommend this story to anyone because it is very interesting and is thought provoking.