A No-Account Creole by Kate Chopin

I picked this short story by Kate Chopin to spice up my selection of works. I'v been tending to go more modern lately, and as we discussed in class, this will not tend to help me for the AP exam. The first thing that comes to mind immediately when processing this story is the setting. Kate Chopin tends to set most of her stories in the New Orleans area-in this case, the story is set in a small town a ways away from the city of  New Orleans. There is a strong sense of culture -the creole accents definitely lead to creating this feeling of culture. The story is set around a young business man who, as a part of his company, is sent to a little town to assess the condition of a plantation. The young man Mr. Offdean is a symbol of potential-he has a small bit of wealth, an education, and as a result an endless amount of opportunities ahead of him. He has the world ahead of him but when he arrives at the plantation, all that drastically changes. This is because he meets Euphrasie, the young and beautiful Creole girl, who is engaged to the heir of the plantain, Placide. Placide is a symbol of unused potential-he is talented and a good carpenter, yet he does nothing for the house. Euphrasie is the epitome of a frail, beautiful and kind creature-she is put into turmoil upon realizing she has love for Offdean-though she has not sinned, her thoughts she even considers as in a way cheating.
Chopin seems to structure her stories around a female character-in this piece i believe that the point of the story is to show the immense power that women can have over men. Euphrasie though frail and innocent, has enthralled both men. She has also brought about the best in each man-Placide harnesses his potential and rebuilds the house and attempts to make it beautiful so Euphrasie will have a nice place to call home, Offdean is driven to be spontaneous for once in his life and take risks-he does not know where this will lead him or if he will be rejecting but the point is that for once, he is actually living. The ball is in Euphrasie's hands after Offdean proposed his love to her, while she is still engaged to Placide, yet she morally feels obliged to stay with Placid. Later when Placid and Offdean have their confrontation, Offdean helps Placid to realize that no matter how he feels about Euphrasia, it is her happiness with Offdean that is more important than forcing himself on her. She indirectly creates her own happiness through the conflict of the two men who care for her.