Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Regret by Kate Chopin is our
September 2025 Short Story/Novella Read.

This discussion will open on September 1

Beware Short Story Discussions will have Spoilers

Mamzelle Aurelie had declined a proposal at age 20, and had never been in love. The independent woman had lived alone for 30 more years, managing a farm. But after caring for a neighbor's children for several weeks, she felt regret when they left.

The story was written in 1894 when women did not have many choices in life. The story raises lots of questions. Did Mamzelle Aurelie regret not having children or was she just lonely? How many people would make the same decisions at age 50 as they did at age 20? She had made what she thought was the right decision for herself at the time.

She dressed in a man's hat, an army overcoat, and boots so she could take on a "man's job" of supervising the farm workers. It was not socially acceptable for women to want both a career and a family in 1894 so her husband would have been managing the farm if she had married. If she had not spent those two weeks with the children, she probably would not have questioned whether she made the right choice 30 years ago.

The story seems as much about the roles of women at the time as it does about regrets.

Well, I wasn't expecting a short-short story, this was just two pages long. I enjoyed the descriptions; I don't care for reading dialects, though, so I'm glad it wasn't a novella. I might have given up.

For me, as an older woman, I found the story trite and a bit offensive, especially since it was written by a woman. I've read The Awakening and thus was a bit surprised at how this story played out. Of course the MC comes to regret not marrying and having children. All her accomplishments and hard work running a farm and supervising other people - it would be enough for a man to be proud of, but it couldn't possibly be enough for a woman. How else could she feel? (end sarcasm here.)

I love my kids and grandkids dearly, but I don't consider that life the only proper path for a woman, now or then, and I'm tired of stories that imply otherwise.

I did appreciate the way the children couldn't believe she didn't know their routines and were amazed that someone could do bedtime, for instance, differently than they did. That's so true for young children, they don't have the perspective to think differently, and their seriousness about their routines can be amusing to watch.

Overall I'd have to say this quick read didn't impress me. But I'm interested to see how others view it.

I’ve read a number of Chopin stories and I love the way she explores emotions, particularly highlighting women’s emotions that were a revelation to readers back in Chopin’s day.

I’m someone who doesn’t have children and has very few regrets about that. So I’m sensitive to stories that promote the idea that having children is the only acceptable choice for women. But I didn’t feel that here at all. I agree you can read this as a story about societal roles, but I took it more personally, and for me it was very much just one woman’s story. (In The Awakening, Chopin's character has children, but has other regrets.)

Some things you’ve missed you can go back and experience, even late in life. Mamzelle Aurelie comes to her realization at a time when she can’t go back and change things. This is what brings the sadness, and gives the story its poignancy.

I loved the end, where she doesn’t notice the dog licking her hand. See, as a dog-lover, I was thinking: wake up, woman, and pay attention to all the love you have right there! 😊

I think this can be seen as a metaphor for whatever we miss in life, because none of us gets to experience it all. Whatever choice you make, there is some other choice that would have given you something this choice didn't. I like that Chopin has given her a meaningful and full life. She liked running the farm, so it isn't that she didn't have a life, or a good one, because of the lack of children. I don't think it is a matter of a good or a bad decision she made, just that in choosing one way of life, one path, we automatically lose another. See Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. "sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler..." She got a glimpse of the other road.

Can be read here:
https://www.katechopin.org/pdfs/Kate%...

I agree with Connie's analysis. I did not like the dialect. Very hard to read. Otherwise a fine little, very compact story.

I appreciate the idea that she's not just mourning the children, but the knowledge that there are choices she can never make now. The inevitability of that realization as you grow older is powerful, and helps me to see this story a bit differently.

If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or if you do not marry, you will regret both; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret both. Søren Kierkegaard (Either/Or)

About the dialect, I was surprised she seems to be writing with a Cajun sort of dialect. A quick internet check showed that Chopin had a French speaking mother and they did live in Louisiana. She did much of her writing while living in Louisiana. Personally, I could read that dialect rather easily. Much was French based. But it is hard if you don't know a particular accent. Other dialects have been difficult for me.

5* I really liked it. I agree with the comments that say we all reach a time when there are no longer certain possibilities in our future. Choices set a course and that is all that is left. Regret often hinges on what we imagine might have been. Those dreams are usually rosy. Would her life had been better? Perhaps, but we can't know.