Regret by Kate Chopin vs My Oedipus Complex by Frank OConnor
Everyone has a family or at least knows a family, so everyone can relate to a story about family. "Regret, by Kate Chopin, and "My Oedipus Complex," by Frank O'Connor, are two very different stories about the same thing - family. "Regret," a tale about an older woman, who, never having married or had children, gets her first experience with them by taking care of her neighbor's children for a short while, and "My Oedipus Complex," a short story about a young boy who decides he is better suited to the affections of his mother than is his father, are two very different approaches to show the need for a complete family.The similarities between the two stories are easily appreciated. First, as I stated earlier, both of the stories are about families, and how the lack of, what most people consider, a "normal" and "complete" family causes problems. In "Regret," Mamzelle Aurelie completely lacks a family; she has never married, has never had children, and has only had one marriage proposal, which was promptly rejected. Mamzelle Aurelie is not even properly a woman without a family; she much more resembles a man with her determination, man's hat, army overcoat, and boots. Additionally, owning a farm, managing and employing peop
In "My Oedipus Complex", we see another incomplete family. Mamzelle Aurelie soon learns she lacks the experience to properly care for the children because "they require and demand attentions which were wholly unexpected by Mamzelle Aurelie, and which she was ill prepared to give. In fact, Mamzelle Aurelie goes back to being a man and "she cried like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul. Larry doesn't have a clue about how babies are made, since he gives serious thought to his mother's excuse that they "couldn't afford one till Father came back from the war because they cost seventeen and six" (465). " (462) However, she soon learns to care for them, and even to enjoy them. Doing so makes Larry the father's son again. You may very well disagree with the stories' message, but the message is very clear. Not having a family, or having an incomplete one, is not a fulfilling alternative. " "My Oedipus Complex" ends on a happy note, as the family in the story becomes complete (all members present), everybody seems to fall into their proper role and all are happy. "Regret" differs from "My Oedipus Complex" in the tone of its ending. The introduction of children makes the shortcomings of either lacking a family, or having an incomplete family, obvious, but it also makes a complete family. Certainly, the son becomes jealous of the father when he returns, and tries to make him leave so he again can be alone with his mother. But being alone now is unbearable because she now knows what it means to not have children. Both "Regret" and "My Oedipus Complex" offer the same opinion, which is having a complete family is the ultimate, best goal of every man and woman.
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Acceptance Essays
