Emancipation: a Life Fable (by Kate Chopin)
Summary
There was once an animal that was born in a
cage. An invisible hand looked after him providing for all his needs. The
animal felt comfortable in his cage and grew up strong and handsome, but he was
unaware of the world outside.
One day the door of his cage was opened
accidentally. First the animal was scared and would have like to be able to
close it, than, after several stays on the border of the cage, he rushed out of
the cage with a jump. Paying no attention to the wounds on his sides, he saw,
smelt and touched many things, the noxious ones too.
Out of the cage the animal had to seek and
fight for food and water. So he decided to seeking, finding, enjoying himself
and suffering because he preferred enjoying himself and suffering because he
preferred freedom to comforts in a cage, a golden prison anyway.
This short story by Kate Chopin has got a
title which anticipates its main theme and style as it is called “Emancipation:
a life fable”. The reader immediately understands that the protagonist is going
to “emancipate” his/her condition and the story will be told as a “fable”.
Since the first lines we realize that you have a third-person narrator telling
a story whose style is like an old-fashioned fable or fairy tale, as “There was
once an animal(...)” reminds us the well-known “Once upon a time…”.
The protagonist, an unidentified male
animal, is set in a well described place, a cage where all his needs are
fulfilled by an “invisible protecting hand”. This make us understand that he is
happy with his own little world. As in any fable we can compare his life to
people’s ones living in their own happy microcosm. Anyway, our daily routine
can be suddenly changed by accidental occurrences. When the animal finds the
door of his cage opened he has to decide whether to stay or to leave. The
former choice guarantees him a safe, comfortable life even if depending on “the
hand’s” will, while the latter will oblige him to seek his own food and shelter
day by day for the rest of his life. He chooses the second one because he wants
to be free.
The moral we can draw from this fable is
that freedom has its price. For instance, you realize you are not a teenager
any longer when you have to make your own decision for your future life without
counting or relying on anybody’s help, even if that means you have to give up
some or all your previous comforts or advantages.