My literature anthology says that Kate Chopins mother was Creole. Does that mean that Chopin herself has African roots?
No. In American English, the word “Creole” (the noun form of the word) carries several different meanings. For Kate Chopin, the following definition applies (it’s from the Merriam Webster online dictionary): “a white person descended from early French or Spanish settlers of the United States Gulf states and preserving their speech and culture.” Q: I was wondering about the use of the expression “yellow nurse” in this story. Does the word “yellow” here mean “Asian”? When this story was written, would that expression have been considered offensive, as it is today? A: No, the word “”yellow” does not refer to an Asian person. And it would probably not have been offensive in Kate Chopin’s time, as it is today. Three Chopin scholars discuss the expression: Emily Toth: I would read it as “high yellow”–i. e., a light skinned black person, maybe octoroon or quadroon. The term “high yellow” is pretty old, so I assume it existed in Chopin’s day. Also, house servants–those who did child care–we
Related Questions
- My literature anthology says that Kate Chopins mother was Creole. Does that mean that Chopin has African-American roots?
- My literature anthology says that Kate Chopins mother was Creole. Does that mean then that Chopin has African roots?
- My literature anthology says that Kate Chopins mother was Creole. Does that mean that Chopin has African roots?
