FREE ESSAY ON "REGRET" BY KATE CHOPIN VS. "MY OEDIPUS COMPLEX" BY FRANK O'CONNOR

"REGRET" BY KATE CHOPIN VS. "MY OEDIPUS COMPLEX" BY FRANK O'CONNOR

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
people, and knowing how to use a gun are all traditionally men's occupations (at least in
the 1800's). Certainly, she knows nothing about children and how to raise them, and that
is the problem, at least on the surface. When presented with her neighbor's children,
Mamzelle Aurelie doesn't know how to care for them.
In "My Oedipus Complex", we see another incomplete family. The father is away at war, and
the mother and son, Larry, are alone for long periods. Thus, the son becomes overly
attached to the mother, and sees himself as her spouse. 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. However, the Oedipus complex, which is a positive libidinal
feeling that a child subconsciously develops toward the parent of the opposite sex
(Webster, 585), in the story is not fully realized; though the son wishes to be alone
with his mother, he does not desire her. 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). The
problem in "My Oedipus Complex" is that due to the Father's absence the family is
incomplete and the resultly produces an unnatural relationship, that between Larry and
his mother.
There are other similarities between the two stories. One is what happens when children
are introduced into the family, i.e. the neighbor's children are introduced into Mamzelle
Aurelie's "family" and the new baby is introduced into Larry's family. 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. In "Regret", Mamzelle Aurelie comes
close to having a complete family when she is given her neighbor's children to watch.
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." (462) However, she soon learns to care
for them, and even to enjoy them. Mamzelle Aurelie never knew the lack of children until
she had children, and she never knew what it was to care for them until she had to do
that. Similarly, in "My Oedipus Complex" the family becomes complete (again) when the
father returns from war. Additionally, just to make sure the family is whole, a baby soon
follows, and with another child, both the father and Larry take their proper roles in the
family. They are no longer rivals, and Sonny's arrival has destroyed the Oedipus
relationship (such as it was). They both have to compete with Sonny for his mother's
attention. Doing so makes Larry the father's son again. Larry stops playing with his
father's toys (the German military souvenirs), and plays with toys his father gives him,
which are appropriate for a young boy, like the train set he gets at the very end of the
story. 
"Regret" differs from "My Oedipus Complex" in the tone of its ending. "Regret" ends with
Mamzelle Aurelie losing her "children," and going back to being alone. But being alone
now is unbearable because she now knows what it means to not have children. 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." "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. Still, despite the difference in tone between the two
endings, the message is still the same; a complete family is most fulfilling to the
majority of people.
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. Not having a family, or having
an incomplete one, is not a fulfilling alternative. You may very well disagree with the
stories' message, but the message is very clear.