A Point at Issue!

A Point at Issue! Summary | Detailed Summary

"A Point at Issue!" is Kate Chopin's short story of Charles and Eleanor Faraday, a newly married couple living in America at the end of the nineteenth century. The personalities of two independent intellectuals tentatively find their way in a marriage on the cusp of the women's rights movement.

As the story begins, Eleanor reads the announcement of her marriage to Charles Faraday in the local newspaper. Eleanor is not the typical new bride and had eschewed many of the festivities and accoutrements of a wedding in which most young women revel. This stark notice, situated among vendor advertisements, is appalling to Eleanor. It seems as if her marriage is thrust upon the newspaper's readers, who could not possibly be interested in this bit of news. Eleanor has acquiesced to the announcement in the hopes that any future social obligations may be lessened.

Eleanor's new husband, Charles, is a mathematics professor at the local university and considers Eleanor to be the perfect woman for her intellect and ability to reason, qualities he had not encountered in any other young women up to this point in his life.

Before the couple marries, they spend a year getting to know each other and delight in long conversations of philosophy, science, and other logical pursuits. Suddenly, one day, Charles realizes that Eleanor embodies all the characteristics of a good wife, as well as an intellectual match. He proposes. Eleanor casually accepts, having considered the potential of a proposal long ago.

The couple's shared objective is to continue their individual pursuits in academic and cultural areas. When it is suggested that Eleanor reside alone in Paris to learn French after their three-month honeymoon in Europe, both bride and groom think it a perfect plan.

The first year of the marriage is carried on via written correspondence. Both Eleanor and Frank enjoy their respective endeavors with the plan being that Frank will rejoin Eleanor in Paris at the beginning of the summer. This unconventional relationship, especially so early in the marriage, baffles their home community that wonders at the veracity of such an arrangement.

Charles is too preoccupied with his own work to worry about gossip in the social sector and never mentions the scandal to Eleanor in Paris. There is one family in town with whom Charles socializes, that of Mr. and Mrs. Beaton and their daughters, Margaret and Kitty. Charles is particularly taken with Kitty, who has just finished boarding school, and finds himself stirred to kiss her cheek.

Unwittingly, Charles mentions Kitty's feminine charms in a letter to Eleanor and is met with a few weeks of no return letters from his wife. Finally, Eleanor sends a letter to Charles. However, the tone is so cold that he cannot imagine what has possessed her, because jealousy is not a logical thing. Just as surprisingly to Charles, he soon receives a string of letters from Eleanor, brimming with ardor.

Finally, it is time for Charles to make the trip to Paris to see Eleanor. As the moment of their reunion approaches, Eleanor paces nervously in her room and eventually collapses in tears with no explanation of her distress.

Charles delights in seeing Eleanor again and finds that Paris life agrees with her, as she looks exceedingly healthy and happy. As the couple has dinner in Eleanor's room that night, a maid interrupts with the news of a male visitor that Eleanor dismisses to another time. Charles asks no questions, and Eleanor offers no explanations about the man.

One day, Charles stumbles onto a meeting between Eleanor and a strange man, which obviously unnerves Eleanor. Charles questions his wife about the man, but she declares that he is no one special. Not long after, Eleanor tells Charles that she must go out for the afternoon without him. He takes a walk through the streets of Paris to clear his mind of any thoughts that Eleanor is being unfaithful.

While sitting in a cafy, Charles sees Eleanor in a carriage accompanied by the man whom he had seen at Eleanor's apartment a few days before. Charles is shocked to see the pair laughing and enjoying each other's company. His instinct is to throw himself at the carriage and attack the man.

Charles weighs his options and considers returning home to America without a word to Eleanor. However, he decides to return to Eleanor's apartment, where Eleanor is waiting anxiously. Eleanor leads Charles into a drawing room, where she reveals a portrait of herself recently completed by the man with whom she has been seen recently.

The portrait wasn't completed in time for presentation at Charles' arrival, so Eleanor had to schedule a few more meetings with the artist, accounting for her recent, unexplained behavior.

Eleanor asks Charles if he thinks her French is good enough that she might return home with him to America, and he confirms that it is. With plans to return home together, Charles asks Eleanor about the cool tone of the letter she had sent him a while ago, and she replies that she had been jealous of his descriptions of Kitty Beaton.

Charles smiles to himself, realizing that Eleanor is only a woman. He forgets the events surrounding the portrait.