Kate Chopin

1
Kate Chopin The Awakening
1850 - 1904
2
Chopin's major work was published in 1889. -
well-established as a national writer - it was
reviewed by critics who universally condemned it
as "shocking" and immoral
3
PLOT
It is the story of a young womans gradual
awakening. - sexuality - individual "being" -
longing for an independence - suicide
4
She was very important as one of the earliest
examples of modernism American Literature.
5

• Romantic elements The Awakening
• the exotic locale
• use of color
• heavy emphasis on nature
• romantic theme individuality and freedom
• rebellion against society and death

6

• Edna - two extremes in life
• completely alone romanticism
• frequent inner thoughts
• memories of childhood
• the personified sea (nature)
• the mysterious woman in black
• the romantic music, dinner party
• desire to express herself

7

• Naturalism The Awakening
• Edna as hostage to her biology
• She is female (children wife)
• society dictates behavior
• "no attempt to suppress her impulses"
• welfare of her
• children

8

• Local Color The Awakening
• characterizations of the people
• the descriptions of places
• fundamental meaning of the story
• Creole society and its social mores
• women making choices that create a life

9
STYLE Chopin interested in how one tells the
story as the story itself.
10
Perspective multiple Point of view Imagery
11

• Appearance in reality
• seen in the New Orleans experience
• things are not always what they seem
• things are different to different players.

12

• All of these formed her style
• theme based
• her stories were very short
• she was experimenting with style

13

• Womens Rights
• - Chopin was not your typical feminist nor
• a suffragist
• took women extremely seriously
• due to her background (mother )

14

• lack of interest in feminism and
• suffrage she simply had a different
• understanding of freedom.
• - Freedom character of living your life
• within the constraints that the world
• makes or your God offers you,
• because all of us do live within constraints.

15

• Social Classes
• Black v. White
• Rich v. Poor
• Male v. Female
• comfortable with difference
• part of life

16

• Theme
• No true beauty without complexity or
• conflict
• - tragedy and complexity are needed

17
Story information Creole is a white person
descended from the French or Spanish settlers
of Louisiana and the Gulf States and preserving
their characteristic speech and culture. . . .
18

• Three groups
• whites - highest class
• free Blacks - emancipated slaves
• middle class
• 3) slaves household property
• the lowest class
• They had a complex social organization
• which included foreign groups Germans,
• Irish, and Spaniards.

19

• Culture
• father was dominant
• his word was law
• not always a faithful spouse
• ruled like a king
• dutiful in the sense he went places
• with his wife

20

• Young men
• given their own quarters
• entertainment
• had mistresses
• (Black or mulatto)
• couldnt marry them
• accepted custom
• marriages business
• wives passive and innocent lovers

21

• Young Women
• needed a dowry
• marry before 25 years old
• coming out event (theater)
• beginning search for a husband

22

• Three kinds of French
• traditional French
• Acadian
• Black Creole
• Louisiana natives francophone
• French-speaking

23
Kate Chopin The Early Years

• Born in St. Louis, MO in 1850
• Life was full of tragedy largely death
• Attended Sacred Heart Academy
• After her fathers death, raised by her mother,
  grandmother, and great-grandmother (all widows)

24
Role of the Civil War

• St. Louis was a pro-North city
• Only documented female friend was forced to
  retreat to the South
• A noted time of change

25
Death

• Though one of 5 children, Chopin was the only one
  to survive beyond 25 years of age
• Many family members died around Holy Days,
  instilling a strong sense of skepticism
  surrounding religion

26
Marriage

• Married Oscar Chopin at the age of 20
• Both French Catholic background
• He adored her, admired independence and
  intelligence and allowed her unheard of freedom
• Gave birth to 5 boys and 2 girls before she was 28

27
More Tragedy

• Oscar was not an able businessman returned to
  his old home in rural Louisiana (from New
  Orleans) and died of swamp fever
• Chopin moved her family to St. Louis to live with
  her mother
• Mother died the next year- this began her writing
  career

28
Inspiration for The Awakening and Reception

• Based on stories of people shed known in New
  Orleans
• Content and message of The Awakening caused an
  uproar
• Parallels between Chopin and Edna because both
  defied societal rules

29
Künstleroman

• Like a Bildungsroman, but centered around growth
  as an artist
• The Awakening is a tale of a woman who struggles
  to realize herself and her artistic ability

30
Historical and Cultural Background

• Written at the end of the 19th century
• Conflict between the old and new
• Worlds Fair
• Darwin
• Criticism of the Bible
• Womens Suffrage
• Industrial Age (Machine Age)

31
Louisiana

• In addition to the changes the country was
  facing, Louisiana had its own set of problems
• Mix of three cultures American, Southern, and
  Creole
• Aftermath of the Civil War still reverberating
• Ednas father is a good example of this.

32
Creole Culture

• Catholic
• Creole women were very conservative
• Frank and open in discussing marriages and
  children b/c of understood moral nature and
  chastity
• Deep and personal commitment to fidelity
• Adele is a good example of this

33
Creole Culture Continued

• Louisiana operated under a different legal system
• Feminist movement had little hope in the state
• A woman belonged to her husband
• Under Article 1124, married women were equated
  with babies and the mentally ill and were deemed
  incompetent to make a contract

34
Industrial Age and Lower Class Womens
Independence

• With the Machine Age, the crafts women had always
  produced in their homes became a mass-producible
  industry
• Conditions were hazardous, the pay was low, and
  womens income was the property of their
  husbands, but first move toward female
  independence

35
Upper and Middle Class Women

• Expected to stay home as idle, decorative symbols
  of their husbands wealth
• angels of the house
• Pregnant frequently
• Cared for their homes, their husbands, their
  children played music, drew and sang
• Often brought a dowry or inherited wealth to the
  marriage
• Adele

36
Suffrage

• Women began to rise up (Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
  Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Coffin Mott)
• Declaration of Sentiments
• Labeled unfeminine, immoral
• 15th Ammendment (1870) gave right to vote
  regardless of color or creed

37
Climate of the Time

• The Awakening is representative of the time
• Chopin was ostracized
• Praised for her skill as a writer, but demonized
  for content
• Not a healthy book.
• Sex fiction.
• Unhealthy introspection and morbid.
• The novel encapsulates the struggle of women
  during this time and speaks to the painful
  process

38
Literary Context

• Romantic Movement
• Assertion of the self, power of the individual,
  sense of the infinite and transcendental nature
  of the universe
• Relationship between nature and man
• Making success of failure, American landscape,
  power of man to conquer the land, and
  individualism

39
Romanticism in The Awakening

• Exotic locale
• Emphasis on nature
• Use of color
• Overriding romantic theme Ednas search for
  individuality and freedom

40
Naturalism and Realism

• Stresses real over fantastic
• Societal changes- Bible, Darwin
• Uncaring aspects of nature and destiny of man
• Life was viewed as relentless
• Realism in The Awakening
• Portrayal of Edna as hostage to her biology
• Women as economic possessions
• Edna as a victim of nature and fate
• Local color