Kate Chopin

1. Kate Chopin "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself." Edna Pontellier in The Awakening. Kate Chopin

2. Let’s get to know her better.. About her life: Catherine (Kate) O'Flaherty was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 8, 1850. Her father was Thomas O'Flaherty of County Galway, Ireland. Her mother was Eliza Faris of St. Louis. Kate's family on her mother's side was of French extraction. Kate grew up speaking both French and English. She was bilingual and bicultural. 1868 Kate attended the St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart. Mentored by woman--by her mother, her grandmother, great grandmother, as well as by the Sacred Heart nuns.

3. Let’s get to know her better.. About her life: On her wedding trip the couple traveled to Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York, and then crossed the Atlantic and toured Germany, Switzerland, and France. Between 1871 and 1879 she gave birth to five sons and a daughter. In New Orleans, where she and her husband lived until 1879, Chopin was at the center of Southern aristocratic social life. 1882 her husband Oscar died of malaria, in 1885 her mother died too. She became active in St. Louis literary and cultural circles, discussing the works of many writers, including Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Émile Zola, and George Sand. Kate Chopin

4. Let’s get to know her better.. About her life: American author Kate Chopin (1850–1904) wrote two published novels and about a hundred short stories in the 1890s. Most of her fiction is set in Louisiana. Published by some of America's most prestigious magazines, including Vogue and the Atlantic Monthly. Her stories appeared in anthologies from the 1920s. Curiosity: Vogue first issue had come out just a few weeks before, in December 1892. It cost ten cents (about $2.30 in 2009 American dollars).

5. What does she tells us about herself? Kate Chopin: In Her Own Words "Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions." Description of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening. "She wanted to reach out her hand in the darkness and touch him with the sensitive tips of her fingers upon the face or the lips. She wanted to draw close to him and whisper against his cheek—she did not care what—as she might have done if she had not been a respectable woman." Description of Mrs. Baroda in A Respectable Woman.

6. What does she tells us about herself? Kate Chopin: In Her Own Words "'It means,' he answered lightly, 'that the child is not white; it means that you are not white.'" Armand Aubigny in Désirée's Baby. "When the girl looked up into her face, with murmured thanks, Fedora bent down and pressed a long, penetrating kiss upon her mouth." Description of Fedora in Fedora. "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself." Edna Pontellier in The Awakening.

7. Some Of Her Works: • S t o r i e s • Bayou Folk • A Night In Acadie • The Storm • The Story of an Hour • Désirée's Baby • A Pair of Silk Stockings • Athenaise • At the Cadian Ball • Lilacs • A Respectable Woman • The Unexpected • The Kiss • Beyond the Bayou • Beauty of The Baby • N o v e l s • At Fault • The Awakening • Today Kate Chopin is best known for her sensitive treatment of women's lives. • But in the 1890s she was praised mostly for her "local color," her pictures of Louisiana Creoles and Acadians. • All topics are part of her Naturalism view.

8. The End

9. Chopin’s Refusal To Condemn Her Protagonist

10. Let’s get to know her better.. About her life: Kate spent the Civil War in St. Louis, a city where residents supported both the Union and the Confederacy. She was deeply responsive during the period just prior to her undertaking a literary career to the major new ideas and fiction of her time, reading fully in Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and the French naturalists. From 1867 to 1870 Kate kept a "commonplace book" in which she recorded diary entries. Writing for her was a therapy against depression. Chopin's seemingly different writing style did in fact emerge from an admiration of Guy de Maupassant. “...I read his stories and marveled at them. Here was life, not fiction”

11. The Symbolic Use Of The Sea In “The Awakening”: • It opens on Grand Isle in the Gulf of Mexico where the Pontelliers are summering, and it closes there. The very same sentence, about "the voice of the sea," occurs twice in the book. The first time, early in the story, is shortly after the following passage: • Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her … perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any woman.

12. A Graphic Short Story Based on "The Story of an Hour" "Free, free, free!" Later, when she discovers that her husband is alive, she dies out of grief. The doctors believe that she died from the joy of seeing her husband.

13. In 1904 Chopin returned home from a fair, she was very tired. She died the day after, doctors thought that she had had a cerebral hemorrhage. In his 1969 biography, Per Seyersted summarizes what Kate Chopin accomplished. She "broke new ground in American literature," he says. "She was the first woman writer in her country to accept passion as a legitimate subject for serious, outspoken fiction. Revolting against tradition and authority; She was something of a pioneer in the amoral treatment of sexuality, of divorce, and of woman’s urge for an existential authenticity.

14. Kate Chopin

15. On July 12, 1850, Katherine O'Flaherty was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was an immigrant Irishman and her mother was a French-American (Creole). She was the youngest of three children. When Kate was five years old, her father died. She began to view the world differently as a father figure was no longer the center of the household. After her father died, the primary adults in her family consisted primarily of her widowed mother, her widowed grandmother, and her widowed great-grandmother. (Do you see a trend?) Biographical Information

16. Biographical Information (cont.) • In June, 1868, Kate graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis. • Entering the Southern debutante scene of St. Louis, Kate was often considered “the belle of the ball.” • Her background (strong female role models--mother, nuns) did not necessarily prepare her for a “domestic life” that was expected of females at that time. • After visiting New Orleans in 1869, Kate meets and marries Oscar Chopin on June 9, 1870, in St. Louis. • Between 1871 and 1879, Kate performed expected domestic duties and bore six children.

17. The family faced financial difficulties in 1879, and they moved to Cloutierville, Louisiana. Three years later, in 1882, Oscar died suddenly and unexpectedly of malaria. Like her mother years earlier, Kate was left widowed with children, having to settle business affairs on her own. From 1883-1884, Kate was romantically involved with a married man named Albert Sampite. In mid-1884, Kate returns to St. Louis to be with her family. Her mother died the following June. Kate Chopin began writing for publication in 1888. Her first poem, ”If It Might Be,” was published in the literary and political journal America. Biographical Information (cont.)

18. Biographical Information (cont.) • She also published several short stories before privately publishing her first novel At Fault in 1890. • 1893 saw the publication of her well-known short story “Désirée’s Baby” in Vogue magazine. • Between 1894 and 1898, Chopin wrote and published a variety of short stories and novels. • Chopin published The Awakening in 1899, which was met with praise from women despite its scandalous nature (taboo themes dealing with the protagonist’s awareness of her sexuality). • Kate died of a cerebral hemorrhage one day after attending the St. Louis World’s Fair (August 22, 1904).

19. Historical & Social Context “A Pair of Silk Stockings” • Women of the time were expected to give up everything in order to care for their families. • Women were not to show independence or aspirations. • Women were expected to submit to the “domestic role.” • Women were not to be self-indulgent; if anything, they should place their own wants and desires aside in order to better the lives of others in their families (i.e. husband and children).

20. Mrs. Sommers found herself with unexpected money and unexpected desires. She dreamed of living one day for herself and spending the money on herself. She portrayed a desire to live for herself which was contrary to the social norms. The ability to self-indulge gave her great pleasure, but also left feelings of guilt lurking in the corners of her brain. Historical & Social Context “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

21. New stockings, boots, and gloves made her feel like a new woman. She was living a dream. The final bit of self-indulgence was attending a play by herself, knowing that a woman such as herself should not be there enjoying her surroundings. At the end of the day, however, the money was gone and Mrs. Sommers had to return to her old life. Historical & Social Context “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

22. The possibility of surviving on her own, however, remained. She had the strength to be independent and to enjoy her life. The women of the time were beginning to realize a desire for independence. Small changes were emerging as women began to be more self-indulgent and to voice their opinions. Chopin’s characters explore the possibility of a woman creating her own destiny. Historical & Social Context “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

23. Similes “A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster…” “he bowed before her as before a princess of royal blood.” Imagery “an all-gone limp feeling had come over her” “to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers.” Writing Style “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

24. Chopin focuses on the events of a single afternoon in a woman’s life. By doing so, she allows the reader digest not only the details of the story but also the message behind the story. Writing Style “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

25. “How good was the touch of raw silk to her flesh! She felt like lying back in the cushioned chair and reveling for awhile in the luxury of it. She did for a little while. Then she replaced her shoes, rolled the cotton stockings together and thrust them into her bag. After doing this, she crossed straight over to the shoe department to be fitted. She was fastidious. The clerk could not make her out; he could not reconcile her shoes with her stockings, and she was not too easily pleased.” Writing Style “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

26. Syntax Manipulates short and long sentences effectively. Offers pauses when needed. Diction Chooses precise words to best express the story. Combines formal and informal language of the time. Writing Style “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

27. Reflective Chopin starts with a darker tone reflecting Mrs. Sommers’s life. Life is hard; she has much about which to worry; she should not self-indulge. As Mrs. Sommers begins “to live it up” a bit, the tone becomes lighter and brighter. At the end, however, Chopin leaves readers with a sense of hope: “unless he were wizard enough to detect a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever.” TONE “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

28. Chopin wished to suggest that women had the power to determine their own destinies. She wrote for women and about women. At the time, most men did not understand why women were not content with their lives. EVALUATION

29. Chopin was considered “cutting edge”; she defied social norms. For that reason, she should be applauded for her courage and bravery. Her ideas and her writing has earned her a permanent home in the study of modern American literature. EVALUATION

30. Chopin, Kate. “A Pair of Silk Stockings.” Electronic Text Center: University of Virginia Library. 10 Jan. 2002 <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/ChoSilk.html>. “Kate Chopin: A Re-Awakening--Chronology.” PBS Online. 12 Jan 2003 <http://www.pbs.org/katechopin/chronology.html>. McGovern, Linda. “Footprints in Clouteirville.” Literary Traveler. 1998. 12 Jan 2003 <www.literarytraveler.com/summer/south/clout.htm>. Reuben, Paul P. “Chapter 6: Late Nineteenth Century: 1890-1910--Kate Chopin (1851-1904).” PAL: Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide. 14 Jan 2002 <http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap6/chopin.html>. BIBLIOGRAPHY