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LLT 4: Who Is Kate Chopin?
Please read through this Lecture/Talkback, and input your responses inside the answer boxes. At any time, use the Comments feature to add your own questions or input.
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Women
Part I, Quiz
This quiz is worth 0 points. But, I’d love to see your answers; just type them at the end of or under the question. Don’t go to the Internet—just do your best. I always appreciate inventive answers. I’ll post the answers after I have received all of the quizzes.
What was the Suffragette Movement and how long did it last?
When did women get the right to vote?
What was the leading cause of death for a woman in the 19th century?
What’s hysteria?
What’s ennui?
Who was Madame Bovary?
Why is New Orleans heavily French in its influence?
What was the primary goal of a woman in the 1890s and why?
With regards to women applicants, in 1846, the American Medical Association permitted/banned women from attending.
In the 1890s, what percent of physicians do you think were women?
5 percent
10 percent
15 percent
In the 1980s, what percent of physicians do you think were women?
17 percent
27 percent
37 percent
What percent of active (working) physicians does the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation identify as women in 2018?
34 percent
46 percent
50 percent
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Have you read the entire novella? It’s 39 Chapters long. Some students read the whole novella first, taking notes as they go. I think that’s the best way to go. If you aren’t one of those students, please read the first 13 chapters before going any further. I’ll wait.
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Part 2, Gut Reactions
Chopin’s novella garnered a strong reaction. Think about what makes this book incite strong emotions—even today.
Edna hasn’t been oppressed or harmed by her husband
She has all the money she needs
Her kids are normal
Yet, the situation of this middle class, married woman leads her to quite a shocking end.
How did Kate Chopin ever conceive of this? She was an extremely busy mother of a large family; for most of her life she was a single mom. We need to sit her down with Oprah, Dr. Phil, or Tyra to find out.
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Just a reminder—if you haven’t finished the whole novella yet, take a break from this LLT and read chapters 14-26.
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Part 3, Who, Where, and Why
Kate Chopin fast facts
Born in 1850 to a wealthy family from St. Louis
Chopin’s father died when she was young; she’s raised by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Chopin’s grandmother was a divorcee and business owner
Well-educated, top of her class, assertive
Lost friends and family to vagaries of Civil War
1870 Married at age 20 to a husband who supported Chopin’s fierce independence
Lived in New Orleans, where her husband failed at business, and she raised a large family (7 kids)
1882 While her kids were small, their father died and Kate was single mom who ran the plantation and the business
1884 Chopin moves to St. Louis to get some help from her mother, who died soon after. Then Chopin supports her children by writing.
Chopin’s novels meet with some success.
1899 The Awakening caused a tremendous uproar; Chopin was shunned by many because of this novella.
Regionalism
This is a place story—a genre of late 19th century writing tied to regionalism. (Twain was a master at this, noting how different regions have different customs, maps, events, folks—in a nation divided North and South, the notion of a distinct region with America was essential.)
New Orleans has specific streets and a culture, especially among the wealthy and elite.
Louisiana: Southern, Creole, French, American—mix of culture
Catholic in a Protestant nation
Creole women are conservative
According to the French code, then a part of Louisiana’s law and culture, women were considered the property of their husbands.
What did you learn about the place for women in this region?
Type here.
Realism, Naturalism, Regionalism
What makes this realism? Chopin’s use of details; the subject matter (middle-class, average Americans)
Take a look at Chapter XXIII, when Edna’s father visits.
Type in a quote from this chapter that reflects either realism, naturalism, or regionalism. Tell me which it is. Bonus points if you can find one quote that reflects more than one!
Type here.
***************************************************************************************************************OK, then. The next questions contain spoilers and refer to the final chapters of the novella. Finish it up, and then come back to the LLT.
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What was so radical?
I like to imagine questioning the reading audience of the late 19th Century about their outrageous response to this novel.
Here’s what freaked them out:
Edna did not want to sacrifice herself entirely to her children and husband
She says, “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” (Chapter XVI). She is addressing the crucial issue for many of Kate Chopin’s women — the winning of a self, the keeping of it.
Society resists when they admonish her to “Think of the children, Edna…” (Chapter XXXVII)
Edna wanted a passion, a job (art was OK, piano was OK, finance/business was not)
Edna was not completely satisfied by domestic duties
An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day. (Chapter III)
Edna is aware of sex both inside and outside of marriage; she has had two—not just one—lovers
Edna is in charge—she’s not helpless or weak
“The house, the money it provides for…the feeling of freedom and independence” (Chapter XXVI)
To the best of your ability—and, for fun—in the voice of your favorite talk show host and/or reality TV star, please explain what is meant by “The Awakening.” (If you don’t watch talk shows or Reality TV, feel free to mock them while answering the question.)
Type here.
Whew! It’s a good thing our 21st Century culture has come really far from that. However, this video might suggest otherwise.
(This should link you to Oprah on Desperate Housewives). (They keep pulling it off, so you may have to search within Youtube.)
Part 4, The Awakening
I believe you can trace Edna’s awakening by seeing her take specific, liberating actions throughout the novel. These are some of the big ideas, or recurring themes in the novel:
Learning to swim
Edna had attempted all summer to learn to swim…A feeling of exultation intoxicated with power (Chapter 10).
How does the ending make this an action ironic?
Type here.
Experiencing music and passion
But the very passions themselves were aroused within her soul, saying it, lashing it, as the waves daily beat upon her splendid body (Chapter 9).
What is the connection between artistic expression and her body and soul?
Type here.
As she awakens, she breaks boundaries. Here are some places in which she oversteps the social norms as she awakens into something “more” than a middle-class housewife.
Having Sex
Arobin’s caressing her (Chapters 27 & 31)
“Kissing” Robert (Chapter 35)
Why do you think she has the affairs?
Type here.
Ignoring her Domestic Duties
“She’s odd, she’s not like herself…She let the housekeeping go to the dickens.” (Chapter 22)
Foolish and childish to stamp the ring…she made no ineffectual effort to conduct her household…I feel like painting! (Chapter 19)
Is she a bad mother? Explain your answer.
Type here.
Chopin’s Clues
Think about the clues that Chopin offers to help the reader understand the causes and consequences of Edna’s transformation. Notice how Chopin brings up the following:
Art (painting and music): a form of expression, solitary, can achieve perfection, creative but still acceptable for a woman to do
Dressing and undressing: the risks of wearing or changing underclothes, of being covered, , of clothes “making the man,” of being a slave to fashion, of hiding and discovering the body, of swimming naked
Indoors and Outdoors: the locked tower or house in which women are “kept”, the rose garden (domesticated nature), the wilds/the sea
“The voice of the sea was seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude, to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul… (Chapter 6)”
Part 5, Your Analysis
On the Discussion Board, I have placed a forum for Chopin’s The Awakening. I have also listed your name next to 1-3 chapters of the novella. (Some chapters are longer and some are shorter.) Carefully read through your assigned chapter(s). Locate a few key quotations that support one or more of the following ideas: Edna’s awakening; art and music; indoor and outdoor spaces; dress; manners; regionalism; roles of men; and roles of women.
Go ahead and record them here:
Chapter #
Quote
Analysis
Type here
Then, Click on the Forum for Chopin’s The Awakening.
Find the thread that corresponds to your Chapter(s)
Enter your quotation, the page number, and VERY BRIEF analysis of the quote
The post LLT 4: Who Is Kate Chopin? appeared first on Homework Aider.
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