Kate Chopin(1850-1904)

Katherine O’Flaherty

• February 8, 1850• St. Louis, Missouri• Thomas O’Flaherty,

her father, was of Irish descent

• Eliza Faris, her mother, was of French descent

Strong Women• Eliza O’Flaherty – A

member of the French-Creole community. Widowed at age 27, Kate’s mother never remarried.

• Her grandmother, Madame Charleville, and great-grandmother had been widowed at an early age and never remarried.

• Her great-great-grandmother and her husband were the first to be granted a legal separation in St. Louis.

Early Education

• Sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart at age 5, she left after only 2 months when her father died.

• Her great-grandmother taught her music, history, French, and the need to “live life clearly and fearlessly.”

• Two years later, Kate returned to school.

Academy of the Sacred HeartGrand Coteau, Louisiana

Kate’s Commonplace Book

• After seeing her depressed, a nun encouraged Kate to begin a personal journal.

• She wrote in her journal until the end of her three month honeymoon in Europe.

Kate: The Woman• Met Oscar Chopin at

19 and married him on June 9, 1870.

• Moved to New Orleans.

• After the failure of his business, he moved his family to Natchitoches Parish.

• Oscar died in 1883 after contracting swamp fever.

• He left Kate with 6 children.

Kate and Four of Her Children

Kate: The Writer

• After having moved back to St. Louis, Kate’s mother died.

• Kate started writing to ease her pain and to help support her children.

I suppose this is what you would call unwomanly; but I have got into the habit of expressing myself. It doesn't matter to me, and you may think me unwomanly if you like.

Kate Chopin: A Re-Awakening

• PBS peered into Kate Chopin’s world

Click on the hyperlink to view a clip from the PBS documentary on Chopin’s life.

The Awakening

Grand isle, Louisiana

"Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer; than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's

life."

http://www.literarytraveler.com/summer/south/chopin.htm

The Writing of The Awakening

Cover of The Awakeninghttp://www.pbs.org/katechopin/library/awakening/

"Having a group of people at my disposal, I thought it might be entertaining (to myself) to throw them together and see what would happen. I never dreamed of Mrs. Pontellier making such a mess of things and working out her own damnation as she did. If I had the slightest intimation of such a thing, I would have excluded her from the company. But when I found out what she was up to, the play was half over, and it was then too late."

Scandal• After The Awakening was published

in 1899, literary critics condemned her novel for the sexual promiscuity of the protagonist.

• After a decade of writing, Kate Chopin ends her literary career.

• Kate dies on August 20, 1904 of a cerebral hemorrhage after attending the St. Louis World’s Fair.

Works Cited

• “Academy of the Sacred Heart.” http://www.ashcoteau.org/• “Classical Archives.” http://www.classicalarchives.com/• “Kate Chopin.”

http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/chopin1.htm

• “Kate Chopin: A Re-Awakening.” http://www.pbs.org/katechopin/program.html

• “Kate Chopin: A Woman Ahead of Her Time.” http://www.angelfire.com/nv/English243/Chopin.html

Kate Chopin and Vogue!http://www.katechopin.org/#Vogue

Local Color!!

Now you teach!

• Divide into your assigned groups and take the topic you have been given, research it, and create a brief PowerPoint of about 5 slides to teach us!

• Include pictures!!!!!

• Samii, Hunter L., Zach L., Troy: Define “Local Color” and what it means to be a French Creole (include the structure of the society)

• Brady, Allison, Tom, Hayley: The landscape and location of the French Creole culture

• Joseph, Summer, Charlene, Hunter J.: Architecture• Kaleigh, Joe, Joleigh, Janet: Clothing and Food• Palmer, Davis, Courtney, Ethan: Unique Customs• Megan, Casey, Brandon, Andrew: Language• Zoe, Monica, Mindi, Rebekah: Family Structure• Sarah, Trevor, Saoirse, Jake: Entertainment and Pastimes

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1992/2/92.02.02.x.html#j

Realism in The Awakening

http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm

• Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail. Selective presentation of reality with an emphasis on verisimilitude, even at the expense of a well-made plot.– Verisimilitude: depicting the truth

• Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject.

• Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive; they are in explicable relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past.

• Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent middle class.

• Events will usually be plausible. Realistic novels avoid the sensational, dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and romances.

• Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

Realism• Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail. Selective

presentation of reality with an emphasis on verisimilitude, even at the expense of a well-made plot

• Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject.

• Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive; they are in explicable relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past.

• Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent middle class.

• Events will usually be plausible. Realistic novels avoid the sensational, dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and romances.

• Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

• Objectivity in presentation becomes increasingly important: overt authorial comments or intrusions diminish as the century progresses.