1. With a dash of Regionalism and Naturalism
Kate Chopin
With a dash of Regionalism and Naturalism

2. Warm Up: Discuss the following questions
What do you know about feminism?
What are the negative and positive connotations you’ve heard about feminism in our society?
Do you consider yourself a feminist?

3. Modern Feminism? Justin Trudeau was recently elected PM of Canada.
He had some very interesting thoughts on feminism recently, but has also taken action to put women in places of power.
50% of his cabinet is female.
As you watch the video, consider what your definition of feminism is, and how it is similar or different to Trudeau’s?
Justin Trudeau's Thoughts on Feminism

4. Remember:
Nation is dealing with reunification- not working out so well
Many immigrants are flooding the country.
Wealth is held by a few, and the idea that the most capable will survive or conquer prevails.
People are continually feeling that life is working against them.

5. So much change leads to a renewed effort to capture the flavor of a region.
- Regionalism: realistic portrayal of a specific region
- Local Color: using characteristics of a place to make it more realistic (geographical references, dialect, etc.)
This exposed Americans to other regions of the country that they otherwise would not experience.
Regionalism

6. Naturalism Tried to determine why humans act certain ways
— Effect of natural and social forces on the individual
— Portrayed rich in a poor light.
— Mythic situations – open sea, deserted island, wilderness, etc.
Nature is against man.
Man is helpless.
Human destiny is beyond human control.
Heredity and social environment will shape character.

7. The Changing Role for Women
Women are seeking more freedom from patriarchal society.
Demand for more education and rights
Literature written by women includes tragic endings, madness, ruin, scandal, and death.
Naturalism connection: Environment shapes their situation; forces are working against women
Popular authors: Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

8. Kate Chopin

9. Kate Chopin ( )
Grew up surrounded by smart, intelligent, single women.
•Great-grandmother was first woman in St. Louis to legally divorce her husband.
• She becomes cynical regarding the dating customs of the time.
•She doesn’t like the view that women’s opinions are unneeded.
• Regionalism: Her stories are set in Louisiana (usually around New Orleans) and deal extensively with Creole culture.
•Naturalism: Her characters are often powerless to forces beyond their control.

10. Kate Chopin

11. •Married Oscar Chopin, moves to New Orleans, exposed to his Creole culture.
•They have a good marriage, he appreciates her intelligence and independence, and she is "allowed" unheard of freedom.
•Husband died, and she moved back to St. Louis.
Has an “affair” (think of the time…)
Begins writing to support herself- has respectable success.
•Her first novel published in 1890.
•She maintained an active social life.
•She gained success: Many reviewers found her collection of stories pleasant and charming. They liked its use of local dialects.
•Then she wrote The Awakening.

12. The Awakening
• Controversial for its then unprecedented treatment of female independence and sexuality.
• Story focuses on a woman who has affairs & asks questions about marriage and woman’s role in society that were unpopular.
• Edna, in naturalist tradition, feels trapped once her affairs become uncontrollable.
• A few critics praised the novel’s artistry, but most were very negative, calling the book “morbid,” “unpleasant,” “unhealthy,” “sordid,” “poison.”

13. The Awakening Published in 1899 Originally titled A Solitary Soul
Presents a character who challenges all that is expected of a female of the time: devotion to her husband and children, lack of sensuality or sexual desire, little to no self identity.
Believed to be the precursor to modern feminism writing

14. The Consequences of Trailblazing
• Published two more stories after The Awakening and died of a brain hemorrhage while attending the St. Louis World Fair.
• Like Edna, Chopin paid the price for defying social rules.
Did not really write all that much more; never able to find solid literary success either following
• A 1894 comment to a literary reviewer explains that Chopin wanted to write about the importance of describing “human existence in its subtle, complex, true meaning, stripped of the veil with which ethical and conventional standards have draped it.”

15. Rediscovering Chopin
A critic writing in 1969 said that she “was the first woman writer in her country to accept passion as a legitimate subject for serious, outspoken fiction. [ ] She was something of a pioneer in the amoral treatment of sexuality, of divorce, and of woman’s urge for an existential authenticity. She is in many respects a modern writer, particularly in her awareness of the complexities of truth and the complications of freedom.”
It seems, too, that this realistic depiction of feminism was Chopin’s goal.

16. The Awakening Reviewed: Then
Perhaps the most jarring characteristic of the initial reviews for today’s readers is the overwhelming and explicit focus on moral criteria. More than 90 percent of the reviews raised the issue of The Awakening’s morality and used it as at least one measure of the novel’s worth in The unfavorable judgments of the main character focused on two related but distinct aspects of her character: Her immorality and her selfishness.

17. The Awakening Reviewed: Then
“The Awakening is most unpleasant” (Boston Herald 1899). “It is poison” (G.B. 1899). “The author herself would likely tear to pieces the novel if only some other person had written it” (St. Louis Daily GlobeDemocrat 1899). Chopin was described as a writer of “sex fiction.” “65 percent of the reviews judged The Awakening unfavorably” because it didn’t condemn Edna's immoral and selfish actions. But why did the opinion of the book change again?

18. The Awakening Reviewed: Now
Reinterpreted with the perspective of Feminist Criticism.
Feminist Criticism is different than feminism.
Feminist Criticism is looking at a novel through perceptions and experiences of a woman. It often focuses on the roles men and women have in a novel and how those roles explain something about society.
A Feminist reading of TSL, for example, presents a much different interpretation of the novel than the one I gave you.
The drama of TSL is really the drama of the patriarchal society's need to control female sexuality in the most basic way.
We, of course, looked at it in terms of how society attempts to control an individual without any focus on that individual’s gender.
Gender is impossible to ignore, however, in a careful analysis of The Awakening.

19. The Awakening Reviewed: Now
The new Feminist interpretive strategies created a reading of The Awakening in which the central theme became that of an independent female self exploring her individualized identity and sexuality in a world that largely refuses to recognize women outside of their roles as wife and mother. Such a reading obviously creates a narrative fundamentally different from those that understood the novel as a story of a “selfish” or “most foolish” woman. Thinking about the 1960s and 70s, wouldn’t this make sense?

20. Setting: Places
Grand Isle, a coastal resort area in Louisiana, and the city of New Orleans. The novel begins in Grand Isle, shifts to New Orleans and concludes in Grand Isle.

21. Setting: Culture
The novel is set in the late 1800s after slavery has been abolished. Most of the characters are of Creole descent. This means there are some French phrases in the novel, and some allusions to what it means to be part of the Creole culture.

22. The Awakening: Characters
Edna Pontellier: 28, married woman. The protagonist.
Her family is originally from Kentucky.
Is beginning to learn that there is more to life than being a wife and mother.
Leonce Pontellier: Edna’s husband.
He is a successful business man of Creole descent.
They have a vacation home on Grand Isle and a house in New Orleans.
He loves his wife but is rather oblivious to the changes taking place within her.
Together, they have two children.

23. The Awakening: Characters
Madame (Mme.) Adele Ratignolle: the grand dame of Grand Isle.
She represents the perfect “mother woman.”
She is devoted to her family completely and can’t understand why Edna questions her role as a wife and mother.
Robert Lebrun: 26-year old bachelor.
Has a history of “courting” the ladies who spend their summers at Grand Isle (it’s mostly play).
He begins spending more and more time with Edna and, well, its different than the others .

24. The Awakening: Characters
Mlle. Reisz: single, older woman.
Plays the piano.
Symbolically pushes Edna to become independent.
Alcee Arobin:
Handsome, single man who lives in New Orleans.
He has a bit of a reputation for being a player?

25. Ch. 1 Let’s look at ch. 1 together.
What do you think a caged bird might represent/symbolize?
When Mr. P becomes bored with the parrots, he is free to leave them. Does the parrot have that same choice?
The fifth paragraph gives you part of the setting. What is it?
Describe Mr. P.
Chopin describes Mr. P as looking at his wife as if she were “a valuable piece of property” (2). What do you make of this diction choice here?

26. Closure
So now that we’ve been exposed to what roles women were subjected to in the 19th century, have you changed your opinion on feminism?
Do you now find something appealing in Trudeau’s message?
Can you understand--or even contextualize--how far society has come in 150 years?