1. Regret
Kate Chopin –

2. Kate Chopin
1851 – 1904
Born in St. Louis, lived her married life in Louisiana
Returned to St. Louis when her husband died
Turned to writing to support her family and create an identity

3. Chopin lost most of her closest relatives while she was a young woman.
Her father died when she was a child and her husband and mother died close together.
After her husband’s death, she was left to raise their five children alone.

4. She came from a fairly wealthy family; after her husband died she felt the need to write and be more independent, especially since, after her mother’s death, she had no close relatives left.

5. Her Work
Chopin wrote two published novels and about a hundred short stories in the 1890s.
Most of her fiction is set in Louisiana and most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women

6. Most of her work shows a female protagonist trying to find her way in the world and make a statement about her role in the family/society and her individual identity.
Her work was considered controversial at the time, and was often difficult to get published

7. Literary Term
Inference – the process of arriving at some conclusion that, though it is not logically derivable from the assumed premises, possesses some degree of probability relative to the premises
In literature, inference is “the act of examining a story in order to determine what the story means or what message the story is trying to convey.”

8. Creole The story takes place in Louisiana in the late 1800s
The characters speak a form of English called “Creole,” a variant developed by French speaking people who came to America over 200 years ago
This is not a story about slavery – this is a free plantation owned by the main character

9. Regret, page 136 Background:
This short story is very brief, yet very complete
It intentionally leaves an feeling of being unfinished to the reader
The female protagonist in the story is typical of Chopin’s characters, searching for identity

10. Class Work
Read “Regret,” identifying any elements we have studied in previous lessons:
Personification
Foreshadowing
Connotation/Denotation
Etc.
Complete Literary Critique questions, page 140, #s 1-10

11. Class Work Identify the use of inference in the story
Identify the theme of the story
Discussion: How does Chopin use inference to convey her message (the theme)?