Kate Chopin

## Biography

1850 - Born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

From an Irish and French family.

Grew up speaking French as well as English.

1855 – Her father died.

1855-1868 – Attended the St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart.

1867-1870 – Kept a journal in which she recorded diary entries and copy passages of essays and poems.

1869 - Wrote a little sketch “Emancipation: A Life Fable” about freedom and independence.

1870 - Married to Oscar Chopin and Moved to New Orleans

1871 -1879 – Gave birth to six children

1879 – Moved to Northern west Louisiana

1882 – Became a widow

1883 – Moved back to St. Louis with her family.

“(…) Her friends remembered most her quiet manner and quick Irish wit, embellished with a gift for mimicry. A

gracious, easy-going hostess, she enjoyed laughter, music, and dancing, but especially intellectual talk, and she could

express her own considered opinions with surprising directness.”” (Barbara Ewell)

1886 – Began to write fiction with the purpose of making a living and support her children.

1889 – Wrote children stories and other stories which were published in newspapers and magazines.

1890 – Published, privately, her first novel At Fault about a young widow seeking to reconcile her own needs with those of the people she is responsible for. She wrote more than 100 stories which were published, when not rejected, in prestigious magazines and newspapers.

1892 – Wrote “Desiree´s Baby” after struggling with finding a publisher who does not ban her work. The sort story is set before the American Civil War, about a baby and a racial crisis between a husband and wife. For over half a century, it has been one of Chopin’s most popular stories.

1894 – Travelled to Indiana and published an essay about her knowledge and experiences as a writer.

Wrote “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin’s short story about the thoughts of a woman after she is told that her husband has died in an accident. The story first appeared in Vogue in 1894 and is today one of Chopin’s most popular works.

1898 – Wrote “Athenaise” and “Fedora”. “Athénaïse” is Kate Chopin’s short story about a wilful young woman who runs away from her husband’s Louisiana plantation and lives secretly in New Orleans.

1896 – Wrote “A Pair of Silk Stocking”, about a woman fallen on hard times who receives an unexpected windfall. It describes how the woman spends the money.

1898 – Wrote “The Storm”. Because of its sexual content, it was not published until 1969.

1899 – Published her second novel The Awakening about a married woman seeking greater personal freedom and a more fulfilling life. Condemned as morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable when it appeared in 1899, it is today acclaimed as an essential American book.

CRITICISM AND ASSESSMENT OF THE AUTHOR´S WORK

During her life span her works were mostly considered morbid, unpleasant, and poison. 50 years later, critics began to understand the essence of her work and her pieces are now considered of enormous influence on women´s nature and position in society. All her novels and stories are now published and there are mor than 400 articles, 60 books, and 160 speeches about her work.

“(she)broke new ground in American literature. 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; with a daring which we can hardy fathom today; with an uncompromising honesty and no trace of sensationalism, she undertook to give the unsparing truth about woman’s submerged life. 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.” (Per Seyersted in Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography.)

LITERARY STYLE

She was a talented and prolific short story writer, influenced by the creole heritage and a profound interest and a unique perspective about womanhood. In her works she gave more prominence to character than plot and she developed an exceptional use of words, irony, and evocative language to explore controversial these that challenge the reader and, therefore, society.

-DEPICTION OF CREOLE SOCIETY AND CULTURE: REGIONALISM

In her works, Chopin explores in depth the creole´s society and culture by characters customs, manners, dialect and life. Through creole people´s appreciation of art, music, their freedom, and the role of women in the creole´s culture are examples of her regionalist writing.

-CUTTING-EDGE INCLUSION OF FEMINIST IDEAS

Her novels and short stories provide a female perspective on life, needs, interests and emotions.

She very well depicted women´s role in the American society of the 19th century and challenged it by creating female characters who go against society´s norms.

She changes the role of female characters from object to subject, as well as she deals with taboo themes as sexuality, men´s misogyny, notions of marriage, adultery, and female liberation and independence.

## Historical & Cultural Context

**1850 – 1904 AMERICA**

1850 - The Compromise of 1850

1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act

1860 - The Confederate States of America secession from the USA.

1861 – 1865 The American Civil War

1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation

**1880/1904 – MISSOURI, ST. LOUIS - LOUISIANA, NEW ORLEANS.**

18TH Century – It was a Spanish colony, then a French colony, because of geographical interest. It was a land mainly involved in the slavery trade; native Africans were taken to the French territory in Louisiana as slaves. In 1803 the new American purchased the territory and a multicultural and multilingual heritage resulted from the influence of its Spanish, French, French Canadian, African, and native American inhabitants.  This creole people living in Louisiana, descendants from the previous settles and rules, shared language, customs, cuisine, music and art. This heritage connected descendants to their colonial roots: European immigrants, former African slaves, or those of mixed ancestry while the Anglo-Americans looked down at the “creole” people for being mixed races: Too white to be black, too black to be white” Maurice Martinez https://youtu.be/2tfVpHYyDcY

**FEMINISM IN AMERICA**

1848 - The first wave of feminism in America, took place in the 18th and 19th century. The goal of this wave was to open up opportunities for women, with a focus on suffrage. The wave formally began at the Seneca Falls Convention when three hundred men and women rallied to the cause of equality for women.

1866- Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the American Equal Rights Association, an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of suffrage for all.

1869- the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed in order to break from other suffragists who supported the passage of the 15th Amendment, which would give African American men the right to vote before women.

1890- The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

1909- da B. Wells, a particularly influential activist who participated in the movement for women’s suffrage, was a founding member of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

1915- Margaret Higgins Sanger, was one of the first American birth control activists. She was also a sex educator, writer, and nurse. She popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the United States.

**FEMINIST LITERATURE IN AMERICA**

The Declaration of Sentiments”, Seneca Falls Convention, New York (1848) by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She described women’s injustice and demands, motivating the women's suffrage movement calling for equal rights of women.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a powerful call to change the public's perception about women's rights to make decisions about their own health and medical treatment.

“The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin (1894) about a woman's desire for freedom from marriage in which she thematically argues that oppression can ultimately be a killer.

“The Awakening”(1899), also by Kate Chopin about a woman's discovery of her own sexual needs and desire for independence, caused Chopin to be ostracized and questioned her confidence as a writer.

Main Themes and Interests

Womanhood

Freedom and independency

Self – exploration

Search for voice

Oppression and underestimation

Women´s Rights

## The Storm

LITERARY WORK: A SHORT STORY

Written in 1898 – published in *The Complete Works of Kate Chopin* in 1969.

LANGUAGE: English - Creole dialect

POINT OF VIEW: Third Person

CHARACTERS:

Calixta: she appears also in Chopin’s “At the ‘Cadian Ball”

Bobinôt: husband of Calixta and father of Bibi. Bobinôt also appears in “At the ‘Cadian Ball”

Bibi: Calixta and Bobbinot's four-year-old son.

Alcée Laballière: Alcée also appears in “At the ‘Cadian Ball”. He is Calixta´s lover.

SETTING: The late 19th-century at Friedheimer's store in Louisiana and Calixta´s house.

PLOT:  An adulterous sexual encounter in a stormy night.

TITLE: “The Storm”: symbol of the affair: potentially destructive, intense, natural and passing.

THEMES

* Women´s role: mother and housewife. (3)
* Women´s overwork and unfulfillment. (1)
* Man´s indifference and his concept of woman. (1)
* Sex: a natural act to release tension. (5-6)
* Marriage: adulterous, imperfect, about family and duties more than sex. (6)
* Nature: wild and free as women´s desire. (2-3)

SYMBOLS:

* The Storm = Sexual encounter (3-4)
* The Shrimp = Traditional marriage (6)
* Whiteness = Purity, innocent, natural passion .“She unfastened her white sacque at the throat” (1) “white monumental bed” (3) “white throat and her white breasts” “as white as the couch she lay upon” “(her passion) was like a white flame (4)

ALLUSIONS: *Assumption*, in Christianity, it's a reference to a specific event: the Virgin Mary’s (body and soul) ascent to heaven after she dies. (4)

SIMILE: “(her passion) was like a white flame (4)

## Intro Paragraph

During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War (1861-1865) and its consequences led Realist writers, who showed discontent at the excessive optimism and ornamental aestheticism of the Romantics, to include in their literary works a more objective representation of everyday life as well as a critical outlook of society. Fenced by these ideas, highly influenced by the southern American´s creole culture in which she grew up and her personal life experiences, Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was a novelist and short-story writers whose own experiences as a self-reliant woman as well as her creole heritage resulted in a distinctive writing style. Banned during seventy-one years, Chopin´s short- story “The Storm” (1898) revolves around an adulterous sexual encounter in a stormy night. With this story, Kate Chopin provided a unique and controversial treatment of sexuality, marriage, and women´s role within the creole society in America during the second half of the 19th century.

### MLA citation

Chopin, Kate. "The Storm." 1898. *The Complete Works of Kate Chopin.* Edited by Per Seyersted, Louisiana State University Press, 2006. pp. 592-596.