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The Awakening

The Awakening. Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin. 1850: born Kate O’Flatery in St. Louis Raise by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother (after her father’s death) Attended Sacred Heart Academy Skeptical of religion because of tragedies in her life that occurred around religious holidays.

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The Awakening

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  1. The Awakening Kate Chopin

  2. Kate Chopin • 1850: born Kate O’Flatery in St. Louis • Raise by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother (after her father’s death) • Attended Sacred Heart Academy • Skeptical of religion because of tragedies in her life that occurred around religious holidays

  3. 1870: married Oscar Chopin, moved to New Orleans, had 7 children • 1882: Oscar dies, Kate moves home, writes stories & books to support her family • 1890: first novel, At Fault • 1894: short story collection, Bayou Folk • 1897: 2nd short story collection, A Night in Acadia • 1899: The Awakening (deemed controversial) • August 22, 1904: Chopin dies after a cerebral hemorrhage

  4. The Awakening: Setting • 19th century (turn of the century) • Industrial Revolution (lowest class of women go to work for the first time) • Southern Louisiana • in/around New Orleans • Cultural forces: American, Southern, & Creole

  5. Cultural Influences: American • Driving forces of the Industrial Revolution • Women work for the first time • Middle-class women are expected to stay at home and look pretty • Women’s suffrage movement is gaining power • Women who supported the movement were deemed unfeminine and rebellious

  6. Cultural Influences: Southern • Has its own set of standards • Technologically behind the North • Still suffering the effects of the Civil War • Women are more subordinate • South takes longer to develop industrially and socially because of antebellum values

  7. Cultural Influences: Creole • Catholic in a Protestant country • Very conservative • Committed to husbands & children • A woman belonged to her husband & the male had absolute control over the family • Deep personal & religious commitment to fidelity • No hope of feminist movement taking hold

  8. Influences: 4 Literary Movements • Romantic Movement / Romanticism • Realism • Naturalism • Local Color writers

  9. Themes • Independence • Awakening • Social Constraints • Men vs. Women = perception & roles • Solitude • Self-expression • Suffering • Death/suicide • Love/romance/sexual relationships

  10. Symbols / Motifs Art Food Birds Swimming Clothes The moon Houses Sea – ocean, gulf Sleep Music

  11. Major Characters • Edna Pontellier • Leonce Pontellier • Robert Lebrun • Adele Ratignolle • M. Reisz • Alcee Acrobin

  12. Minor Characters • Victor Lebrun • Mariequita • The Colonel • Etienne and Raoul Pontellier • Mrs. Highcamp • The lady in black • The two lovers

  13. finis

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