Transcript The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

Lecture Three, Chopin
and Feminist
Approaches to
Literature
 Review
of Historical/New Criticism
 Feminist Approaches to Reading
Note: We’ll begin Freudian Approaches next week
 Kate
Chopin—context, history, and place
in Literature
 Setting up your Engrade Accounts
 Quiz #1
 Term Paper Assignment (Handout)
 Discussion Question Set #3
 American
author Kate Chopin (1850–1904)
wrote two published novels and about a
hundred short stories in the 1890s. Most of
her fiction is set in Louisiana.
 Published
by some of America's most
prestigious magazines, including Vogue and
the Atlantic Monthly.
 Her
stories appeared in anthologies from the
1920s.
Catherine
(Kate) O'Flaherty was born in St.
Louis, Missouri, on February 8, 1850.
 Her father was Thomas O'Flaherty of County
Galway, Ireland. Her mother was Eliza Faris of St.
Louis.
Kate grew up speaking both French and English.
1868 Kate attended the St. Louis Academy of the
Sacred Heart.
Mentored by woman--by her mother, her
grandmother, great grandmother, as well as by the
Sacred Heart nuns.
Between
1871 and 1879, she gave birth to five
sons and a daughter.
In New Orleans, where she and her husband
lived until 1879, Chopin was at the center of
Southern aristocratic social life.
1882 her husband Oscar died of malaria, in
1885 her mother died too.
She became active in St. Louis literary and
cultural circles, discussing the works of many
writers, including Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel, Émile Zola, and George Sand.
Spent
the Civil War in St. Louis, a city where
residents supported both the Union and the
Confederacy.
Deeply responsive during the period just prior to
her undertaking a literary career to the major new
ideas and fiction of her time, reading fully in
Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and the French
naturalists.
From 1867 to 1870 Kate kept a "commonplace
book" in which she recorded diary entries. Writing
for her was a therapy against depression.
Even
as a child she had lived her own small life all
within herself.
The “Dual Life”/Madwoman in the Attic
The Story of an Hour
Characters, Setting, Meaning
Symbolism, Tone, Irony
 Louise
Mallard
 Brently Mallard: husband of Louise
 Josephine: sister of Louise
 Richards: friend of Brently Mallard
Susan Cahill called the story "one of
feminism's sacred texts," and many readers
have since concluded that Kate Chopin's
sensitivity to what it sometimes feels like to
be a woman is on prominent display in this
work—as it is in The Awakening. Chopin's
often-celebrated yearning for freedom is also
on display here—as is her sense of ambiguity
and her complex way of seeing life. It's
typical of her to note that it is both "men and
women" who "believe they have a right to
impose a private will upon a fellow-creature."
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This short story is about an hour in the life of the main character, Mrs.
Mallard.
She is afflicted with a heart problem. Bad news has come that her
husband has died in a train accident. Her sister Josephine and her
husband’s friend Richards have to break the painful news to her as
gently as possible considering the danger to her health.
Ironically, Mrs. Mallard reacts to the news with excitement. She feels
she is finally free from the depressing life she was living. She can now
live for herself and nobody else.
At the end of the story, Mr. Mallard opens the door. He doesn’t know
anything about an accident. With a quick motion, Richards tries to
block Mr. Mallard’s view of his wife, but it is too late. The doctors
say she died of a heart disease. The story ends with the short phrase
“of joy that kills.”
What prompts the
author to speak at
that time?
To whom is the author
writing? How does the
author appeal to the
audience?
Does the author show his credibility
– that he knows relevant info about
the topic? Is he believable?
What does the author want to
happen? What does the author want
the audience to believe or do?
Does the author offer a clear, reasonable
central idea? Does he develop it with
appropriate reasoning, examples, or details?
Does the author draw on the
emotions and interests of the
audience so they will
sympathize and buy into his
central idea or argument?
Word choice
Sentence structure
“word pictures”
that appeal to
senses
Descriptive language such
as metaphor, simile,
personification, symbol, etc.