KATE CHOPIN

1850-1904
Kate Chopin
 born Kate O’Flaherty in St. Louis in 1850

 a St. Louis debutant and marries Oscar Chopin in 1870

 moves to New Orleans

 Oscar dies in 1882 of malaria

 left with six children, debt, and a struggling family store to

run

 has an affair with a local

Background cont’d

 returns to St. Louis in 1884 to be with her mother,

mother dies 1 yr. later
 starts to write (therapeutic) and publish full-time
 “ The Story of An Hour” and “A Pair of Silk Stockings”
published in a collection of short stories Bayou Folk in
1894
 The Awakening, (originally titled A Solitary Soul), is
published in 1899—basiclly ends her career
 Chopin and her novel were rebuked by the press
for Edna’s behavior
 It was called “shocking,” “sickening,” and “poison.”
 dies 1904 of a brain hemorrhage
Impact on American society
 Feminism: regarded as one of the pioneers of early
American feminism, helped bring attention to women’s
rights moments
 influenced later feminist authors and critics
 not a social reformer
 goal was to describe accurately, the lives of women and
men in the nineteenth-century America she knew
Foreshadowing
 the use of clues to hint at events that will occur
later in the plot
 purpose is to create suspense and surprise
Foreshadowing
 “The Story of An Hour”
 Unique reaction to her husband’s death
 Louise's beautiful face "whose lines bespoke (signify) repression."
Chopin mentions that her face reflected "repression"; so, the
woman felt repressed in her role as a wife--indicating that
she might not be sad to be relieved of that role.
 Then, as Louise looks out the window after hearing of the
tragedy of her husband's death, she sees "the tops of trees
that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious
breath of rain was in the air. ...and countless sparrows were
twittering in the eaves.“
 Chopin writes that Louise could sense a feeling coming and
"was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it?"
Foreshadowing cont’d
 “The Story of An Hour”
 Louise’s unfortunate demise at the end of the story
 Inthe beginning of the story, the reader views Mrs.
Mallard’s sister and Richards being afraid to tell Mrs.
Mallard of her husband’s death because they were afraid
of how her heart would take it…“Knowing that Mrs. Mallard
was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to
break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's
death.” Wouldn’t it also makes sense then that she would
have heart trouble in being shocked at the news of his still
being alive?
Irony the use of words to convey a meaning that is the
opposite of its literal meaning:

Verbal Irony
 Verbal irony is when someone says the opposite of what
they really mean.
Dramatic irony
 In dramatic irony, the audience knows more about
what's going on in a story than the characters do.
Situational Irony
 Situational irony occurs when the outcome of a situation
is the opposite of what you expected it to be.
 Verbal irony
 The ending, when Louise dies, supposedly of "a joy that
kills,"

 Situational irony
 Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the news of her husband’s
death
 Mr. Mallard actually being alive at the end

 Mrs. Mallard not dying when she heard the bad news,
her husband is dead, but when she heard the good
news, her husband is alive and walked through the
door, she dies
“A Pair of Silk Stockings”
 Irony (discrepancy between appearances and reality)
 Situational
 Mrs. Sommers receives the windfall of some money, she plans the
"judicious use of the money." However, ironically, it is not for the
children that she spends her money, nor is her choice frugal, although
this is what she ponders:
 Mrs. Sommers "was one who knew the value of bargains; who could
stand for hours making her way inch by inch toward the desired
object.." when, in fact, Mrs. Sommers indulges herself quietly and
quickly.
 Verbal
 Title “A Pair of Silk Stockings” suggests a narrative for the
rich; it is not