Current News Event: Reproductive Rights

If Kate Chopin were alive today, I think the current news event she would be most affected by would be women's right to abortion. Chopin believed in society's recognition that women had their own desires and choices when it came to their lives. With the attack on abortion rights by political stances of pro-choice and pro-life becoming increasingly addressed, women's rights are once again being threatened. Aside from religious beliefs or moral values, Chopin would see this subject as only the beginning if it were restricted. All of her female character's possessed the desire to be independent and be granted the ability to explore their right to make personal choices. For example, in her story The Awakening, Edna did not have many rights beyond her husband and lacked ownership of her own body. Women at this time were not even allowed the ability to chose when or when not to be pregnant. Chopin has a writer's voice that dignifies women for standing up for their beliefs and gives her female readers the encouragement to explore their beliefs without hesitation. She also tested the patriarchal establishment that was present in society at the time and even present in today's society. Since Pro-Life advocates stand against abortion and premarital sex, I believe Chopin would declare her stance as a Pro-Choice advocate. Based on her stories and I can see her being an advocate for reproductive rights. In addition to her own beliefs, she was raised by three independent and headstrong women who I'm sure taught her the value of her own bodily decisions. For this, I feel she would be an excellent defender of women's reproductive rights.

Literary Analysis: "The Storm"

In "The Storm", Kate Chopin attempts to unveil an unhappy marriage between the characters Calixta and her husband, Bobinot. As the story begins, Bobinot and their son, Bibi, are at the store when a storm approaches. They chose to await the storm's passing by staying in the shelter of the store. At this same time, Calixta is at home occupied when the storm arrives. When she goes onto the lawn, she is approached by Alcee, who turns out to be an old lover from her past. There is an instant connection between the two and lustful thoughts begin to ensue. As she gets upset about Bibi being away from her during the weather, Alcee begins to comfort her. They soon reminisce about a time they spent in Assumption together. This conversation soon leads to them sleeping together. Afterwards, Calixta began supper while Bobinot and Bibi traveled home. Alcee wrote his wife that night explaining that he was getting along fine without them and their happiness was his first concern. His wife Clarisse received his letter and admitted that she too could forego their relationship for awhile. 

Chopin addresses the aspects of their unhappy marriage by focusing on Calixta and her personal sexual desires. It appears that Bobinot pays little attention to her needs and desires; therefore; she pursues them with Alcee as he seems to be in tune with her urge to explore her sexual side. Bobinot is depicted as a husband without little authority or dominance with his family. Calixta seems to be seeking a man that possesses these characteristics, which is why she falls so easily for Alcee. From the instant Alcee and Calixta interact we read that "his voice and her own startled her as if from a trance". Chopin's choice of wording here suggests that Calixta was taken over by Alcee's presence. With so many desires and feelings she wants to explore, Calixta is easily convinced to commit adultery with Alcee. She gave herself up openly and affixed herself to the passion between them. I think in this moment Calixta feels more needed and desired by a man since she last encountered Alcee in Assumption. The dialect Chopin selects to depict the story is that of a realistic nature. It is told in third person point of view allowing the reader to understand the thoughts of the narrator as well as what the other characters were thinking. Chopin's ability to create descriptive images through her wording aid in the reader's understanding of what Calixta is feeling and how the interaction with Alcee satisfied her inner urges. 

By addressing female sexuality in "The Storm", Chopin challenges society's patriarchal rules and presents the idea that women have a say in their sexual desires. At a time when women's personal desires or needs were not addressed nor shared, Calixta's character serves as a testament to the women of the time period. Chopin also significantly influences women by explaining that when satisfied, their inner desires will subside. Much like how "the storm passed and every one was happy".

Realism & Feminist Literary Movements

Kate Chopin was part of two major literary movements over the span of her writing career since most of her novels and short stories were published between the 1890s and late 19th century. First, she belonged to the Literary Realism Movement because her writings centered around realistic feelings and the isolation felt by her character's when exploring their inner desires. Realism authors are defined as viewing "structure and problems of governing power as debatable and reformable". Chopin's characters Edna and Calixta definitely saw their husbands as the governing power over their independence. These powers were debated by their actions taken to pursue their personal desires. Chopin's writings were also significantly influential in the feminist movement that began in the late 19th century. In her writings "The Storm" and The Awakening, Chopin develops female characters with strong sexual desires and who rebel against the patriarchal culture that was present in the late 1800s. Chopin pushed the conceptions of female behavior and desires by allowing her characters to explore beyond the conformities set for them at the time. Jarlath Killeen explains Chopin's involvement in both literary movements in her following statement: "The claim to self-ownership in The Awakening is a pathetic delusion from which Edna must indeed finally awaken: she must become either Adele Ratignolle or Mademoiselle Reisz in this world of stark realism where the world and the various cultural, social, patriarchal and even feminine natural values are always already in control of the self". These values were often tested by Chopin in her writings. I believe her writings involving Realism and Feminism themes aided in encouraging the women's rights movement that would eventually allow women to be seen as a gender to be valued.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 12: American Realists and Naturalists. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Donald Pizer, Newcomb College, Tulane University and Earl N. Harbert, Northeastern University. The Gale Group, 1982. pp. 59-71.

Killeen, Jarlath. "Mother and Child: Realism, Maternity, and Catholicism in Kate Chopin's The Awakening." Religion & the Arts 7.4 (2003): 413-438.

Ramos, Peter. "Unbearable Realism; Freedom, Ethics and Identity in "The Awakening"." College Literature 37.4 (2010): 145-165.

Biography & Contribution to Literature

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O'Flaherty on February 8, 1851 in St. Louis to Thomas O’Flaherty and Eliza Faris. Her father was killed in a car accident when she was five, resulting in her being raised by her single mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She grew up in a household full of loving, intelligent and independent women who shaped her views on female identity. While at the St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart, she become well-read in English and French authors of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. She was also fluent in both English and French languages.

Two years after graduation, she married Oscar Chopin at the age of nineteen in 1870. She moved with Oscar to New Orleans where she became very familiar with the Cajun and Creole cultures. Chopin raised five children while Oscar tended to his factory business. Oscar’s family business collapsed by 1879 and he died shortly after from swamp fever in January 1883. Upon the death of her husband, Chopin moved her family back to her hometown of St. Louis to live with her mother. At the age of 39, she began her illustrious writing career.

Her views on women’s sexual desires and to challenge patriarchal rules were present throughout her writings. She also drew upon her experience and knowledge of Cajun and Creole cultures in her writings. Chopin often wrote on impulse and finishing most of her writings within a day. Chopin’s most notable work of fiction is her 1899 novel, The Awakening. Here Chopin addresses female desires, unhappy marriages and divorce, which were themes not easily accepted by society at the time. Her writings were often published in magazines, such as, Vogue and the Century.

By her death from a brain hemorrhage at the age of 53, Chopin had published two novels and written over one hundred short stories. Even though Chopin’s short stories were not noticed in the early 21^st century, she is now considered an influential feminist American author of the late nineteenth century.

Novels:

At Fault, 1890

Bayou Folk, 1894

A Night in Acadie, 1897

The Awakening, 1899

Short Stories:

"The Storm"
"At the 'Cadian Ball"
"The Story of an Hour"
"Désirée's Baby"
"A Pair of Silk Stockings"
"A Respectable Woman"
"Athénaïse"

"A No-Account Creole"
"A Point at Issue!"
"A Vocation and a Voice"
"Beyond the Bayou"
"Charlie"
"Fedora"
"Her Letters"
"Lilacs"
"Madame Célestin's Divorce"
"Ripe Figs"

"For Marse Chouchoute"
"The Maid of Saint Phillippe"
"Doctor Chevalier's Lie"
"The Return of Alcibiade"
"La Belle Zoraïde"
"At Chênière Caminada"
"A Sentimental Soul"
"Her Letters"
"Odalie Misses Mass"
"Dead Men's Shoes"
"Madame Martel's Christmas Eve"
"Nég Créol"
"Suzette"
"The Locket"
"The Godmother"

Gale Biography in Context. 1 December 2000. 30 November 2011 <http://ezp.tccd.edu:2048/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=true&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=GALE|00000000MROB&documentId=GALE|K1603000607&mode=view>.

Krupat, Arnold and Jeanne Campbell Reesman. "The Norton Anthology of American Literature." Krupat, Arnold and Jeanne Campbell Reesman. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2007. 529-531.

Werlock, Abby H.P., ed. "Chopin, Kate." The Facts on File Companion to the American Novel. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=&iPin=CANov0192&SingleRecord=True.