With each increment of text I read, I am blown away by Kate Chopin’s vocal opposition to societal standards. In terms of my literary analysis paper, I would love to research and analyze the “epilogue”, if you will, to her book, The Awakening. An analysis of the backlash, support and further books published after Chopin’s in relation to the specific idea of feminism she embraces, in my opinion, would make for a fantastic paper, with both sides of an argument. More specifically, I want to dive deep into what came after her release of The Awakening because although there had been a handful of books published prior to her’s regarding feminism and equal rights; never before had there been an exploration into what that meant for a introspective freedom. Kate Chopin doesn’t just make the argument that women, too, are individuals, and that they should be treated as such, but she branches out into describing what that looks like outside of social places, such as dinners, the work place, and families, and focuses more on how these women, most specifically Mrs. Pontellier, act in ways that align with their own identities and how they begin to view themselves. Before her book, most of feminism was geared towards achieving equality in politics, if it were to be mentioned at all, with little to no mention of how women treated themselves.
I feel as though my explanation of the difference before and after her book is vague, and to fully understand, one must read the book, but in an attempt to reiterate with a quote from the novel, upon finding out that his wife had been out on her receiving day (a day in which you are not supposed to leave the house), Mr Pontellier inquires “Why, what could have taken you out on a Tuesday? What did you have to do?” to which Mrs. Pontellier replies, “Nothing. I simply felt like going out, and I went out”. It is in this, subtle way that Kate Chopin’s work is different. Rather than refuting her role within the “receiving day” or bringing up the utter sexism behind that construct, she chooses to hit back with the fact that Mrs. Pontellier went out simply because she felt like it, and because of this new, introspective point of view, I applaud the development of her argument and characters.
Writer after my own heart – I make use of alliteration in titles too. Your choice of pictures to symbolize the theme of feminism is apropos and eye-catching (which you want within digital writing).
I’m happy that you wish to pursue more books by Chopin. She won’t disappoint. You are correct that this book, THE AWAKENING (no way to italicize within comments), progressed more rapidly than other books of its times in terms of portrayal of women’s true identity crises and motivations to overcome those crises. I think there will be a couple different ways you can approach your focus … Chopin’s use of language/dialogue, as you refer to, to portray women’s desire for more equality, how Chopin portrays the theme through the characterization of Mrs. Pontellier, etc. You’ll know more as you move along in the reading.
Writer after my own heart – I make use of alliteration in titles too. Your choice of pictures to symbolize the theme of feminism is apropos and eye-catching (which you want within digital writing).
I’m happy that you wish to pursue more books by Chopin. She won’t disappoint. You are correct that this book, THE AWAKENING (no way to italicize within comments), progressed more rapidly than other books of its times in terms of portrayal of women’s true identity crises and motivations to overcome those crises. I think there will be a couple different ways you can approach your focus … Chopin’s use of language/dialogue, as you refer to, to portray women’s desire for more equality, how Chopin portrays the theme through the characterization of Mrs. Pontellier, etc. You’ll know more as you move along in the reading.