"It absorbs and interests, then makes one wonder, with a little sick feeling, if all women are like the one, and that isn't a pleasant reflection after you have thoroughly taken in this character study whose 'awakening' gives title to Mrs. Chopin's novel." [From The Mirror, 1899]
"Beneath its pink-lined shelter were his wife, Mrs. Pontellier..." -Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Guiding Question:
In The Mirror, Chopin, an already-established writer, is referred to in a review as 'Mrs.' Likewise, the protagonist of her novel is first introduced to the reader not by her name, but as a Mrs. The novel very clearly goes on to touch upon the fact that women at this time are seen as their husbands' possessions. Does this carry over to contemporary times? Are womens' husbands still given more merit in society than they are?
“He reproached his wife of her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying at home to see that no harm befell them.” The Awakening- Kate Chopin pg. 7
“Granted, this isn't all we experience. Many of us are lucky enough to have a support system of parents and teachers alike who will encourage us, help foster our interests, and tell us we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up. Just like boys, many of us will form a fairly solid sense of self based on that support and encouragement. The difference is that for the vast majority of the boys, that support will remain at face value. But for the girls, it extends into the duties we've been destined to fulfill since birth -- have babies and be pretty. The two facets of ourselves become so interwoven that eventually, we can't tell one from the other, and they both become an intrinsic part of us that will generally remain with us for the rest of our lives.” “Growing Up She: Coming of Age In the Patriarchy”-Ali Owens http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-owens/growing-up-she-coming-of-_b_9163714.html
Discussion Questions: Many women feel as though having children is something they should do and if they don’t they are questioned as to why they don’t want to. How can we challenge the idea that women are “meant” to have children and be mothers?
"During a discussion that followed a paper at a scholarly meeting I attended, I watched a woman begin to ask a question. After a few words had escaped her mouth, a man interrupted her, took the floor, and expounded at some length. After that, she launched into her point again and another man chopped her off in mid-sentence. At final count, four men had swooped into her remarks before she finally barged in and spoke her mind. By that time, her frustration had grown, and having gained the stage at last, she made a forceful, aggressive critique of the paper. After the meeting was over, I left the room with a male colleague who, referring to the woman, said, 'She was really mean.'"
"Hear The Epic Speech Nicki Minaj Gives About Sexism In Her Industry"
"When I am assertive, I'm a bitch. When a man is assertive, he's a boss... But when you're a girl, you have to be, like, everything. You have to be dope at what you do, but you have to be super sweet. And you have to sexy, and you have to be this, and you have to be that, and you have to be nice, and you have to...it's like, I can't be all those things at once."
Can you think of any instances where you have been afraid to be assertive because you feared being thought of as a "bitch"? Where does this negative connotation stem from? As a writer, have you felt the need to be careful with your words because you did not want to come across as harsh solely because of your sex?
“A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” From The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
Contemporary Texts: “I think, quite frankly, that the world simply does not care for the complicated girls, the ones who seem too dark, too deep, too vibrant, too opinionated, the ones who are so intriguing that new men fall in love with them every day, at every meal where there's a waiter, in every taxi and on every train they board, in any instance where someone can get to know them just a little bit, just enough to get completely gone. But most men in the end don't quite have the stomach for that much person.” From Elizabeth Wurtzel
“I feel like me and Taylor [swift] might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous (God damn). I made that bitch famous” From Kanye West’s Famous
Guiding Question Why are the talents and contributions of women so heavily undermined? Why are women unappreciated for their work even when they swim out as far as the horizon in regards to their artistic aspirations? Why are women confined to only doing a few things when they have proven, time and time again, that they can do just as much as any man? And why, even when they do prove themselves to be as equal to anyone else, are they ridiculed for it?
“She was not accustomed to an outward and spoken expression of affection, either in herself or in others. She and her younger sister, Janet, had quarrelled a good deal through force of unfortunate habit. Her older sister, Margaret, was matronly and dignified, probably from having assumed matronly and housewifely responsibilities too early in life, their mother having died when they were quite young, Margaret was not effusive; she was practical. Edna had had an occasional girl friend, but whether accidentally or not, they seemed to have been all of one type – the self-contained” (Chopin, 15).
An Etiquette/Advice Book Sampler:
“Confidants are dangerous persons, and many seek to obtain an ascendency in families by gaining the good opinion of young married women. Be on your guard, and reject every overture that may lead to undesirable intimacy. Should any one presume to offer you advice with regard to your husband, or seek to lessen him by insinuations, shun that person as you would a serpent” (123).
Guiding Question:
It would seem, from the advice provided by this etiquette booklet on the topic of “confidants,” that any relationship involving intimacy for a woman with anyone aside from her husband was discouraged. This does not appear to be limited to romantic relationships, but rather applies to all types of intimacy, including that shared among good friends as well. If this is the case, what sort of repercussions do you think it could have? How could it damage a woman’s confidence, ability to communicate, and even her marriage? Does Mrs. Pontellier appear to be affected in such ways?
"This is not a pleasant story, but the contrast between the heroine and another character who is devoted to her husband saves the story from utter gloom, and gives the reader a glimpse of the real Miss Chopin, who is at her best as creator of sweet lovable characters." - Chicago Times-Herald, June 1899
"More than being “unlikable,” these female characters directly challenge the institutions and practices frequently used to measure a woman’s value: marriage, motherhood, divorce, and career. They defy likability in their outlandish occupation of the roles to which women are customarily relegated—mother, wife, daughter—resisting sexist mythologies and social pressures. Perhaps most refreshingly, these novels aren’t so much heralding a new age of female-centric literature as they’re building on a much older English-language tradition of works about complex women." - Koa Beck, The Atlantic
Guiding Question:
How do you think, with the rise of "unlikeable" and unreliable female narrators (example: Gone Girl) that go away from “traditional” female characters, "The Awakening" would be critiqued in today's day and age?
"It would have been a difficult matter for Mr. Pontellier to define to his own satisfaction or anyone else's wherein his wife failed in her duty toward their children. It was something which he felt rather than perceived, and he never voiced the feeling without subsequent regret and ample atonement." (The Awakening, p. 7).
"A woman of twenty-eight, a wife and twice a mother who in pondering upon her relations to the world around her, fails to perceive that the relation of a mother to her children is far more important than the gratification of a passion which experience has taught her is, by its very nature, evanescent, can hardly be said to be fully awake." (Contemporary reviews, p. 167).
Guiding questions: Mr. Pontellier seems to think that his wife has many shortcomings as a mother because she does not possess the qualities of most mothers, nor does she have the relationship with her children that mothers and children are supposed to have. Why do you suppose Mrs. Pontellier had children if she thought she was unfit for motherhood? Do you think their children seem to suffer because of the relationship they have with their mother? Are there qualities that "good mothers" are "supposed to" have? How do we address the notion that it is a woman's duty to have children/to be a good mother? Has this idea changed since The Awakening was first written? How so?
"... Edna found herself face to face with the realities. She grew fond of her husband, realizing with some unaccountable satisfaction that no trace of passion or excessive and fictitious warmth colored her affection, thereby threatening its dissolution. She was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them... [The absence of her children] seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her" (p. 24) From Chopin's "The Awakening"
"This woman did not lack confidence, nor did she give a hoot about whether her comments offended the author of the paper. She just had a hard time getting a word in edgewise. Had she shouted her question from the start, she might have gained the floor, but at a cost. After grotesquely rude treatment, made even more grotesquely rude by the fact that the rude people were oblivious to their rudeness, she understandably delivered her pent-up words in a loud, emphatic tone, which was subsequently assigned the quality of meanness." From Hustvedt’s “Knausgaard Writes Like a Woman"
"the choices for moms are increasingly limited. A growing number of non-working mothers, Pew found, are unmarried. The percentage of children raised by a stay-at-home mother with a working husband has fallen to 20 percent, from above 40 in 1970. That is, it's not the privileged elite staying home to raise the kids, but increasingly single women living in poverty.
And even among those stay-at-home moms who are married, six percent -- up from one percent in 2000 -- say they'd like to work, but either can't find a job or can't get hired. Others don't go back to work because of prohibitively high childcare costs. It doesn't help that salaries for women aren't rising in proportion to those for men; a Pew report from a few weeks back looked at the economic mobility of women compared to their parents and found women today earn less than their fathers did. The majority of men, on the other hand, out-earn their dads." From Drexler's "Not All Women Get to Decide Between Opting Out and Leaning In" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-drexler/-not-all-women-get-to-dec_b_5178156.html
Guiding Questions: How does the concept of gender identities impact the ways in which families are arranged? How does this compare to the past? Has anything changed about the family situation for women in the past century? What options are available for an individual, either male or female, who finds themselves in an unfortunate lifestyle (like Mrs. Pontellier). What are the best and worst ways one can deal with this?
Text example: Kate Chopin, The Awakening “A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before”
Contemporary example: Tina Fey accepting her Mark Twain Prize. "Apparently I'm only the third woman to ever receive this award, and I'm so honoured to be numbered with Lily Tomlin and Whoopi Goldberg, but I do hope that women are achieving at a rate these days that we can stop counting what number they are at things."
ALSO: an example I’ve posted before…
After Viola Davis became the first African-American woman to win the Emmy for Best Leading Actress in a Drama, she gave a stirring speech stating, “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.” http://www.nytimes.com/live/emmys-2015/viola-daviss-emotional-emmys-acceptance-speech/
I’m extremely hopeful that we will make more and more progress for women in not only the entertainment industry, but every industry. It’s wonderful that women are making great strides, but how do we make it possible for more opportunity to arise for women, more specifically women of color? I would prefer to live in a world where instead of “swim[ming] far out, where no woman had swum before” all women can push further together to make progress.
Chopin, The Awakening: "She was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them. The year before that they had spent part of the summer with their grandmother Pontellier in Iberville. Feeling secure regarding their happiness and welfare, she did not miss them except with an occasional intense longing. Their absence was sort of a relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her."
From "An Etiquette and Advice Book Sampler": "Influence of Mothers"
. . . What the child needs pre-eminently above playthings, books, clothes, and any other earthly thing, is the presence and influences of their mother. No other woman can take her place . . .Many otherwise excellent women find the nursery a prison, and the care of their children irksome, simply because they have a perverted mother-sense."
Guiding Questions: It was once expected of every woman to get married, have children, and becoming a housewife. Do you think women today are still expressing some sort of pressure to have children? Also, Chopin uses Edna's children to represent a woman's burdens, rather than innocence and love. Do you think Edna loves her children in anyway based on what we have seen so far? Do you think this will change? Is it right for her to feel the way she does about her children?
The Awakening - Chopin "Once she turned and looked toward the shore, toward the people she had left there. She had not gone any great distance—that is, what would have been a great distance for an experienced swimmer. But to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome" (Ch. X).
"Ex-Porn Star Tells the Truth About the Porn Industry" "The California pornography industry is a destructive, drug infested, abusive and sexually diseased industry which causes severe negative secondary effects on female and male adult industry workers as well as the general public." (http://www.covenanteyes.com/2008/10/28/ex-porn-star-tells-the-truth-about-the-porn-industry/)
What holds you back as a writer when it comes to the portrayal of women? How do you decide what strengths they have, what character defects? With writing men, we tend not to think about these things unless they have a great impact on the story, because you can assign whatever personality traits you want without judgment. What guides you in the writing of women?
"'I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.'" Kate Chopin "The Awakening" pg. 47
"It is not a pleasant picture of soul-dissection, take it anyway you like; and so, though she finally kills herself, or rather lets herself drown to death, one feels that it is not in the desperation born of an over-burdened heart, torn by complicating duties but rather because she realizes that something is due to her children, that she cannot get away from, and she is too weak to face the issue" From "The Mirror"
Guiding Questions: It is obvious from the both the novel and from its contexts what is expected from mothers: devoted, caring, nuturing, etc. If a women for some reason cannot stomach motherhood, she is seen as weird and almost a crime against nature. Do we still hold similar views of motherhood? Do we assume, just because a woman is able to have a child, that she is automatically fit to be a mother? Do we have ageist ideas about it (like a 15 year old is almost never fit, but as soon as you hit your mid-twentites you are ready)? Does societies view of people like Casey Anthony or women who leave their children in cars give any indication of this (extreme examples, I know)?
“In 1968, Philip Goldberg conducted a now famous study using college women as his subjects. He gave two groups of students the same essay, authored by either John T. McKay or Joan T. McKay to evaluate. John’s was rated superior in all respects. As with every study, repetitions of this one have come up with different results. Nevertheless, since then, study after study has demonstrated what I call the masculine enhancement effect. . . . In order to be accepted, women must compensate for their ambition and strength by being nice. Men don’t have to be nearly as nice as women. . . . But how is that those men were actually blind to that woman’s presence and deaf to her words?” - Knausgaard Writes Like a Woman
“He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation. . . . He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” The Awakening – Kate Chopin pg 9-10
https://youtu.be/3uN5yQB88iU / https://youtu.be/fnAHbHC3yyQ - Lady Parts Lady Parts is a web series that features actresses struggling to get parts that aren’t labeled “sexy” or feminine or “bitchy” or accessories to male main characters. Acting senerios are very stereotypical and force women into uncomfortable situations.
Guiding Questions: Why is it necessary for women to work harder to be taken as seriously as men? Why do women often seem to be only accessories to male main characters, and have to take on a role to please them? Have you ever felt like you have been treated insignificantly because someone else’s opinion was viewed as more important than yours?
"A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before. (Chapter 10)"
"Still figuring it out" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osiBvQ-RRg&list=PLKHkb13CdsGHhioVkmpb4B9dQi9hAiEFl&index=12) This is a TEDx talk from a pretty badass 15 year old girl who writes a magazine for other teenage girls and also has a whole website dedicated to girls and I just strongly recommend this video. I also recommend watching the Lady Parts web series that Natalie posted about because it's awesome.
Guiding Question: Edna, from the beginning of the book, was living a relatively stereotypical life. Now that she has "gone where no woman has swum before" (both literally and sort of figuratively as well), she is figuring her life out. The age difference between Edna and the young lady giving her TEDx talk is about 13 years, but they are both still figuring it out. Do we as women (and men, and as a society in general) really ever figure it out? There are constant changes to our society that effect how we go about our lives, there is always going to be some confusion, and we'll may never figure it out. Both Edna and Tavi have had to work harder than their male peers to be taken seriously, why is this always the case?
6. Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” 2-17-16 - Quote from the Text:
- Contemporary Text: In the abridged version of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, Goldman explains the satirical content in the full version of the text. Apparently, S. Morgenstern was a sassy mofo who didn’t like the government of Florin City. In the second chapter (I think), there is a summed-up paragraph explaining that the real Chapter 2 of Morgernstern’s is composed of a description of Prince Humperdink and all of his lavish clothing and luxuries. It makes fun of the nobility in Morgernstern’s time. It is actually 62 pages long in the original.
- Guiding Question: How does satire play a role in The Awakening? How would this have been seen as “out-there” ideas or critiquing her society? How can satire be used to poke fun and prove a point simultaneously?
I forgot to type in the quote from the text. Sorry!! “Madame Ratignolle, more careful of her complexion, had twined a gauze veil about her head. She wore dogskin gloves, with gauntlets that protected her wrists. She was dressed in pure white, with a fluffiness of ruffles that became her.The draperies and fluttering things which she wore suited her rich, luxuriant beauty as a greater severity of line could not have done” (Chopin 15).
Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why—when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation.
The Secret Sadness of Pregnancy with depression-Andrew Solmon "Even in our increasingly egalitarian society, mothers feel the weight of parenthood’s identity shift more profoundly than fathers do."
Question: I think The Awakening provides an interesting perspective on gender and it's relation to depression. This article was interesting because it was equally gendered simply because men don't give birth. In the past there is a sort of narrative f depression being a woman's illness, today however more suicides are committed by men, what does this evolution of depression say about gender stereotypes and the evolution of gender in society?
"It absorbs and interests, then makes one wonder, with a little sick feeling, if all women are like the one, and that isn't a pleasant reflection after you have thoroughly taken in this character study whose 'awakening' gives title to Mrs. Chopin's novel." [From The Mirror, 1899]
ReplyDelete"Beneath its pink-lined shelter were his wife, Mrs. Pontellier..." -Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Guiding Question:
In The Mirror, Chopin, an already-established writer, is referred to in a review as 'Mrs.' Likewise, the protagonist of her novel is first introduced to the reader not by her name, but as a Mrs. The novel very clearly goes on to touch upon the fact that women at this time are seen as their husbands' possessions. Does this carry over to contemporary times? Are womens' husbands still given more merit in society than they are?
Excellent close reading, Alycia.
Delete“He reproached his wife of her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying at home to see that no harm befell them.” The Awakening- Kate Chopin pg. 7
ReplyDelete“Granted, this isn't all we experience. Many of us are lucky enough to have a support system of parents and teachers alike who will encourage us, help foster our interests, and tell us we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up. Just like boys, many of us will form a fairly solid sense of self based on that support and encouragement.
The difference is that for the vast majority of the boys, that support will remain at face value. But for the girls, it extends into the duties we've been destined to fulfill since birth -- have babies and be pretty. The two facets of ourselves become so interwoven that eventually, we can't tell one from the other, and they both become an intrinsic part of us that will generally remain with us for the rest of our lives.”
“Growing Up She: Coming of Age In the Patriarchy”-Ali Owens
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-owens/growing-up-she-coming-of-_b_9163714.html
Discussion Questions: Many women feel as though having children is something they should do and if they don’t they are questioned as to why they don’t want to. How can we challenge the idea that women are “meant” to have children and be mothers?
Your question is an important one to ponder, and one that transcends from the time Chopin was writing, to today.
DeleteHustvedt’s “Knausgaard Writes Like a Woman"
ReplyDelete"During a discussion that followed a paper at a scholarly meeting I attended, I watched a woman begin to ask a question. After a few words had escaped her mouth, a man interrupted her, took the floor, and expounded at some length. After that, she launched into her point again and another man chopped her off in mid-sentence. At final count, four men had swooped into her remarks before she finally barged in and spoke her mind. By that time, her frustration had grown, and having gained the stage at last, she made a forceful, aggressive critique of the paper. After the meeting was over, I left the room with a male colleague who, referring to the woman, said, 'She was really mean.'"
"Hear The Epic Speech Nicki Minaj Gives About Sexism In Her Industry"
"When I am assertive, I'm a bitch. When a man is assertive, he's a boss... But when you're a girl, you have to be, like, everything. You have to be dope at what you do, but you have to be super sweet. And you have to sexy, and you have to be this, and you have to be that, and you have to be nice, and you have to...it's like, I can't be all those things at once."
http://www.upworthy.com/hear-the-epic-speech-nicki-minaj-gives-about-sexism-in-her-industry-and-donald-trump
Can you think of any instances where you have been afraid to be assertive because you feared being thought of as a "bitch"? Where does this negative connotation stem from? As a writer, have you felt the need to be careful with your words because you did not want to come across as harsh solely because of your sex?
From The Reading
ReplyDelete“A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before” From The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
Contemporary Texts:
“I think, quite frankly, that the world simply does not care for the complicated girls, the ones who seem too dark, too deep, too vibrant, too opinionated, the ones who are so intriguing that new men fall in love with them every day, at every meal where there's a waiter, in every taxi and on every train they board, in any instance where someone can get to know them just a little bit, just enough to get completely gone. But most men in the end don't quite have the stomach for that much person.” From Elizabeth Wurtzel
“I feel like me and Taylor [swift] might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous (God damn). I made that bitch famous” From Kanye West’s Famous
Guiding Question
Why are the talents and contributions of women so heavily undermined? Why are women unappreciated for their work even when they swim out as far as the horizon in regards to their artistic aspirations? Why are women confined to only doing a few things when they have proven, time and time again, that they can do just as much as any man? And why, even when they do prove themselves to be as equal to anyone else, are they ridiculed for it?
ReplyDeleteKate Chopin’s The Awakening:
“She was not accustomed to an outward and spoken expression of affection, either in herself or in others. She and her younger sister, Janet, had quarrelled a good deal through force of unfortunate habit. Her older sister, Margaret, was matronly and dignified, probably from having assumed matronly and housewifely responsibilities too early in life, their mother having died when they were quite young, Margaret was not effusive; she was practical. Edna had had an occasional girl friend, but whether accidentally or not, they seemed to have been all of one type – the self-contained” (Chopin, 15).
An Etiquette/Advice Book Sampler:
“Confidants are dangerous persons, and many seek to obtain an ascendency in families by gaining the good opinion of young married women. Be on your guard, and reject every overture that may lead to undesirable intimacy. Should any one presume to offer you advice with regard to your husband, or seek to lessen him by insinuations, shun that person as you would a serpent” (123).
Guiding Question:
It would seem, from the advice provided by this etiquette booklet on the topic of “confidants,” that any relationship involving intimacy for a woman with anyone aside from her husband was discouraged. This does not appear to be limited to romantic relationships, but rather applies to all types of intimacy, including that shared among good friends as well. If this is the case, what sort of repercussions do you think it could have? How could it damage a woman’s confidence, ability to communicate, and even her marriage? Does Mrs. Pontellier appear to be affected in such ways?
"This is not a pleasant story, but the contrast between the heroine and another character who is devoted to her husband saves the story from utter gloom, and gives the reader a glimpse of the real Miss Chopin, who is at her best as creator of sweet lovable characters."
ReplyDelete- Chicago Times-Herald, June 1899
"More than being “unlikable,” these female characters directly challenge the institutions and practices frequently used to measure a woman’s value: marriage, motherhood, divorce, and career. They defy likability in their outlandish occupation of the roles to which women are customarily relegated—mother, wife, daughter—resisting sexist mythologies and social pressures. Perhaps most refreshingly, these novels aren’t so much heralding a new age of female-centric literature as they’re building on a much older English-language tradition of works about complex women."
- Koa Beck, The Atlantic
Guiding Question:
How do you think, with the rise of "unlikeable" and unreliable female narrators (example: Gone Girl) that go away from “traditional” female characters, "The Awakening" would be critiqued in today's day and age?
"It would have been a difficult matter for Mr. Pontellier to define to his own satisfaction or anyone else's wherein his wife failed in her duty toward their children. It was something which he felt rather than perceived, and he never voiced the feeling without subsequent regret and ample atonement." (The Awakening, p. 7).
ReplyDelete"A woman of twenty-eight, a wife and twice a mother who in pondering upon her relations to the world around her, fails to perceive that the relation of a mother to her children is far more important than the gratification of a passion which experience has taught her is, by its very nature, evanescent, can hardly be said to be fully awake."
(Contemporary reviews, p. 167).
Guiding questions:
Mr. Pontellier seems to think that his wife has many shortcomings as a mother because she does not possess the qualities of most mothers, nor does she have the relationship with her children that mothers and children are supposed to have.
Why do you suppose Mrs. Pontellier had children if she thought she was unfit for motherhood? Do you think their children seem to suffer because of the relationship they have with their mother? Are there qualities that "good mothers" are "supposed to" have? How do we address the notion that it is a woman's duty to have children/to be a good mother? Has this idea changed since The Awakening was first written? How so?
"... Edna found herself face to face with the realities. She grew fond of her husband, realizing with some unaccountable satisfaction that no trace of passion or excessive and fictitious warmth colored her affection, thereby threatening its dissolution.
ReplyDeleteShe was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them... [The absence of her children] seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her" (p. 24)
From Chopin's "The Awakening"
"This woman did not lack confidence, nor did she give a hoot about whether her comments offended the author of the paper. She just had a hard time getting a word in edgewise. Had she shouted her question from the start, she might have gained the floor, but at a cost. After grotesquely rude treatment, made even more grotesquely rude by the fact that the rude people were oblivious to their rudeness, she understandably delivered her pent-up words in a loud, emphatic tone, which was subsequently assigned the quality of meanness."
From Hustvedt’s “Knausgaard Writes Like a Woman"
"the choices for moms are increasingly limited. A growing number of non-working mothers, Pew found, are unmarried. The percentage of children raised by a stay-at-home mother with a working husband has fallen to 20 percent, from above 40 in 1970. That is, it's not the privileged elite staying home to raise the kids, but increasingly single women living in poverty.
And even among those stay-at-home moms who are married, six percent -- up from one percent in 2000 -- say they'd like to work, but either can't find a job or can't get hired. Others don't go back to work because of prohibitively high childcare costs. It doesn't help that salaries for women aren't rising in proportion to those for men; a Pew report from a few weeks back looked at the economic mobility of women compared to their parents and found women today earn less than their fathers did. The majority of men, on the other hand, out-earn their dads."
From Drexler's "Not All Women Get to Decide Between Opting Out and Leaning In"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-drexler/-not-all-women-get-to-dec_b_5178156.html
Guiding Questions:
How does the concept of gender identities impact the ways in which families are arranged? How does this compare to the past? Has anything changed about the family situation for women in the past century?
What options are available for an individual, either male or female, who finds themselves in an unfortunate lifestyle (like Mrs. Pontellier). What are the best and worst ways one can deal with this?
Text example: Kate Chopin, The Awakening
ReplyDelete“A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before”
Contemporary example: Tina Fey accepting her Mark Twain Prize.
"Apparently I'm only the third woman to ever receive this award, and I'm so honoured to be numbered with Lily Tomlin and Whoopi Goldberg, but I do hope that women are achieving at a rate these days that we can stop counting what number they are at things."
ALSO: an example I’ve posted before…
After Viola Davis became the first African-American woman to win the Emmy for Best Leading Actress in a Drama, she gave a stirring speech stating, “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.”
http://www.nytimes.com/live/emmys-2015/viola-daviss-emotional-emmys-acceptance-speech/
I’m extremely hopeful that we will make more and more progress for women in not only the entertainment industry, but every industry. It’s wonderful that women are making great strides, but how do we make it possible for more opportunity to arise for women, more specifically women of color? I would prefer to live in a world where instead of “swim[ming] far out, where no woman had swum before” all women can push further together to make progress.
Chopin, The Awakening:
ReplyDelete"She was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them. The year before that they had spent part of the summer with their grandmother Pontellier in Iberville. Feeling secure regarding their happiness and welfare, she did not miss them except with an occasional intense longing. Their absence was sort of a relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her."
From "An Etiquette and Advice Book Sampler":
"Influence of Mothers"
. . . What the child needs pre-eminently above playthings, books, clothes, and any other earthly thing, is the presence and influences of their mother. No other woman can take her place . . .Many otherwise excellent women find the nursery a prison, and the care of their children irksome, simply because they have a perverted mother-sense."
Guiding Questions: It was once expected of every woman to get married, have children, and becoming a housewife. Do you think women today are still expressing some sort of pressure to have children? Also, Chopin uses Edna's children to represent a woman's burdens, rather than innocence and love. Do you think Edna loves her children in anyway based on what we have seen so far? Do you think this will change? Is it right for her to feel the way she does about her children?
The Awakening - Chopin
ReplyDelete"Once she turned and looked toward the shore, toward the people she had left there. She had not gone any great distance—that is, what would have been a great distance for an experienced swimmer. But to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome" (Ch. X).
"Ex-Porn Star Tells the Truth About the Porn Industry"
"The California pornography industry is a destructive, drug infested, abusive and sexually diseased industry which causes severe negative secondary effects on female and male adult industry workers as well as the general public." (http://www.covenanteyes.com/2008/10/28/ex-porn-star-tells-the-truth-about-the-porn-industry/)
What holds you back as a writer when it comes to the portrayal of women? How do you decide what strengths they have, what character defects? With writing men, we tend not to think about these things unless they have a great impact on the story, because you can assign whatever personality traits you want without judgment. What guides you in the writing of women?
"'I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.'" Kate Chopin "The Awakening" pg. 47
ReplyDelete"It is not a pleasant picture of soul-dissection, take it anyway you like; and so, though she finally kills herself, or rather lets herself drown to death, one feels that it is not in the desperation born of an over-burdened heart, torn by complicating duties but rather because she realizes that something is due to her children, that she cannot get away from, and she is too weak to face the issue" From "The Mirror"
Guiding Questions: It is obvious from the both the novel and from its contexts what is expected from mothers: devoted, caring, nuturing, etc. If a women for some reason cannot stomach motherhood, she is seen as weird and almost a crime against nature. Do we still hold similar views of motherhood? Do we assume, just because a woman is able to have a child, that she is automatically fit to be a mother? Do we have ageist ideas about it (like a 15 year old is almost never fit, but as soon as you hit your mid-twentites you are ready)? Does societies view of people like Casey Anthony or women who leave their children in cars give any indication of this (extreme examples, I know)?
“In 1968, Philip Goldberg conducted a now famous study using college women as his subjects. He gave two groups of students the same essay, authored by either John T. McKay or Joan T. McKay to evaluate. John’s was rated superior in all respects. As with every study, repetitions of this one have come up with different results. Nevertheless, since then, study after study has demonstrated what I call the masculine enhancement effect. . . . In order to be accepted, women must compensate for their ambition and strength by being nice. Men don’t have to be nearly as nice as women. . . . But how is that those men were actually blind to that woman’s presence and deaf to her words?” - Knausgaard Writes Like a Woman
ReplyDelete“He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation. . . . He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” The Awakening – Kate Chopin pg 9-10
https://youtu.be/3uN5yQB88iU / https://youtu.be/fnAHbHC3yyQ - Lady Parts
Lady Parts is a web series that features actresses struggling to get parts that aren’t labeled “sexy” or feminine or “bitchy” or accessories to male main characters. Acting senerios are very stereotypical and force women into uncomfortable situations.
Guiding Questions: Why is it necessary for women to work harder to be taken as seriously as men? Why do women often seem to be only accessories to male main characters, and have to take on a role to please them? Have you ever felt like you have been treated insignificantly because someone else’s opinion was viewed as more important than yours?
"A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before. (Chapter 10)"
ReplyDelete"Still figuring it out" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osiBvQ-RRg&list=PLKHkb13CdsGHhioVkmpb4B9dQi9hAiEFl&index=12)
This is a TEDx talk from a pretty badass 15 year old girl who writes a magazine for other teenage girls and also has a whole website dedicated to girls and I just strongly recommend this video.
I also recommend watching the Lady Parts web series that Natalie posted about because it's awesome.
Guiding Question:
Edna, from the beginning of the book, was living a relatively stereotypical life. Now that she has "gone where no woman has swum before" (both literally and sort of figuratively as well), she is figuring her life out. The age difference between Edna and the young lady giving her TEDx talk is about 13 years, but they are both still figuring it out. Do we as women (and men, and as a society in general) really ever figure it out? There are constant changes to our society that effect how we go about our lives, there is always going to be some confusion, and we'll may never figure it out. Both Edna and Tavi have had to work harder than their male peers to be taken seriously, why is this always the case?
6. Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” 2-17-16
ReplyDelete- Quote from the Text:
- Contemporary Text:
In the abridged version of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, Goldman explains the satirical content in the full version of the text. Apparently, S. Morgenstern was a sassy mofo who didn’t like the government of Florin City. In the second chapter (I think), there is a summed-up paragraph explaining that the real Chapter 2 of Morgernstern’s is composed of a description of Prince Humperdink and all of his lavish clothing and luxuries. It makes fun of the nobility in Morgernstern’s time. It is actually 62 pages long in the original.
- Guiding Question:
How does satire play a role in The Awakening? How would this have been seen as “out-there” ideas or critiquing her society? How can satire be used to poke fun and prove a point simultaneously?
I forgot to type in the quote from the text. Sorry!!
ReplyDelete“Madame Ratignolle, more careful of her complexion, had twined a gauze veil about her head. She wore dogskin gloves, with gauntlets that protected her wrists. She was dressed in pure white, with a fluffiness of ruffles that became her.The draperies and fluttering things which she wore suited her rich, luxuriant beauty as a greater severity of line could not have done” (Chopin 15).
Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”
ReplyDeleteThere were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why—when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation.
The Secret Sadness of Pregnancy with depression-Andrew Solmon
"Even in our increasingly egalitarian society, mothers feel the weight of parenthood’s identity shift more profoundly than fathers do."
Question: I think The Awakening provides an interesting perspective on gender and it's relation to depression. This article was interesting because it was equally gendered simply because men don't give birth. In the past there is a sort of narrative f depression being a woman's illness, today however more suicides are committed by men, what does this evolution of depression say about gender stereotypes and the evolution of gender in society?