Kate ChopinThe Story of an Hour

St. Louis, MO1850-1904

Family Life Daughter of Thomas and

Eliza (Faris) O'Flaherty, a wealthy Roman Catholic family in St. Louis.

Graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in 1868

June 9, 1870, married Oscar Chopin, a French Creole businessman from Louisiana.

During the next nine years, in New Orleans, Chopin bore six children and fulfilled heavy social obligations as the wife of a seemingly successful New Orleans cotton broker.

A Death in the Family In1879 Oscar's business

failed and the family moved from New Orleans to Cloutierville

Plantation store and a farm owned by Oscar's family.

On December 10, 1882, Oscar died, leaving Kate a thirty-two-year-old widow with six children and limited financial resources.

In 1884 she moved her family back to St. Louis, where she lived the rest of her life.

TABOO TOPICS

Heavily influenced by Guy de Maupassant

Wrote several short stories, including “The Story of an Hour” (1894), on several taboo topics such as:

Interracial relationships Divorce Questioning woman’s

place in society

Wrote the novel, The Awakening (1899), which dared to allow the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, to take control of her own life without criticizing her for doing so.

"I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself." Edna Pontellier in

The Awakening.

Chopin in the Present The Awakening was highly

criticized and condemned for her depiction of Edna Pontillier

Her short stories began to be recognized in the 1920’s.

Her novels, including The Awakening, were not recognized as significant works until the 1950’s.

Chopin’s works are regularly used in classes all over the world.

Chopin’s Louisiana home burned down in 2008.

“The Story of an Hour”Pre-reading Questions

What was the role of women around 1900?

What personal factors influenced Chopin’s writing?

In your opinion, what influence will Chopin’s personal factors have on the story?

Susan Glaspell A Jury of Her Peers

Davenport, Iowa1876-1948

Biography Glaspell never liked to be controlled or limited in her options.

She rebelled against society’s expectations by going to Drake University, graduating in 1899, instead of waiting passively for a husband.

Married George Cram Cook in 1914 and moved together to Greenwich Village to be among other authors and artists.

Provincetown Players Theatre Glaspell and Cook founded

the Provincetown Players in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Maine in 1916.

Dedicated to producing innovative plays by American playwrights and opposed artistic compromises required by other commercially successful theatres.

1931 – Won a Pulitzer Prize for “Alison’s House,” a play loosely based on the life of Emily Dickenson.

Provincetown Players Theatre produced 11 plays between 1916 and 1922, including more plays by women than any other theatre.

“Trifles” originally produced here.

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primarily known for writing “Trifles,” a play about two women's secret discovery of how a wife's husband was murdered, in 1916.

“Trifles” was rewritten as a short story, “A Jury of Her Peers.”Glaspell actually wrote over fifty short stories, nine novels, fourteen plays, and one biography. Brooke Evans was made into a movie.

“A Jury of Her Peers”Pre-Reading Questions

In relation to the section read, what do you think is a jury of peers?

Who do you think is being judged and why?

Who are the peers?

William Faulkner1897-1962

New Albany, MS

I decline to accept the end of man…I believe that man will not merely endure. He will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.

Family Expectations Great grandfather,

William Falkner, “Old Colonel,” Civil War colonel, best selling writer of White Rose of Memphis, lawyer, politician died in a duel on the streets of Ripley, MS 8 years before William Faulkner was born.

1918: Wanted to follow in his great grandfather’s footsteps and join the U.S. Air Force, but couldn’t because of his height – 5’6”

Dressed to Impress Actually born “Falkner.”

Changed name to sound British, faked a British accent, lied about his birth date and birth place so he could enter the RAF (Royal Air Force of Canada).

Before he finished training, the war ended.

Purchased a Lieutenant’s dress uniform and a set of wings for pocket even though he probably never flew.

Love As a youth, dated Estelle

Oldham. Lightheartedly accepted a marriage proposal from another suitor, though she thought he was moving away.

He sent an engagement ring soon after and she was expected by her parents to marry him. Married April 1918

April 1929, her and her husband were divorced. In June, Estelle and William were married.

Came with two children from previous marriage.

Had one living child, Jill

“A Rose for Emily” First story to be published

in national magazine – 1930. Most frequently anthologized

1920’s – 1940’s: Faulkner’s strongest writing period.

The Sound and the Fury - 1929

As I Lay Dying – 1930 Absalom, Absalm – 1936 Go Down Moses – 1942 Often was outspoken and

wrote about southern life and the history of black-white relationships

1949 - William Faulkner receives the Nobel Peace Prize for Intruders in the Dust (1948)

“A Rose for Emily”Pre-reading Questions

What were the southern traditions in Faulkner’s time?

What do these traditions say about the kinds of male-female relationships in American society of the period?