Kate Chopin and the Victorian Woman

Beginnings...

2009-10-01T22:04:00.000-04:00

I have decided to write my thoughts on this new venture. Edna is so complicated and trying at times, and I feel that I need to explore her character more fully outside of the novel. She is in such a dreamy state at the moment. She has no expectation of the revelation that is about to awaken her senses and change her life forever. Oh, how I cannot wait until she emerges from this dull, conventional life of hers! The times are ever so limiting for women! To sit, to entertain, to raise the children, to be a model wife and mother, is all that society expects or wants for women. Edna will surely challenge this, and hopefully awaken society and other women.

Power of the Sea

2009-09-30T20:00:00.000-04:00

The whole island of Grand Isle is asleep during this lazy, hot summer. The sea is Edna’s retreat and comfort. At first it scared her, but now she cannot imagine life without it; much like her awakening. The sea is so calming and yet so destructive at times. Truly, it is a powerful force! I have always loved the sea, and feel at home on the seashore. There is such beauty in the water and the sunlight that reflects off the waves. It’s draw is magnetic. Edna awakens in the sea when she discovers she can swim far out into the water. Something draws her out farther, just as her awakening draws her farther from society.

Photo courtesy of http://www.trazzler.com/trips/grand-isle-beach-in-louisiana

Music for Inspiration

2009-09-30T14:26:00.004-04:00

I find that music eases the creative process of writing. I believe that my dear Edna is often surrounded by music, so here is a list of music that I believe Edna would find familiar and comforting.

. Waltz No. 9 in A flat-- Frederic Chopin
. Nocturne No. 2 in E flat major-- Frederic Chopin
. Tristan und Isolde Opera-- Wagner
. Symphony No. 5 in E minor-- Tchaikivsky
. Waltz Opus 69 No. 2 in B minor-- Frederic Chopin
. Prelude to Act IV Opus 23 (Morning Mood)-- Edvard Grieg

Robert and Edna

2009-09-29T17:07:00.000-04:00

They are two star-crossed lovers, but their love cannot happen in the confines of the current society. How bitter a realization for Edna! Her love for Robert is more than mere infatuation, and more than the feelings she has for her husband. Her marriage was a convenient, good maneuver but lacked love. How much easier it would be if Edna had never awakened and realized that she did not have everything she desired from life. Robert is part of her awakening, both beautiful and bitter. Our modern day Romeo and Juliet or Tristan and Isolde with their forbidden love.

Photo courtesy of http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/07/27/when-and-how-to-give-flowers

The Perfect Wife

2009-09-28T18:13:00.000-04:00

Ah! This is how I envision dear Adele. Edna most certainly is not the typical Victorian woman who marries blissfully and bears many children and rears them in perfect contentment. No, quite the opposite, but her dear friend, Adele certainly is the ideal of womanhood. What a remarkable woman, who handles everything with such grace! She is idolized by all, even Edna who is drawn to her. Adele is the perfect woman: beautiful, kind, delicate, maternal and endearing. She is frail and delicate, sickly like many well-to-do Victorian women with “conditions”. Adele is happy with her life, and wants nothing more than to be a doting wife and mother. She would give herself, body and soul for her children, but Edna will not. Edna is stronger than Adele in many ways. Physically, she is healthy and vivacious, and she is strong enough to say no to the defining forces in her life. Edna will not lose herself for her children. Her being is a most precious thing and the only thing that truly belongs to her, and for that it is sacred. Edna is not a model for qualities of an exceptional mother or wife. She makes mistakes, but she is a model for women to look to and see that they can change. They need not stay in the same dull and restrictive ideologies simply because it is the common thought. Edna is a modern woman, and though not perfect, that is what makes her human. She is so much more relatable than the idolized Adele, at least in my opinion. I know people will be shocked at my book; they may even reject it because Edna is so different from what women are supposed to be. I don’t care though. This is my story, and I want to see a woman like Edna, not someone perfect but someone that is real.

Photo courtesy of http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

The Pigeon House

2009-09-27T18:45:00.000-04:00

Edna’s retreat and safe haven from society! How lovely, quaint and simple it is; truly a small luxury of privacy. How this house inspired me when I was trying to create Edna’s escape and home! Edna rejects the life of Leoncé and his fine, rich things for the simpler life that is all her own. She is establishing herself as her own woman and person, a separate entity from the shadow of her husband. By ridding herself of the possessions of Leoncé she can begin to define her own course in life. She is shedding one of the many layers of her former life so that she can begin anew. Maybe she will soar high now after she has left the suffocating power of society towards women. Her awakening sets her on the course for such humble beginnings: a small house, a few possessions, but also a lover that is everything she has ever wanted. Materially, she is not rich when she leaves but emotionally she has found her soul mate.

Photo courtesy of http://www.pbase.com/mraeder/image/82652330

Marriage

2009-09-26T23:13:00.003-04:00

Edna’s marriage is not a happy one, like that of her friend Adele. Before her awakening she merely goes through the motions in her dreamy stupor; however, afterwards she openly defies Leoncé. She refuses to go inside the house, she cancels her calling times so she may do as she wishes, she associates with company that is less than desirable, and she moves out of their mansion into the pigeon house. All the while Leoncé does not care about her, but rather as her as one of his beautiful possessions. He fears that she will soil his name in society, and therefore ruin his economic ventures. Truly, neither one of them married for love. Leoncé is not a horrible man, but a product of society and the times. There is no romantic love between the two, but more like a business partnership which is very fitting for Leoncé.

Photo courtesy of http://www.answers.com/topic/frock-coat

List of Works.

2009-09-25T21:00:00.000-04:00

I've written so much in my life, I can hardly remember all of it! Here's a chronological list of my most important works for future reference.

1888-- 'If It Might Be,' first poem written.
1889-- "Wiser than a God" and "A Point at Issue" published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
1890-- At Fault published privately.
1891-- Young Dr. Gosse submitted to several publishers. Manuscript destroyed.
1893-- "Désirée's Baby" published in Vogue.
1894-- Bayou Folk, a collection of 23 short-stories and sketches published. "Story of an Hour" written.
1895-- "Athénaise" written.
1896-- "Athénaise" published.
1897-- A Night in Acadie published. Work started on The Awakening in June.
1898-- The Awakening completed in January.
1899-- The Awakening finally published.
1900-- "The Gentleman from New Orleans" written and published.

Source: PBS, Kate Chopin: A Re-Awakening

Constricting Times

2009-09-24T12:05:00.000-04:00

Oh the clothes at this time are ever so cumbersome and restricting! Women are tied, laced, squeezed and packed in these clothes all for the mere sake of fashion and vanity. How I tire of such nonsense. Edna will use clothing to her advantage and physically show her awakening. As she understands her awakening more, she will begin to shed the many layers of armor and lace to reveal her true self. With the absent of all the layers of frills and fabrics the raw woman is left, truly awakened.

Photo courtesy of http://www.victoriana.com/library/fplates.html

Friendship

2009-09-23T13:06:00.000-04:00

Edna finds a friend in the peculiar Madame Reisz, who few find that they are successful in penetrating her rather obtrusive exterior. Madame is a true artist and fancies that she is above the average puppets that merely play along in society; they do not really live. Similarly, Edna is one of the few that has awakened and seen the truth of what society really is. She no longer wants to be apart of it, and soon people will begin to associate her as somewhat strange (at least Leoncé certainly worries so). These two women are not typical women of the time. They defy social norms and challenge society. They recognize each other as the same type of person, both desiring more from life than what they currently have. An unconventional friendship for two unconventional women.

Photo courtesy of http://www.morninggloryantiques.com/collectPurses.html

Love Triangle

2009-09-22T13:43:00.000-04:00

A fine, rich, fun-loving man, Alceé Arobin is well known in society (usually for characteristics that are not that becoming). Edna is bold to keep entertaining his company, especially at the pigeon house where she lives alone, except for one maid. But Edna is not in a good state at the moment. Her beloved, Robert, has just left for Mexico without hardly giving her any warning of his departure. So many thoughts are circulating through her mind as to why he left. Did he not feel the same feelings for her as those he awakened for the first time in her? Why, of all times, does he choose to go to Mexico when he could go anytime? And, why did he not tell her beforehand about his decision? Edna is so vulnerable at the moment, and Alceé is like her replacement for Robert. She has no real feelings for him, just pure physical attraction. I think with her loneliness and feelings of being abandoned, this good-looking Alceé has come into her life at the right time. People will be shocked, maybe even outraged at what happens between them. I know this is risky to put in print, but this is Edna’s story. If I cannot tell it all, then I cannot tell it properly.

Photo courtesy of http://buffy68.typepad.com/buffy_salon/2007/07/index.html

Golden Touch

2009-09-21T21:32:00.000-04:00

I have imagined many times what I wanted Edna to look like at her party. I want her to look powerful, but still maintain her femininity and beauty. She should make a statement and stand apart from everyone else. Perhaps, gold. Yes, I think gold would be fitting for Edna, like a queen or goddess. She should appear beautiful, regal, with an air of mystery.

Photo courtesy http://www.oldworldwear.com/victorian.html

Artistic Escapes

2009-09-20T22:54:00.000-04:00

Sketching and drawing are the two ways Edna expresses herself for a time. She has some talent, and uses her time in the pigeon house to develop it. Her art is important because she is finally doing something that she wants to do. This is one of her passions, and no one can tell her to stop. This is her outlet, in many ways like music is Madame Reisz’s.

Photo courtesy http://celebratetheseasons.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-edith-holden-rose.html

Clipped Wings

2009-09-19T22:58:00.000-04:00

Edna is like a caged bird in this novel. Beautiful and charming to people looking at her, but underneath everything she is unhappy and longs to be free. Madame Reisz realizes the longings and true nature of Edna. She, too, knows what it is like to be a caged bird and has found release and freedom in her music. She wants to make sure Edna’s wings are strong enough to withstand the gale of criticism that will come her way. She herself has faced it afterall. Edna’s freedom cannot be fully realized. I feel the symbol of a bird with a broken wing will fully express Edna’s character. She enjoyed freedom for such a short while in the pigeon house, away from Leoncé and with Robert. When Robert leaves her, she is devastated. They are ill-fated lovers, and their love can never exist in society. Her heart is broken at this discovery and she does not wish to go on. Once awaken from her dreamy state, she can never go back to the way things were. She has tasted the forbidden fruit of knowledge.

Photo courtesy http://www.artfiles.art.com/images/-/John-OBrien/Victorian-Lady-Green-Dress-Print-C10069239.jpeg

Bathing Beauty

2009-09-18T23:03:00.000-04:00

These new bathing suits are so dreadful, but an improvement from the older ones! Edna wears one similar to these when she swims for the first time in the ocean. Even in the water women must be covered completely. The clothing is so repressive. I want to make a statement with this clothing. The final time Edna goes for a swim in the book, she will do so uninhibited by these heavy garments. Her awakening symbolizes her rebirth, and so she will return to the sea new and without the marks of society on her.

Photo courtesy of http://www.fashion-era.com/images/Edwds/1890-1915/swcapsmarb546x30.jpg

Heartache

2009-09-17T23:18:00.000-04:00

My poor Edna. Robert has left his beloved because he knows they can never really be together. He knows, as well as she, that she can never leave Leoncé. She is trapped in her marriage, and the possibility of carrying on an affair is not a plausible one for a long-term relationship. The one thing besides freedom that Edna most desires is Robert, and he is now gone. How her heart breaks! To see your most desired wish in the world realized, and then suddenly taken away is unbearably cruel. How will this affect her freedom? Is freedom only desirable with Robert at her side? What shall I do with Edna now? It is like the sun has vanished forever from her days. Is that really any way to live the rest of her life? Oh…ma cherie...

Photo courtesy of http://www.i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4915249/167963-main_Full.jpg

Ah! Si Tu Sevais!

2009-09-16T23:22:00.000-04:00

Edna has made her decision. This summer has been a pivotal time in her life, and unfortunately she chose not to continue struggling against what society wants of her. Her wings were not strong enough to battle the storm gales, just like the falling bird she sees before she swims in the ocean. There, alone, undressed she chooses her fate in the cold water. She swims farther than she ever has before, or ever will. At one moment afraid, she is soon at peace and willing submits to the waves. She could not live as she wanted to after her awakening. Somehow life is not as happy and pleasurable as it was before she was awakened from her dreamy state of mind. If only people knew what was happening and what the cause of her unhappiness was. Dear Edna, ma cherie, perhaps now you will find true peace.

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/33140817@N06/3206642903

Creole Snack Mix

2009-09-15T22:10:00.000-04:00

Ingredients:
3 cups corn and rice cereal squares
3 cups crispy wheat cereal squares
3 cups toasted oat O-shaped cereal
3 cups pretzel sticks
2 cups pecan halves
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon creole seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large roasting pan
Drizzle half of butter over cereal mixture. Combine cheese and seasonings; sprinkle half over cereal. Stir;repeat procedure with remaining butter and seasonings

Bake at 250 degrees farenheit for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.