Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin amazes me. I was first introduced to her in my Humanities class when I was a senior in high school. Mrs. Kuhn taught us a story by her, and some of us girls read The Awakening, which was considered to be a little risque. Mrs. Kuhn had a poster of D.H. Lawrence on one of her bulletin boards, and she was very enthusiastic about teaching us about writers that old Miss Howard wouldn't even consider. I was never sure whether Mrs. Kuhn's departure after that one year was because of her willingness to share previously censored materials with us, college bound seniors in a Humanities class (the best of the best), or whether it was attributed to something else, like her husband taking a job elsewhere and needing to move from the area. I never did find out.

Women in Literature was an elective class for English majors at Indiana State and one that I was excited about taking. Of course Kate Chopin popped up again. I loved reading literature written by women who were challenged by the time periods, their husbands, antiquated ideas, and society in general.

Since that time I have welcomed the opportunity to include some of Ms. Chopin's stories in my classes. Juniors have read "A Pair of Silk Stockings," seniors and the ENGL 111 students have read "The Story of an Hour." It was natural, then, to include several of Ms. Chopin's selections in ENGL 223 in the Women's Pod, right?

Kate Chopin wrote 100 years ago. Her literature was being submitted for publication, and often rejected, at the turn of the century. Naturally I think about my great-grandmother who would have been newly married at that time and who gave birth to my grandmother, her only child, in 1903. I remember her and her friends, Anna Chilson, Aunt Myrtle, Aunt Rachel, plus other Quaker ladies, getting together for lunch in Great Grandma's dining room, using the good china, silver, and crystal. I had a place of honor next to Great Grandma on the little telephone chair. I felt so special listening to their conversations.

Why am I sharing this information about Great-Grandma Eva? Because she and her friends would be the ones to have read those stories by Kate Chopin when they were first published. I can't even begin to think of those prim and proper Quaker ladies reading and discussing "At the 'Cadian Ball" or "The Storm"--at least not to discuss with each other! Or maybe they did. Maybe they were the secretive readers who really enjoyed Kate Chopin and wished they could be more like her.

Who knows? Wouldn't it be fun to find out?