Self-study
P1
The literary development of Kate Chopin, author of . ███ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████████████ ███████ ████████ ███
Intro Topic ·
Chopin's literary development
Background ·
Chopin grew up with sentimental novels
Features of sentimental novels.
Intro Group ·
Local Colorists (L.C.)
Chopin initially modeled her work on local colorists. Who were they?
P2
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L.C. Social Context ·
Expanding opportunities for women
Local colorists liked that traditional "women's culture" was dissolving.
L.C. Attitude ·
Local colorists neutrally observed these changes
L.C. Attitude Change ·
Local colorists mourn the loss of "women's culture"
Illustrate L.C. Attitude ·
House as female nurturing, etc.
P3
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Contrast to L.C. ·
Chopin writes about different subjects
Loneliness, isolation, frustration... not traditional "women's culture."
Similar to L.C. ·
Chopin uses the same conventions
Callback to "scientific detachment" of the L.C. to tell melodramatic tales
P4
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Evolution ·
Chopin discards L.C. in favor of New Women (N.W.)
Moved past L.C.'s nostalgia (for "women's culture"). Modeled later work on N.W.
N.W. Details ·
Innovation in form and content
Unlike both sentimental novels and L.C.'s short stories, N.W. explores fantasy; parable; different worlds; and uses impressionistic methods to explore female consciousness
The Awakening ·
Took N.W. approach further
Used impressionistic methods to render the female consciousness.
Passage Style
Single position
Spotlight
8.
Which one of the following ██████████ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Although Chopin drew █ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████
Factually inaccurate. The material for The Awakening isn’t really discussed, other than that the content wasn’t very consistent from one section to the next. What Chopin did was draw a great deal from the techniques of the New Women. She also didn’t recapture the atmosphere of the sentimental novels from her youth—by then, she was focused on innovation, like the New Women. And overall, (A) focuses too much on The Awakening and too little on Chopin’s overall progression.
b
Avoiding the sentimental ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████
This is a good low-res summary of the passage and emphasizes exactly what the author is most focused on: how Chopin developed her literary style.
c
With its stylistic ███████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████████
Factually inaccurate. The author doesn’t suggest The Awakening was "unlike any work of fiction written during the nineteenth century.” In fact, it was strongly influenced by, and shared similarities with, the work of the New Women. (C) is also too focused on The Awakening. The passage is more about the literary journey that led to The Awakening.
d
In The Awakening █ ██████ ████████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████████████ ██████████ ███ ████████████
Factually inaccurate. She didn’t rebel against the restraint of the local colorists; she embraced their style of scientific detachment, and rejected the elevated, romantic language of sentimental novels. (C) is also too focused on The Awakening. The passage is more about the literary journey that led to The Awakening.
e
Because she felt █ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ███ █████████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████
This gets it backward. She was interested the stylistic conventions of the local colorists but not their subject matter. (E) is also too narrow; the passage isn’t just about why Chopin fell in with the New Women. It’s about her broader literary journey. And nothing suggests that Chopin ever struggled to develop the style she used in The Awakening.