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The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Chopin’s celebrated novel met with outrage when it was published in 1899 but later gained wide acclaim when it was rediscovered by audiences in the 1950s. Like “The Storm,” it deals frankly with female sexual desires. But while “The Storm” captures a brief moment in a character’s life, the novel traces the years-long trajectory during which the female protagonist’s attempts to gain artistic, sexual, and personal autonomy clash disastrously with societal expectations.
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
In this brief poem by 17th-century poet and political satirist Marvell, the speaker urges a lover to set aside their hesitations and enjoy a sexual relationship with him now. The idea of carpe diem (“seize the day”) motivates the speaker. Now he and his lover can enjoy life and all it offers; soon they will be in the grave, where no one can “embrace.” The speaker reminds the lover that they will both be dust sooner than they would like, that the vitality of sexual love is fleeting, and that opportunities should be welcomed, as Calixta and Alcée welcome the sudden storm that isolates them.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Chopin’s literary influences include works by the Brontë sisters and in particular the 1847 novel Jane Eyre, with its sensitive, willful hero. Chopin’s story and her own life often echo Jane’s drive to live fully and to exercise autonomy. Calixta is, like Jane, sensual, and in “The Storm,” she seizes a fleeting opportunity for passion, although unlike Jane, Calixta cannot hope for marriage to an equally passionate lover.
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
One of Chopin’s most famous short stories, “The Story of an Hour” follows Louise Mallard, a woman in a happy-enough marriage who learns the shocking news that her husband has been killed in a train accident. In her immediate grief, she reflects that he was a good husband whom she will miss. Then she thinks ahead to the freedom that will be hers as a financially secure widow and feels as if she is welcoming a new life. Her relief is similar to Clarisse’s relief in “The Storm” when she realizes that she does not have to hurry back to her marital duties. Louise’s story ends in a twist when her husband arrives home safely and she must face the years ahead as a dependent wife, not as an independent woman.
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Now an iconic and foundational feminist essay, A Room of One’s Own debuted in 1929. Woolf, a novelist and commenter on society, based the essay on a lecture she gave to women’s colleges at Cambridge. The essay contends that women require autonomy, intellectual freedom, and financial sufficiency to attempt their artistic and creative goals. Sustaining the time and space to write was a challenge for Chopin, and her solutions to it often came at the cost of disapproval of family, friends, and society.
