Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin

Introduction

The next short story we will read and explore is Kate Chopin's “Désirée’s Baby." Before getting into the text, however, you are to learn more about the time and style in which the story was written. 

 

The "Task" tab gives your groups; the "Process" tab shows the websites you will use to research; the "Evaluation" tab gives questions based on the subjects you are researching. 

Task

You will have fifteen minutes to research.

After the fifteen minutes are up, you will be responsible for sharing what you learned about your subject. 

Group 1: Antebellum Louisiana

Group 2: Creole Culture

Group 3: Kate Chopin

Group 4: Local Color Genre & Romanticism

Group 5: Naturalism & Realism

Process

If you are researching Antebellum Louisiana, please visit the following website(s) you questions: 

1. Louisiana State Museum

2. Antebellum Period

 

If you are researching the Creole culture, please visit the following website(s) to answer your questions: 

1. Creole Culture 

2. Louisiana Folk Life 

 

If you are researching Kate Chopin, please visit the following website(s) to answer your questions: 

1. Kate Chopin 

 

If you are researching "Local Color" genre and Romanticism, please visit the following website(s) to answer your questions: 

1. Romanticism 

2. Local Color 

 

If you are researching Naturalism and Realism, please visit the following website(s) to answer your questions: 

1. Naturalism 

2. Realism 

Evaluation

If you are researching Antebellum Louisiana, answer the following questions: 

Note: Questions 1-5 come from "Antebellum Period," and question 6 comes from "Louisiana State Museum." 

  1. “Désirée’s Baby” is set during Louisiana’s antebellum period. What is meant by “antebellum period?” Generally, what years does this expand?  
  2. By what is the antebellum period characterized?
  3. Roads/paths are an important symbol in “Désirée’s Baby.” Historically, why did political leaders during the antebellum period recognize the need for roads?
  4. What were the effects of the antebellum period?
  5. What important social / human justice movement grew in importance in the late 1820s and early 1830s?
  6. What was Louisiana’s most productive crop? How much did the annual crop rise between 1840 – 1860? What was Louisiana’s second most productive crop?
  7. Is there a difference between the words “revolt” and “rebellion?” If so, what is it? And why is it important in its application to slavery? 

 

If you are researching Creole Culture, answering the following questions: 

Note: Questions 1-4 come from "Every Culture," while question 5 comes from "Louisiana Folk Life."

  1. What does “creole” mean? When was the term first used, and who did it identify, specifically in Louisiana?
  2. When did persons of French and Spanish descent in Louisiana begin referring to themselves as Creoles? Why?
  3. What is an on-going controversy concerning the term “Creole?”
  4. What street divides “old Creole” from “uptown” New Orleans? How did this divide come about?
  5. What are the distinctive “foodways,” music, and ritual/festival practices of the Creole culture?
  6. What is the effect of naming yourself? In other words, is there power in claiming a name that was once derogatory (such as “creole”) to describe yourself? 

 

If you are researching Kate Chopin, answer the following questions: 

  1. When and where was Kate Chopin born? When and where did she die?
  2. In what magazines were her short stories published?
  3. Where is most of her fiction set?
  4. On what do her best-known works focus? In other words, what are the themes of most of Chopin’s short stories?
  5. Research a summary of Chopin’s most widely condemned novel. Why did some critics call it “morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable?”
  6. Why might themes of bicultural and bilingual influence Chopin’s short stories?
  7. Why might Kate Chopin be accepted as one of “America’s essential authors?”

 

If you are reseraching "Local Color" genre and Romanticism, answer the following questions: 

Note: Questions 1-3 come from "Local Color Fiction," whereas questions 4-6 come from "Romanticism." 

  1. What is local color genre?
  2. Why is the “local color” genre important? In other words, to what did this literary movement contribute?
  3. What are some themes that many “local color” stories share?
  4. What is Romanticism?
  5. When did this period of English literature flourish in the United States? How did American Romanticism differ from English Romanticism? 
  6. With what is Romanticism chiefly concerned?  

 

If you are researching Naturalism and Realism, answer the following questions: 

Note: Questions 1-3 can be found through the "Realism" link, and questions 4-6 can be found through the "Naturalism" link. 

  1. What is Realism? During what time period did it flourish?
  2. What do Realists believe is the novel’s function?
  3. What is the Realist novel’s strengths. In other words, what is its chief concern?
  4. What is Naturalism? When did it flourish?
  5. What is the dominant theme of most Naturalist literature?   
  6. The theories of whom played a role in the development of literary Naturalism?