Seven short essays and a research paper combining two of the essays

RESEARCH PAPER OVERVIEW

1. Subjugation of women over time—Thesis (Chopin and Ibsen) 2. Biographical information on Chopin—Concluding sentence: Sub-thesis, her stories 3. “THE STORY OF AN HOUR” 4. “DESIREE’S BABY” 5. “THE STORM” 6. Biographical information on Ibsen—Concluding sentence: Sub-thesis, his play and Nora 7. Nora’s treatment by Her father and Nora’s treatment by Krogstad 8. Nora’s treatment by Torvald 9. Nora’s contrast with Christine 10. Conclusion—what these two writers have done for the liberation of women

It is an accepted fact that throughout history, women have not been given the same opportunities that men have come to enjoy. Not until more recently has this gap between the sexes been reduced, thanks to crusaders who championed this phenomenon. Two such crusaders, authors, lived during the nineteenth century, when inequality of the sexes was more obvious and accepted as part of the established status quo. Sensitive to this unfair bias that existed, Kate Chopin and Henrik Ibsen chose to write stories and plays that depicted this issue in hopes of inspiring others to see the injustice that prevailed.

Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1850, a time when death from disease was prevalent and society was highly conservative. After her father was killed in a train wreck when the author was five years old, she resided in her house with her mother, grandmother, and great- grandmother, all of whom were widows and rebellious in their outlook on life. Consequently, it is no wonder that she grew up to be independent herself. And, when her husband of fifteen years, Oscar Chopin, from Louisiana, died from typhoid fever, she took on the responsibility of rearing her young six boys by herself without getting remarried and moved back home to St. Louis (Toth). Her newfound spirit of independent thinking is reflected in her three short stories “The Story of an Hour,” “Desiree’s Baby,” and “The Storm.”