Discussion

One of the great female artists during this period was Kate Chopin. She wrote some really interesting stories about the struggles of being a woman in the late nineteenth century. The clip below is a reading of one of her works, "The Story Of an Hour". Students should listen to the recording and answer the questions below

https://youtu.be/U9cnCw0Kw00

What relationship can you see between this writing and the work of the female painters of the period like Mary Cassatt?

 From the visual and literary works what can you determine about the lives of middle class and wealthy women living during the nineteenth century?

 How did their expectations for their life differ from general society's expectations for the lives of women during this period?