Women of
Local Color
Late 1800’s – early
1900’s
What is ‘local color”
Writing that captures the essence
of an area
 Distinctive qualities of the people
 Habits
 Speech, vernacular
 Customs
 Beliefs
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Major Women Players
Mary Wilkes Freeman in the
Northeast
 Sarah Orne Jewett in the Northeast
 Kate Chopin in the Louisiana bayous
 Charlotte Perkins Gilman and
women’s turn of the century
situation
 Willa Cather in the Midwest
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Mary Wilkes Freeman
1852-1930
Major works published - 18871891
 Explored the lives of mature New
England women who confront
their poverty
 Recognize their isolation
 Struggle to preserve their dignity
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Freeman’s life
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In the 1880’s her father lost his business, her sister
died, mother had to work as a housekeeper
Within the next 3 years her parents died suddenly
Freeman was alone and destitute and turned to
writing. Her writing conveys the honesty of poor
women
At age 49, she met Dr. Charles Freeman. Ten
years later she married him. Two tears later he
was committed to an insane asylum for alcoholism
The end of their marriage and his life were long
and messy
Freeman’s Work
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20 volumes of fiction and children’s
stories
A Humble Romance and Other Stories
in 1887
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A New England Nun and Other Stories
in 1891
Reading Target
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“The Revolt of Mother”
Look for specific examples of local
color in this tale of a fierce
independent New England woman
struggling to give her family a better
life. Look for irony and humor.
Sarah Orne Jewett
1849-1909
Major
works published 1873-1891
Influenced
by Harriet Beecher Stowe,
another ‘Mainah’ and local colorist
Fascinated
with the depth and character
of relationships with women
Encouraged
realistic depiction of specific
environments, moods, relationships,
customs and characters without a
traditional protagonist/antagonist plot.
Jewett’s Life
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Grew up in South Berwick, Maine as daughter
of a country doctor. Graduated from South
Berwick Academy in 1865 and began writing
short fiction.
Grounded her personal life in close relationships
with women, the most important of which was
a 30 year relationship with Annie Fields – know
as a Boston Marriage
Fields/Jewett house on Back Bay in Boston was
emotional center as well as literary center for
publishing world.
Connect 2 generations of women writers, Stowe
to Jewett to Chopin
Jewett’s Work
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Features everyday life of ordinary Mainers.
She’s different because she focused on idiomatic
language, conservative values, imagery and vivid
description of rural New England.
A Country Doctor early in her career shows a young
woman choosing to become a physician rather than
marry
The Country of the Pointed Firs towards the end of
her career dealt with rural community, female
friendship, and the making of art
“A White Heron,” her most famous work,
dramatizes the clash between competing sets of
values urban/rural, scientific/empathetic,
masculine/feminine, and adult/juvenile
Jewett Reading
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Using Jewett’s “A White Heron,” find
examples of local color – habits,
speech, customs, beliefs as well as
any examples of competing values of
urban/rural, scientific/empathetic,
masculine/feminine, and adult/juvenile
Using Jewett’s “Miss Tempty’s
Watcher’s,” look for irony and humor
Kate Chopin
1850-1904
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Major works published in 1890’s
Wrote two published novels and about a hundred
short stories
Most of her fiction is set in Louisiana
Most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of
sensitive, intelligent women
Her short stories were well received in her own time
and were published by some of America's most
prestigious magazines—Vogue, the Atlantic Monthly,
Harper's Young People, Youth's Companion, and the
Century.
Kate Chopin
1850-1904
Born in St. Louis, Missouri
2nd child of Thomas O’Flaherty of Ireland and Eliza
Faris of St. Loius.
Mother’s side of the family was of French decent so
Kate grew up speaking both English and French.
 As a girl, she was mentored by woman--by her mother, her
grandmother, and her great grandmother, as well as by the
Sacred Heart nuns. Kate formed deep bonds with her family
members, with the sisters who taught her at school, and with her
life-long friend Kitty Garasché.
 Much of the fiction Kate wrote as an adult draws on the
nurturing she received from women as she was growing up.
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Kate Chopin
1850-1904
 Her early life had a great deal of trauma. In 1855, her father
was killed in a railroad accident. In 1863 her beloved Frenchspeaking great grandmother died. Kate spent the Civil War in St.
Louis, torn between the north and the south and where her
family had slaves in the house. Her half brother enlisted in the
Confederate army, was captured by Union forces, and died of
typhoid fever
 At age 19, married Oscar Chopin, a wealthy cotton broker in
St. Loius. They moved to New Orleans to live.
 Gave birth to 5 sons and a daughter.
 “Desiree’s Baby” is her most famous short story.
 The Awakening is her most famous novel but it was
controversial for the time and it ruined her writing career.
Chopin Exercise
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Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby.” is full of
local color and irony. Look for
examples.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
1860-1935
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Major works published in 1890’s
Published a huge volume of work
much of which is unavailable because
it has only recently been rediscovered
Writing memorable for her
concentration on the prevalent
attitudes of the time, especially
regarding the treatment of women
Gilman’s Life
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Father went out for pack of cigarettes when she
was a baby and never came back home
Relied on charity of family to keep alive
Married in 1884, had a baby girl. Girl’s middle
name was Beecher, after Gilman’s great aunt,
Harriett Beecher Stowe. Marriage not successful.
After the birth, she had a severe mental breakdown
Moved to California, got a divorce, and left her
daughter in care of ex-husband, a big no-no
Married her cousin in 1900. It lasted 34 years.
Diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in 1932 and
chose chloroform over cancer – right to die
advocate – and took her own life in 1935
Gilman’s Work
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Often paired with The Awakening
Herland novel
Most famous piece is “The Yellow
Wallpaper,” a short story about a
woman who suffers a mental
breakdown due to the birth of her
child…sound familiar? It is a
remarkable story of the journey of
insanity
Tonight’s Reading
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“The Yellow Wallpaper” 1892
Look for examples of local color and irony,
especially the treatment of women in the
mental health system
A Boston physician said the story was
enough to drive anyone man.
Another physician said it was the best
description of insanity he had ever seen.
The story can be also read as a
conventional ghost tale. To some critics,
the narrator is not at all insane, rather
trapped in a haunted house. Think about
this idea as you read.
Willa Cather
1873-1947
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Major works published in early 1900’s
Admiration for the courage and spirit of
immigrant settlers
Intense awareness of pioneer’s isolation,
loneliness and loss of culture
Keen awareness of the culture of city life
Writing has courage, natural beauty and
independence
Cather’s Life
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Eldest of seven children
Family moved to Nebraska when she
was very young
Held a variety of jobs – journalist,
teachers, editor
Reputation rests on stories about
Nebraska and the American Southwest
and the heroism of the people that
inhabited the area
Cather’s Work
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12 novels, My Antonia and Death
Comes for the Archbishop considered
to be the finest
Most celebrated of the authors of her
time
Won a Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of
Ours
More information later on My Antonia
as it is a book choice for trimester 3