Maupassant's Influence on Kate Chopin and The Awakeing

A detailed Summary of Maupassant's Influence on Kate Chopin and The Awakeing

Every writer has an influence. Some are influenced by the ideas that the author has; some are influenced by the style, which the author writes with. Still others are so intrigued by a writer that they are not only influenced by their way of thinking and their writing, but they actually begin to mimic the author in many ways. This is the case with Guy de Maupassant's influence on Kate Chopin, who is undoubtedly the greatest influence on Chopin's writing.

"Maupassant was born in Chateaude de Miromesnil, Normandy" (Encarta). He received his education at Yvetot and Rauen and there joined a literary team where he was trained as a writer of fiction by Flaubert, another well know French author (Encarta). He, like Chopin, wrote many short stories, for which he is remembered the most (Encarta). Like Chopin, Maupassant's ideas were looked at as "immoral" and "mature," dealing with ideas such as "sex," loneliness, and "depression" (Jones 385). He questioned the standards of the day, and was therefore rejected by many people as an immoral person (Jones 385).

Kate Chopin's interest in Maupassant began after her mother died (Toth 181). At that time she had moved to a new location in the city where she lived and began to make new fri

Chopin had such and interest in Maupassant that she translated many of his stories from French to English (Toth 273). Due to there content, however, several were never published (Toth 273). Chopin had been taught French by her grandmother, who wanted her to know "how to speak and write French well" (Toth 35). Through this Chopin was able to take the stories of Maupassant and easily translate them. The more Chopin translated Maupassant the more she was influenced by his thinking and writing (Tonth 274). Even in reading Maupassant's stories, while they are translated, you can still tell that there is a remarkable similarity to Chopin's writing and his. Chopin used "realistic characters" and very "expressive" details to in her writing, much like Maupassant (Ewell 19). Many of Chopin's short stories resemble those of Maupassant's. Chopin's "Her Letter" is similar to Maupassant's "It?" and "Night" (Toth 272). Chopin's "The Night Came Slowly" is similar Maupassant's "Solitude" (Toth 272). Finally, Maupassant's "Suicide" influenced Chopin's novel, The Awakening.

"Maupassant, (Henri Rene Albert) Guy de." Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. 1998 ed.

Ewell, Barbra C.. Kate Chopin. New York: The Ungar Publishing Company, 1986.

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Approximate Word count = 1111
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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