When Home is A Prison: Pyschological Violence in Kate Chopin’s Selected Stories
When Home is A Prison: Pyschological Violence in Kate Chopin’s Selected Stories

Author(s): Senem Üstün Kaya
Subject(s): Psychology, Studies in violence and power, American Literature
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Home; prison; pyschological; violence; Kate Chopin; selected stories; stories;
Summary/Abstract: Violence has been one of the most notable research issues in social sciences, particularly in psychology and literature. As a widely discussed topic, psychological violence and emotional abuse are dealt with by authors via narration. One of the most prominent female authors who dealt with the emotional abuse of women in patriarchal societies is the American author Kate Chopin (1851-1904). Having observed the conditions of women during her times, Chopin dealt with the struggle of women for self-assertion in 19th century American society. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Kate Chopin was the daughter of publicly known parents. As a child, after the loss of her father, she was raised by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and was tutored at home (Beer, 2008). Although in her marriage with Oscar Chopin, Kate Chopin had no remorse for “her marriage” (Taş, 2011, p. 414), her main concern in her fiction was women’s struggle for identity in male-dominated societies. Most of Chopin’s writing bear the autobiographical imprint of her life, reflecting the effects of the restrictive construction of marriages on women and their struggle against oppressive patriarchy in late 19th century America. Her ideas reflect her desire to express the strength of women, undermine patriarchy and to raise awareness of feminine assertion (Marquand, 1998).

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