Kate Chopin was born on February 8, 1850 to a wealthy Irish-French family in St. Louis. Her mother, Eliza Faris, was from an aristocratic family and her father, Thomas O'Flaherty was a prominent merchant. In 1855 her father died, and Kate was raised in a home of strong-willed female relatives. This no doubt served to influence her ideas about about women and their place in society.
She attended a convenant school in St. Louis and two years after graduation, married Oscar Chopin. After getting married, Chopin and her husband moved to New Orleans where he pursued a cotton-brokering business.However, in 1979 the couple and their six children relocated to Cloutierville, Lousiana after the business failed. Cloutierville, and Kate Chopin's experiences there, served as the basis for many of her short stories and novels.
In 1882, Oscar Chopin died from a fever. This left Chopin and her children with little financial security. Chopin took charge and managed the plaintation until she regained her financial standing. In 1884, Chopin moved to her mother's home in St. Louis and in 1889 she began to write.
Within a decade, Chopin had written three novels (one was never published), twenty poems, several essays of literary criticism, and almost one hundred short stories.
The Awakening is considered Chopin's masterpiece.However, at the time of publication, its subject matter caused great controversy. The references to female sexuality, adultery, independence, and disregard for the social expectations of the time caused Chopin to receive much criticism. The book was pulled out of circulation until 1969.
She died of a brain hemorrhage on August 22, 1904.
A timeline of Kate Chopin's life can be found here
Mrs. Parizek's AP English
