Kate Chopin's Biography

Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 8, 1850 to Eliza and Thomas O'Flaherty. She had a very tough life by losing those who she loved. She was the third daughter out of 5 children but she was the only one to live past age 25. Her father was a wealthy man, but died due to a railroad accident. After his death Chopin was raised by her mother, grandmother and great grandmother who were all widows. Chopin was closer to her great grandmother Victoria Verdon Charleville, she was the one to educate her. They were all strong independent women in fact Victoria's mother was the first women in St. Louis to obtain a legal separation. Unfortunately Mrs. Charleville passed away when Chopin was 11 years old. Chopin attended The Sacred Heart Academy, where she was one of the top students. After graduating at the age of 19 she married Oscar Chopin. Oscar's family own their own business and they move to New Orleans. Her married life was great; Oscar practically let her do everything she wanted. Kate and Oscar had 6 children in total. Oscar was not very successful at running the business, so after his death he left Kate in debt. Kate ran the business for a year, and then moved back with her mother. Her mother died the following year. Kate then began to write in order to support her family. She was very successful, she began writing short stories. Most of her stories were based on true stories of people she had met. For example, The Awakening was based on a woman she had met in New Orleans. Her writing provoked controversy among the people. Kate Chopin continues to write until her death. She died due to a stroke on August 22, 1904. Years after her death, her work started getting attention due to her expression of female independence and sexuality.

Works Cited

Ewell, Barbara C.. "Kate Chopin," KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana.  Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. 16 Feb. 2011 

http://www.www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=650

David Caradin.Kate Chopin a Women Ahead of Her Time (1850-1904).Angel Firehttp://www.angelfire.com/nv/English243/Chopin.html

Worton M. Reading Kate Chopin Through Contemporary French Feminist Theory. Cambridge University.2008

 http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/13922/1/13922.pdf