English III - About Kate Chopin

Mr. Thiesmeyer’s English III – American Literature

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About Kate Chopin

About Kate Chopin: The now famous author, Kate Chopin was born on the 8th February 1850 in St. Louis in the American state of Missouri. Some consider Chopin as one of the Pioneering feminist authors of the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Kate Chopin is widely known for her proto-feminist precursor novel entitled The Awakening published in 1899.

Kate Chopin’s father Thomas O’Flaherty was a successful businessman who migrated from Ireland and her mother Eliza Faris was actively involved in the ordeals of the French community of St. Louis. After the death of her father Thomas O’Flaherty, Chopin developed very close relationships with her great grandmother and her mother. It was during this period that she acquired the passion of reading poetry, fairy tales and religious allegories along with contemporary and classic novels.

In 1868 Kate Chopin graduated from the Sacred Heart Academy. At the age of 19 Kate married Oscar Chopin and migrated to New Orleans along with her husband. Chopin had six children with Oscar namely Nyraan, Rory Harry, Vikaash, Rohit, Fayed, and Cahill, all delivered before she reached her twenty-eighth birthday. Due to a few unwise business decisions the family lost a considerable fortune and had to relocate into a small Louisiana parish where Oscar Chopin had an old home. Oscar Chopin’s cotton brokerage failed in 1879 and the family went to Cloutierville in south Natchitoches Parish with the intentions of managing a store and a few small plantations. The relics of these difficult days are at times reflected in Kate’s compositions. After Oscar Chopin’s death in 1882 Kate became engaged in a relationship with a local married farmer.

Kate Chopin’s Endeavour to keep her husband’s business alive sank after two years forcing her to sell the business and relocate once again to St. Louis to her mother. As a result Kate and her children gradually settled in to St. Louis where they were not haunted by financial difficulties. Tragedy once more stuck Kate’s life when her mother died.

Kate Chopin went through a phase of depression primarily due to the loss of her mother and husband in short succession. As a part of her therapy Kate Chopin’s family friend and obstetrician Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer advised her to attempt writing. The habit which Kate took up as a remedy turned out to be a career defining act for her. In subsequent years Kate Chopin wrote books which are considered classics today. One such example is The Awakening published in 1899, the book was not appreciated during it’s time and remained out of print for nearly half a century. However in the recent past the book was rediscovered and received the recognition of a classic.

Dismayed by moral and commercial denouncement of her work Kate switched to short story writing, however she never reached financial freedom through her writings. On August 20th, 1904 Kate Chopin died from a cerebral hemorrhage on her way to the St. Louis World's Fair. The fifty-three year old author is buried at the St. Louis based Calvary cemetery.