The Awakening Essay, Research Paper

Kate Chopin was born on February 8, 1850, in Missouri. Her father had two sons from his first marriage, and three daughters in his second. Chopin’s sisters died in infancy, and her older brothers died in their twenties. Her father died in a train accident when she was very young. Chopin lived with her mother, grandmother, and great- grandmother before attending a Catholic boarding school. She grew up surrounded by unconventional, independent women, and performed well in school with the blessing of the women who raised her.

In 1870, Kate married Oscar Chopin, a French Creole from Louisiana. Chopin’s husband loved her deeply. Unlike many women of her time, Chopin enjoyed a wide range of unconventional freedoms. She bore her husband six children before he died in 1882 of a fever. Two years after her husband’s death, Chopin moved back to Missouri with her children to live with her mother. Sadly, her mother died not long afterwards. The series of tragic deaths in Chopin’s family, beginning in her early childhood made her profoundly skeptical toward religion. The tragedies in her life clearly show their effects in her writing.

Chopin’s husband did not leave her much money, so she turned to writing to support her family. She enjoyed quick success and made a name for herself by writing about the French Creoles of New Orleans. She sold dozens of short stories and essays before she turned her attention to novels. In 1899, she published The Awakening. Chopin often based her stories on people she knew or heard about in New Orleans, and The Awakening is no different. The novel is based on the story of a real woman from New Orleans who was the subject of much scandal in the French Quarter. The content of the novel shocked the reading public, and Chopin’s writing career suffered greatly as a result. It was rediscovered in the 1960’s, and it is now her most famous work and a keystone of feminist writing. Chopin died in 1904 of a brain hemorrhage.

Kate Chopin was born on February 8, 1850, in Missouri. Her father had two sons from his first marriage, and three daughters in his second. Chopin’s sisters died in infancy, and her older brothers died in their twenties. Her father died in a train accident when she was very young. Chopin lived with her mother, grandmother, and great- grandmother before attending a Catholic boarding school. She grew up surrounded by unconventional, independent women, and performed well in school with the blessing of the women who raised her.

In 1870, Kate married Oscar Chopin, a French Creole from Louisiana. Chopin’s husband loved her deeply. Unlike many women of her time, Chopin enjoyed a wide range of unconventional freedoms. She bore her husband six children before he died in 1882 of a fever. Two years after her husband’s death, Chopin moved back to Missouri with her children to live with her mother. Sadly, her mother died not long afterwards. The series of tragic deaths in Chopin’s family, beginning in her early childhood made her profoundly skeptical toward religion. The tragedies in her life clearly show their effects in her writing.

Chopin’s husband did not leave her much money, so she turned to writing to support her family. She enjoyed quick success and made a name for herself by writing about the French Creoles of New Orleans. She sold dozens of short stories and essays before she turned her attention to novels. In 1899, she published The Awakening. Chopin often based her stories on people she knew or heard about in New Orleans, and The Awakening is no different. The novel is based on the story of a real woman from New Orleans who was the subject of much scandal in the French Quarter. The content of the novel shocked the reading public, and Chopin’s writing career suffered greatly as a result. It was rediscovered in the 1960’s, and it is now her most famous work and a keystone of feminist writing. Chopin died in 1904 of a brain hemorrhage.