Kate Chopin Biography Response

Kate Chopin is the author of The Story of an Hour, written in the 1890s. She was born the third of five children in St. Louis, Missouri in 1850. Out of the five she was the only child to live past the age of twenty-five, which is still very young. To go through that many deaths of people that have a special place in your heart, is bound to take a drastic effect on a person. Kate also lost her father at the age of five and a half, as a result of his train crossing a collapsed bridge. She dispersed from the Sacred Heart Academy and left to live with her widowed mother, grandmother, and great grandmother for two years. Growing up in the Civil War, this was a time when women still did not play a much significant role in contributing to not only economic, but the academic advances of society. Chopin grew up around independent, intelligent woman, and went on to be the top of her class at the Sacred Heart Academy. Being a woman of intelligence in that time, it was fairly easy to argue the logic behind the theory of religion. Chopin’s grandmother died three days before Christmas, the same year her dear friend Kitty was banished from the colony. In addition her father had passed on All Saints Day. This left a major doubt of religion in the mind of Chopin.

Kate married Oscar, a man similar to herself; in the aspect his background included the French Catholic religion. He truly loved his wife, and was inspired by her intelligence, unlike most husbands of this time period he chose not to silence his wife, but to embrace her unheard freedom. Most men silenced their wives, and confined them to rooms like a china doll confined to a shelf neglectfully becoming darker from the dust of the passing days. Kate proved herself to be a strong woman, after bearing seven children, and moving back to Oscar’s old home, where he died of swamp fever. Kate was left to take over the general store, and plantation. She was truly a fearless independent woman, who soon sold her business, and entered the world of writing, where she supported her family through her talent, through the release of her first successful novel, At Fault.

Kate Chopin was among the strong independent intellectual women of her time. One of her most popular works, is titled “The Story of an Hour”, although it is not lengthy, it is a powerfully impacting story. Kate Chopin’s biography heavily reflects her style of writing. She basically described the life of a woman growing up in her time period. Including the emotions of insanity up until the point of which freedom will soon be drawn. The main character is a woman who is oppressed by her husband, as wives of that time period were confined. Every woman who dwelt under their husbands, felt the want to break free to get their freedom, or probably even hoped that they would just one day drop dead. In this story Chopin gives her character that opportunity. Her character realizes that her husband has passed, and immediately this sensation takes over her body and she begins to cry uncontrollably. At first note, it can be inferred that she is crying, because she dearly loved her husband, however how can you love the one that oppressed you. Did slaves love their masters, simply because they sheltered them? To say that this woman’s “joy” over her husband’s death is selfish is a false inference and the pain of such an event must be felt first hand before being concluded. Through her literature Kate was able to give females the voice they didn’t rightfully own. Their thoughts were condemned to their minds, this is most likely why the main character goes through a lot of her emotions internally, and also shows them in a pathotical sense, rather than an ethological one. Kate gave women the voice that was forever shadowed, and we appreciate her for the voice we have today.