Macie Carter

Kate (O’Flaherty) Chopin was born in Missouri the middle of the Victorian Era and grew up a strong, independent woman. Her husband, Oscar Chopin, “allowed” his wife freedom that most women of her day could only dream of having. But that independence and freedom were to become important to her family of five boys and two girls when Oscar died, leaving her their sole support. Eventually Kate had to write in order to support her family.

She began with her first novel, At Fault, published in 1890, followed by two short story collections.  However, it is her book, The Awakening, (1899) about a woman’s separation from her husband and children, an affair and self-realization that has placed Kate Chopin in the forefront of women writers of the Nineteenth Century.

1chopinThe themes in The Awakening caused an uproar when it was published and Chopin found herself ostracized. Therefore, she decided not to add her voice to the changes that were occurring for women as the dawning of the new century. Chopin died on August 22, 1904 of a cerebral hemorrhage—an independent voice for women’s freedom and artistic rights silenced too early.