Free Essays on Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin Kate Chopin, nee Catherine O’Flaherty, was born â€Å"[†¦]according to her baptismal certificate, on February 8th1850 [†¦]† (Toth 3), in St Louis Missouri. Her birth date has also been cited as February 8th 1851 (Bloom 11) and July 12th 1850 (Skaggs ix). Throughout her life, Kate was surrounded by many strong independent women, who all became her mentors in one way or another. Whether it was the kind, learned nuns she had as teachers, the proud independent widows, friends, and relations of her mother, or the life time friendships she forged with several girls from her early school days, the relationships and emotions she garnered from these women helped lay the foundations for some of American Literature’s most colorful and controversial stories. In 1870, Kate met and married Oscar Chopin, a Creole New Orleans native. Oscar was a cotton grower, and he and Kate spent the first 9 years of their marriage living and working on his cotton farm. Kate Chopin was, according to Harold Bloom, throughout her marriage â€Å"[†¦]an exemplary wife† (Bloom 11), and her daughter is quoted later as saying she was â€Å"‘Lady Bountiful of the neighborhood’† (Bloom 11). By 1879, Kate and Oscar had had five children, all boys, and Oscar’s cotton business had begun to fail. He moved his large, young family to Cloutierville Louisiana, where together they managed several plantations and eventually purchased a general store. It was here that Kate’s sixth and last child, a girl, was born. (Skaggs 3) In 1882 Oscar died of swamp fever, leaving Kate with an extensive debt, and six young children to rear on her own. His sudden death thrust her into the role of business woman, and provider, neither of which she was particularly good at. She was later to draw on her experiences in managing the business as the focus of her first book, At Fault (Dyer xiii). In 1884 Kate decided to move back to St Louis and live with her mother... Free Essays on Kate Chopin Free Essays on Kate Chopin Women have not always been given the choices they are afforded in today’s society. Women of the nineteenth century were not treated with the respect that most women of today obtain. Women in the past were known as homemakers. It was their job to take care of the children, do the cooking and cleaning, and they were not given a voice in any of the decisions. It was unheard of for women to have full time jobs outside of the home. The women of the twenty-first century, however, are more educated and have the opportunity to establish a career of their own. Although today, most women do not receive the equivalent treatment as men, they are allowed more privileges than have been granted to women in the centuries before. Kate Chopin wrote two short stories that provide examples of the way women act when they are freed of their homemaking responsibilities. For example, in the â€Å"Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin, Louise first cries when she hears of her husband’ s death. After meditating on some of the new opportunities she will be able to experience, she becomes joyful. Only then, she realizes her husband is at the door and is alive. With this realization all the joy that is on the inside dies and so does she. The effects of limited opportunities of being a homemaker are evident in two of Chopin’s stories, â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and â€Å"The Storm†. Chopin’s main character in the â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is a woman, Louise, who is diagnosed with a heart disease. Louise learns of her husband’s death from her sister, Josephine, and his friend, Richards. With this news, she begins to cry. Alone in her room, she begins envisioning the many opportunities she will now will have as a single woman. She repeatedly tells herself she is free. Josephine is unaware of how her sister feels. She goes to her sister to console her. Louise opens the door, and collapses in her sisters arms. As they make their way downstairs, ... Free Essays on Kate Chopin Kate Chopin Kate Chopin, nee Catherine O’Flaherty, was born â€Å"[†¦]according to her baptismal certificate, on February 8th1850 [†¦]† (Toth 3), in St Louis Missouri. Her birth date has also been cited as February 8th 1851 (Bloom 11) and July 12th 1850 (Skaggs ix). Throughout her life, Kate was surrounded by many strong independent women, who all became her mentors in one way or another. Whether it was the kind, learned nuns she had as teachers, the proud independent widows, friends, and relations of her mother, or the life time friendships she forged with several girls from her early school days, the relationships and emotions she garnered from these women helped lay the foundations for some of American Literature’s most colorful and controversial stories. In 1870, Kate met and married Oscar Chopin, a Creole New Orleans native. Oscar was a cotton grower, and he and Kate spent the first 9 years of their marriage living and working on his cotton farm. Kate Chopin was, according to Harold Bloom, throughout her marriage â€Å"[†¦]an exemplary wife† (Bloom 11), and her daughter is quoted later as saying she was â€Å"‘Lady Bountiful of the neighborhood’† (Bloom 11). By 1879, Kate and Oscar had had five children, all boys, and Oscar’s cotton business had begun to fail. He moved his large, young family to Cloutierville Louisiana, where together they managed several plantations and eventually purchased a general store. It was here that Kate’s sixth and last child, a girl, was born. (Skaggs 3) In 1882 Oscar died of swamp fever, leaving Kate with an extensive debt, and six young children to rear on her own. His sudden death thrust her into the role of business woman, and provider, neither of which she was particularly good at. She was later to draw on her experiences in managing the business as the focus of her first book, At Fault (Dyer xiii). In 1884 Kate decided to move back to St Louis and live with her mother... Free Essays on Kate Chopin Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, is a classic feminist book most often read for its portrait of Victorian marriage. In this story, Chopin tries to let all women know that they can experiment with sexuality throughout their motherhood. Chopin’s struggle with motherhood and bisexuality caused the character of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening to be an undevoted mother and wife. Edna Pontellier was a good mother when protecting her children from harm, but she never mistaked herself for them. She exclaims as she talks to Madame Ratignolle that, â€Å"She would give up the unessential; her money and her life but she would not give herself (Chopin 80). Edna seems to believe there is something more than her life that could be taken, which Madame Ratignolle finds hard to believe. She says, â€Å"But a woman who would give her life for her children could do no more than that† (Chopin 80). Edna also seemed to value her needs over her husbands and unlike her kids he noticed it. â€Å"He found it very discouraging that his wife who was the soul object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him and valued so little his conversation† (Chopin 12). His comment shows that the disappearing acts were not all his fault; actually he wanted to work things out and make the marriage better. He even wondered if his wife was unbalan ced mentally, â€Å" He could see plainly that she was not herself, he could see that she was becoming herself and casting aside that fictitious self who she appeared before the world† (Chopin 96). His accusation was accurate as it could be. Edna was going to become a new woman on the twenty-eighth of August at the hour of midnight. Yes. On the twenty-eight of August, at the hour of midnight, and if the moon is shining-the moon must be shining-a spirit that has haunted these shores for ages rises up from the Gulf. With its own penetrating vision the ...