Kate Chopin Biography

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O’Flaherty on February 8, 1851 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born into a society proud of its French Creole roots. Kate’s mother Eliza Faris O’Flaherty played a prominent role in the French Creole elite, her ancestry tracing back almost until the village’s founding in 1764. Kate’s father, Thomas O’Flaherty was an Irish immigrant and merchant. Kate’s parents gave birth to five children, of which Kate was the third, but all except her died before reaching twenty-five.
When Kate was seven years old the O’Flaherty family lost Thomas to a train accident. What was a famously joyful and lively household, immediately transformed into a place of grief and mourning. Although some of the changes observed following his death soon returned to normal (piano playing for example), the household was never the same. Following her father’s death Kate lived at home for the next two years in the company of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, all of whom were widowed. It is this time and the years that followed in Kate’s upbringing that are usually seen most directly responsible for her work later on in life. She was raised by strong and independent women who successfully managed without the aid of a man. A special bond between Kate and her mother developed during the time immediately following the death of Thomas. Having both lost someone important to them, and recognizing this in each other, the women’s sadness brought them together. Kate’s mother begin regularly telling Kate stories, some of whose “questionable nature,” are thought to have influenced Chopin’s utilization of bold realism later on (Critical, 17).
In 1860 Kate began her education at the Academy of Sacred Heart. During this time of her youth, although she made friends with various other girls at the academy and enjoyed a particular miniature horse, she is said to have spent the majority of her time on “music and reading—veritable passions,” (18). The academy Kate attended focused on the intellectual and mental development of its students, encouraging obvious strengths in various pupils. In 1867 Kate began writing poems and essays, many of which were copied into her commonplace book. In the reading the commonplace book it is obvious that Chopin was occupied with two main subjects at this time in her life: “literature and education,” (22). Much of the rest of the subject matter in the book is dark and grief-stricken, and thought to be an attempt to express the remaining effect of her father’s and sibling’s death. Kate graduated from the Academy in June, 1868.
Immediately following she became a prominent social character and was categorized “as one of the acknowledged belles of St. Louis, a favorite not only for her beauty, but also for her amiability of character and her cleverness,” (23). Although she was had the duties of her social role to attend to, Kate still pursued music, reading and writing with a fervent passion. She began reading more serious authors like Dante, Goethe, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Racine. There are direct and obvious influences on her writing to be found in some of these readings. For example, Chopin took a particular interest in Mme. de Stael’s novels Delphine and Corinne. One is about a woman who thinks her lover and her love for him are more important that what the world will allow. The other is about a female poet who moves to Italy so that she can live and work without having to abide by English moral law. Both of these stories can be thought to have directly influenced The Awakening.
In 1870 when she was twenty years old, Kate married Oscar Chopin. Oscar was from French-Creole northwestern Louisiana. She moved with him to New Orleans and the couple had had their six children by the time Kate was 29. Later they moved to Cloutierville where they started various plantations and ran a general store. It is during this time with her husband, both active members in the community, that Kate got much of her inspiration for her later writings. This is especially true of the Creole social society (which The Awakening is set in). Oscar died of “swamp fever” in 1882. He left Kate with a substantial amount of debt. During the time immediately following his death, Kate is rumored to have engaged with various local men. Despite this, she also attempted to keep her late husband’s business alive as best she could. Two years of effort in she sold the plantation and at the beckoning of her mother returned home. After having been settled in St. Louis with her children for only a year, Kate’s mother died. It was during this time that Chopin sunk into a state of depression. After some time she eventually agreed to see a doctor who advised her that writing, something she had always enjoyed, could be a therapeutic source during this time and even possibly provide her with income. During the early 1890’s Chopin wrote various short stories many of which were publishes. In 1899 her second novel The Awakening was published.