Kate Chopin A Woman Ahead of Her Time - 1845 Words

Abandoned by friends due to her supposed ‘immoral’ works, Kate Chopin was a mind ahead of her time. Stuck in the strict 1800s, her expressions of loathing marriage and sexual freedom in the lives of women were less than ideal to their modern culture (Chopin, â€Å"The Story of an Hour† 2241-2243). Her writings often consisted of marriage being below dreams of music and art, and even love not being able to hold a marriage together (Davis 62). The reality of these ideas compromised Chopin’s short stories and novels; the feeling of repression of women and the crushing restraint of marriage (Anderson et al. 480) Born as Katherine O’Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri, she was daughter to an Irish father and French mother who often encouraged her†¦show more content†¦Dà ©sirà ©e found herself disgraceful, thinking she was â€Å"cursed with the brand of slavery† herself, and along with her child (Chopin, â€Å"Dà ©sirà ©e’s Baby† 573). With the story The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is a married woman who never really conformed to the socially acceptable format for women during her time. She taught herself down to swim while at a vacation house that most of the story takes place at, though she becomes scared swimming into the sea and goes back to shore. With these days, she meets a man, Robert, who is not her husband, and skips a church mass with him to spend an â€Å"idyllic day together† (Chopin, â€Å"The Awakening† 52). However, as flirty as Robert seems to be, he cannot find himself wrapped up in an affair with a married woman and leaves t o Mexico. Edna returns to their home with her husband, but she continues to explore her freedom. She breaks many social codes, and at one crucial moment, takes off her wedding band and throws it on the ground, stomping on it. From this moment on, she shows a great distaste to marriage and even makes a comment after refusing to attend her sister’s wedding, in which she says: â€Å"A wedding is one of the most lamentable spectacles on Earth† (Chopin, â€Å"The Awakening† 52). Soon, Edna’s husband notices these changes in behavior. He calls a doctor who simply dismisses her changes as only being moody, and that she will be normal again soon. NotShow MoreRelatedKate Chopin: A Woman Ahead of Her Time Essay1390 Words   |  6 Pages Kate Chopin a Woman Ahead of Time In the 1800s married women had to submit to their husbands. Woman who got married had no voice with law. This meant their husbands would have to take legal action for them. Wives did not have any rights to their own property, and they would not have right to wages they earn. But these started to change through feminist women who raised their voice against men. Even though the feminist movement started in the 1960s, there were women ahead of this time thatRead MoreA Brief Note On Kate Chopin s Chopin 1642 Words   |  7 PagesMaddy Mummey Mrs. Corby AP English 12 20 April 2015 Kate Chopin Kate Chopin was a successful author of numerous short stories and novels during her life; many critics refer to her as a forerunner author of the 20th century (Kate). Throughout Chopin s life and the many experiences she endured, she grew a great sense of respect and empowerment towards women. However, she is not categorized as a feminist or a suffragist (Kate). Chopin insistently supported the revolutionary notion that women wereRead More The Life of Kate Chopin1083 Words   |  5 PagesThe life of Kate Chopin      Ã‚  Ã‚   Kate Chopin led a fascinating life filled with times of triumph but also times of great loss. Living in the South during the post-Civil War era, the setting and experiences of her life would have a great impact on the subjects of her writing. Chopin began writing as a way to express her frustration with life. This is why her emotions about life are conveyed so strongly in her writing. One of her short stories, Juanita, is an excellent example of how ChopinsRead MoreEssay about Kate Chopin Short Stories1663 Words   |  7 PagesKate Chopin was an American feminist fiction writer and a woman ahead of her time. She lived in the socially conservative nineteenth-century, but in her stories, she wrote about unconventional characters, particularly women, that caused others to question her morality. Similar to the female characters in her stories, Kate Chopin was an independent woman. She would often smoke cigarettes or walk in the streets unaccompanied; these practices were co nsidered unusual for a nineteenth-century woman toRead MoreKate Chopin s Story Of An Hour993 Words   |  4 Pagestheir stories of real life experiences and feelings. Kate Chopin largely based her stories off of her own life. Kate Chopin spent her childhood years in an alternative and matriarchal Louisiana town with a family that was unconventional. She challenged her nineteenth century sexist society and used her own life to put strength and feminism into her stories like â€Å"The Storm†, â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† and of course â€Å"The Story of an Hour†. She lived with her mother, grandmother and great grandmother who wereRead MoreKate Chopin s The Storm Essay1339 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"The famous writer Kate Chopin once said, â€Å"The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.† The Awakening, (1899). Kate Chopin was widely recognized as one of the leading writers of her time. She was an American author of short stories and novels. She was born on February 08, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. She died on August 22, 1904, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Written in 1898 but not published until it appeared in The Complete Works of Kate Chopin in 1969, The Storm hasRead MoreKate Chopin s Literary Creativity And Women s Independence1097 Words   |  5 Pages Kate Chopin has become one of the most influential feminist writers of the century. From Chopin’s literary rejection of The Awakening, the rejection sparked a fire in Chopin’s feminist side. Chopin began writing short stories that would become society’s lead in literary creativity and women’s independence. Kate Chopin’s biography is astonishingly intriguing and the importance Chopin plays to the feminist literature genre is exceptional. Critics either rave Chopin’s work or completely destroy itRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour980 Words   |  4 PagesMallard is a woman trapped in her own golden cage. Throughout the story, the author, Kate Chopin, shows the true colors of matrimony during that time and what it meant in women’s lives. Women were the only possessions attained after marriage, designated to do house labors and take care of a husband and children. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin illustrates that marriage is another manifestation of women’s abdication of liberty once they say â€Å"I do†. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin is a shortRead MoreThe Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin862 Words   |  4 Pagesan Hour Kate Chopin’s short story, â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, is about one married woman’s true hidden feelings of being married in the 19th century. The story was published in 1894, a time where it was unacceptable for women to express their wants and needs as a woman. Women were not seen equal to men and did not have the same privileges as men such as voting. Therefore, some of her literary works were considered controversial. It wasn’t soon until the late 20 century people took note of her work andRead MoreModern Heroine By Kate Chopin1363 Words   |  6 Pagesaverage woman in an unexpected situation, which, despite the odds being piled against her, she usually overcomes in the end. In today’s culture, women have overcome many difficulties to be able to work, teach, vote, have a voice in the government, and even are CEOs. Some people believe that some of these achievements are because of examples that come from literature that have led women to believ e in, motivate, and stand up for themselves. In literature the amount of the things that a woman protagonist