The Work of American Writer, Kate Chopin

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There are many things that many people experience in life which leads them into one direction or another. Many people discover who they really are or what their purpose in life is simply by living their lives through tragedy, triumph, or just simply learning life’s lessons. In this essay, I will discuss how American writer, Kate Chopin found her destiny in becoming a feminist writer based on her life’s experiences.

Catherine (Kate) Chopin was born on February 8, 1850 in Saint Louis, Missouri. She was the second child of Thomas O’Flaherty and Eliza Faris. She was the only child who lived past age 25 out of 5 children. Her father was killed in a railroad accident in 1855 leaving her to be nurtured by only women in whom she learned from and looked up to which included her mother, grandmother, sisters, nuns from school and her friend, Kitty Garasche’. Kate faced many tragedies in her life which involved the death of not only her father, but the death of her brother, grandmother, husband, and mother. Kate was a very outgoing person. She loved music and dance, laughter and intellectual talk in which she really enjoyed and was very expressive and direct. This is what led her obstetrician, Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer to encourage her to write. This is when her journey as a writer begin.

I chose to focus my essay on one of Ms. Chopin’s short stories, “The Story of an Hour”. This story is about a dramatic life changing event that involves a married couple and the nature of their marriage which many people can relate to in a sense. The mood of this story is moving but also expresses liberty of one’s life. Mrs. Mallard is used as a persona in the story and also the main character of the story. She faces a very tragic experience when her h...

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...e you can share it with someone else. I feel that Mr. Mallard may have never found happiness within himself so therefore, Mrs. Mallard was unhappy. Mrs. Mallard allowed her husband to come before herself and allowed herself to be caught up in a loveless marriage. Although she did not have the courage to leave on her own, she did find a way out. But only if she would not have waited so long, she would have been able to have the freedom and peace that she longed for. Instead, she died. The story begins with tragedy and also ended with tragedy but as for Mrs. Mallard, she found happiness in her last moment.

References

Kate Chopin Biography.” Kate Chopin: The Awakening, The Storm, Stories, Biography. Aug. 2011. Web. 08 Aug. 2011. .

Clugston, R.W. (2010). Journey into literature. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

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