Kate Chopin: A Woman Ahead of Her Time

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Kate Chopin a Woman Ahead of Time

In the 1800's 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 1960's, there were women ahead of this time that were feminist too. In her short story, "Story of an Hour", and novel "The Awakening", Kate Chopin explores the themes of woman rebellion against their husbands, and woman becoming independent from their husbands. Even though Kate Chopin was born in 1850 she was a feminist writer. Kate was a woman ahead of time, and most of her writing portrays feminism. There were three main facts that made Kate write about these themes; First was the role models that she had in her family, second the hard life she had, and third her education.

According to the on line Merriam Webster dictionary feminism is "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes." Feminism also involves the idea of woman having more than one sexual partner. According the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, woman became more sexually active during the 1980's. The idea of women having more than one sexual partner was partially accepted only in the 1980's. Almost eight decades before this happened Kate Chopin completely inspected and accepted this idea. In "The Awakening", Edna Pontellier is a perfect example of this. Edna decides to have sex with a man that is not her husband, and she does not feel ashamed of it.

In "The Storm" Kate also describes a wom...

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...t want to have kids, but you have to remember that there was no birth control at that time."

Having all this in my head makes me only think one thing, and that is woman has to choose between not falling in love, and not having children to be completely independent. Is a tough decision, but believed it or not there are woman that decide to stay single through their entire lives. Sandra Cisneros (a recognized writer) thinks that she "will be no body's mother and no body's wife." Kate Chopin got married when she was very young and she did not have enough time to enjoy her life, especially with six kids. She felt like she was tired, and also experienced that there were no equal rights for men and women. The fact that women had to be dependent from their husbands bothered Kate. Even though she died in 1899, her writing still teach woman that they could be independent.

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