Kate Chopin was the author of many short stories; she was told that her stories would be accepted and published if only she would tone down her female characters. All of her stories were about females pursuing their own goals. Unlike many stories that came out during her era, she chose to make hers more interesting by not ending the stories with the female character going back to their husbands and begging forgiveness. Chopin enjoyed walking, she had stated once something about women not learning much of the world, so to learn they must take walks and observe life around them. She often used this idea in her stories to convey messages about a woman’s life. Chopin and her husband moved to New Orleans after a while, she gave birth to her first there. Then, not long after between the years of 1871 and 1880 she gave birth to five more. Many of her stories were influenced by her observations of the types of people she lived close to and worked for her. Her husband died in 1882 of swamp fever, and then she moved in with her mother, after her mother died her children were the only ones who she had close relationships with. She started to write letters to a good friend, and he noticed her talent in writing and suggested it as an outlet for dealing with her tragic losses. She studied many other short story writers’ techniques and writing styles. After a short time of writing short stories she decided to write her first novel titled At Fault which was published in 1890. After that she wrote over forty tales which were published in top line Eastern Magazines. Kate Chopin was a very accomplished writer; she wrote ahead of her time and changed the normal style of stories. Just as Edna Pontellier, she was her own person and had her own ideas, which she wasn’t at all afraid to share with the world.
Work Cited:
Solomon, Barbara. The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin. New York City: The New American Library, 1976.
