Essay/Term paper: Kate chopin

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biography

Kate Chopin was an American author who

lived during the nineteenth century, but because of The

Awakening, a novel which was considered scandalous at

the time, she has just recently been "…accepted into the

canon of major American writers"(Trosky 105). Through

Kate Chopin"s main character of The Awakening, Edna

Pontellier, she is able to portray her feelings and desires

that were otherwise suppressed by the ideals of American

society at that time. Kate Chopin was born on February 8,

1851 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was brought up in a family

that was a member of the prominent French- Creole

community. During her childhood she possessed a love for

reading. Her favorite types of literature were fairy tales,

poetry and novels. She secluded herself for almost two

years, away from her family and school in her attic,

spending the majority of her time reading (Trosky 102).

After her schooling, Chopin spent her days as a belle in St.

Louis" high society. She was greatly admired for both her

beauty and wit. She continued her readings, becoming

more interested in contemporary works. In 1869, she

traveled to New Orleans where she met Oscar Chopin,

whom she married. Though married, Chopin remained

fairly independent, practicing habits such as smoking and

walking alone in the city, two things unheard of from

women at that time.(Trosky 102) In 1883, Oscar Chopin

died of swamp fever. By 1884, Kate moved with her six

children back to St. Louis. Around this time, Chopin began

her writing career, writing in periodicals and publishing

collections of short stories. She received good reviews and

continued to write at an impressive rate. Her acclaim was

short lived though, following the publication of The

Awakening. "This work, which would eventually be

recognized as her masterpiece and a seminal work in

American feminist fiction, first proved her most notorious

publication and her literary undoing."(Trosky 103) At the

time, Chopin"s novel was considered scandalous and

immoral, for it dealt largely with a women"s sexuality. At

the time The Awakening was written, a novel would be

judged on it"s moral message as much as its artistic merits.

After the negative response of critics, Chopin published a

few more works, but nothing was well received. She

received little recognition, which when given, described her

as an author of southern local color stories(Trosky 103).

Local color writing was a movement which tried to capture

the feeling of a particular region through descriptions of

local speech and manners("The Age of Realism").

Eventually all of her publications went out of print. Around

the same time Chopin"s health was declining, and on

August 22, 1904, she died of a brain hemorrhage.(Trosky

103) Kate Chopin lived in and wrote during a period in

American literature which was known as the Age of

Realism. The Age of Realism occurred between the years

of 1871 and 1913. "Realism was in part a revolt against

romanticism and its idealized portrayal of life." ("The Age of

Realism") Authors of realism wanted to show life as it really

was. It encouraged writers to write about the problems and

conditions around them, often using the dialects and

language of ordinary people.("The Age of") Chopin was

often compared to other realist writers of her time, such as

George Washington Cable, who wrote similar to Chopin.

The works of both Cable and Chopin were seen "…almost

entirely as an emancipation of Southern local

color"(Springer 200). Cable, like Chopin was an author

who wrote the Creoles. Both he and Chopin published a

great deal of their work in magazines("The Age of

Realism"). The Age of Realism is evident in Chopin"s

works, which usually deal with those Americans of French

decent living in Louisiana or in St. Louis.(Springer 201)

She wrote about the real world, that of which she knew

from her experiences growing up. Chopin"s major themes

revolved around: a woman"s role in society, marriage, and

a woman"s sexual nature and growing independence.(Davis

52) These topics were almost unheard of, for they were

considered very wrong, "…[violating] several nineteenth

century principles of womanly literature decorum."(Davis

60) As stated earlier, Chopin wanted to be independent,

something unexceptable for women at that time. Her desire

for independence was portrayed in The Awakening, by the

novel"s main character Edna Pontellier. The Awakening

takes place at Grand Isle, not far from New Orleans. Edna

Pontellier is a woman who becomes very unhappy with her

life. She finds herself in a marriage that is not out of love,

but something expected of her. She has two children,

whom she loves, but at the same time feels burdened by.

As time goes on she grows more and more unhappy. Soon

Edna begins to fall in love with another man, Robert

Lebrun. Robert, becoming frightened by his feelings for

Edna, leaves to live in Mexico, trying to forget Edna. While

Robert is gone, Edna becomes more and more

independent. She refuses to do anything, even activities that

she used to do without objection, such as sleeping in the

same bed as her husband. She also neglects her children,

and her duties as a wife and woman of the community.

Robert eventually returns from Mexico, unable to stay

away any longer, but his return is short lived. Robert leaves

once again, realizing that what they are doing could never

work because Edna is married with kids. Edna unable to

bear the pain any longer, returns to Grand Isle, where she

and Robert first fell in love with one another. Edna

undresses herself and swims out as far as she can and

drowns herself, leaving behind her husband and children.

All of Chopin"s major themes are present in The

Awakening. Edna"s marriage to Leonce is a major factor of

the story, because her marriage keeps her from being able

to following her true feelings for Robert, the man she was

really in love with. Edna"s role in society is also questioned.

The women of her time and class were expected to be very

domestic, taking care of the children and socializing with

the other women of the community meeting weekly. Edna

breaks the tradition, by going out on Tuesdays, the day

when all the women come to visit her, to walk around the

city alone. Edna also takes up art, doing sketches and

drawings, not a very popular activity for women. The

biggest shocker in the book, which may be why it received

such bad criticism, is the fact that despite Edna"s marriage

she fantasizes about being with another man, and then acts

on it. Edna"s actions illustrate a woman"s sexual nature as

well as her independence. Many of Edna"s actions reflect

the feelings of Kate Chopin. When Chopin writes that Edna

walks alone in the city, it can be said that Edna"s actions

are influenced by Chopin, who is also walked alone in the

city and acted very independently. Although Chopin"s real

life did not go as far as Edna"s, it can almost be assumed

that Kate Chopin lived the way she really wanted to

through Edna. Kate Chopin was not a very successful

writer during her lifetime, receiving no awards or special

recognition. Kate Chopin wrote ahead of her time. Her

contemporary writing style, although it can be appreciated

now, ruined her writing career, depriving her of the

recognition that she deserved during her lifetime. Works

Cited Davis, Sara deSaussure. Concise Dictionary of

American Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research Inc.,

1988. Springer, Marlene. American Writers. New York:

Charles Scribner"s Sons, 1979. "The Age of Realism."

World Book Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. World Book Inc.

1997. Trosky, Susan M. Contemporary Authors. Vol.

122. Kansas City, Missouri: Gale Research Company,

1988.