Kate Chopin was an innovative female writer ahead of her time. While she was somewhat renowned when she was alive, her writings were not always appreciated because she was unafraid to write what no one else was willing to. Stories during her time were not usually heavily focused on the problems of women. Although posthumously, years after Chopin’s death, the brilliance of her works was fully realized. She was a pioneering author in her own groundbreaking literature that took inspiration all throughout her life.
One such writing of hers that especially sticks out is The Awakening. At the time of its release, the story garnered heavy criticism because of the sexual nature and disregard for authority and societal roles. Men and women who were conditioned to the norm of their everyday life were unable to grasp the unprecedented ideas her writings presented in America. While her stories were unable to be fully realized, they still gained a high level of notoriety as they appeared in well-known magazines and journals such as Vogue, the Atlantic
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She was raised by nurturing strong women like her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and nuns from the Catholic school she attended. Many cultures influenced her writing such as French and Irish origins and the time she spent in Louisiana due to the creole and cajun environments. All of her observations from youth to adulthood were incorporated into her writing, which began after both her husband and mother died. After their deaths, a family friend by the name of Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer encouraged her to write to help cope with the grief. Taking Dr. Kolbenheyer’s advice, Chopin drew inspiration from Guy de Maupassant which thereby began her composition of fiction. Kate Chopin’s husband’s death commenced a new wave in feminist authors as she experienced her own sort of awakening to the sort of positions women were forced to play in