•Catherine (Kate) O’Flaherty was born in St. Louis, Missouri

•Second child of Thomas O’Flaherty of County Galway and Eliza Faris of St. Louis

•Kate was French and English, she was bilingual and bicultural

•From 1855-1868 she attended St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart

•In 1855 her father was killed in a railroad accident

•In 1863 her beloved French-speaking great grandmother died

•In 1870 Kate married Oscar Chopin of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana

•Between 1871 and 1879 Kate gave birth to five sons and a daughter

•In 1882 her husband died of malaria

The Chopins’ home in Cloutierville Kate Chopin’s home at

McPherson Ave in St. Louis as it looks today

•At age 35 (1885) her mother died

•She was encouraged by her obstetrician and family friend, Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer to take up writing as a therapeutic source of healing

•In August 22 1904 she dies from a cerebral hemorrhage after collapsing at the St. Louis World’s Fair two days before

(1899) A few critics praised the novel’s artistry, but most were very negative,

calling the book “morbid” “unpleasant” “unhealthy” “sordid”

“poison”

“A Pair of Silk Stockings“The Story of an Hour”

“The Storm”“At the ‘Cadian Ball”

“Desiree’s Baby”“A Respectable Woman”

“Athenaise”

Kate Chopin’s Writing Style

Kate Chipton’s writing style was straightforward, modern, and insightful. She claimed she wasn’t a feminist and wrote about woman’s issues she saw during her lifetime.

Sources

• http://www.katechopin.org/biography.shtml

• http://college.cengage.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/chopin.html

• http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/katebio.html