Kate O'Flaherty Chopin was raised in St. Louis in the 1850's and 1860's. Chopin had a close relationship with her French grandmother which lead to her appreciation of French writers. When she was only five Chopin's father, Thomas O'Flaherty died leaving her without a father figure. Eliza O'Flaherty, Chopin's mother, was from there on the head of the household. Chopin grew up knowing that women could be strong and intelligent and that they did not have to be submissive creatures (Skaggs 2). She loved her mother and considered her "A woman of great beauty, intelligence, and personal magnetism" (Seyersted 14).

Growing up around independent women, however, did not dissuade her from marriage. Her marriage to Oscar Chopin by all accounts was a happy one. Taking on the role of a high society lady as well

Critics of the time were brutal in telling the world exactly what they thought of Chopin's controversial characters. In 1899 a reviewer for Public Opinion said he was "well satisfied with Edna's suicide because she deserved to die for her immoral behavior" (Delaney 43). No one told of the affairs some women had then. Deyo expressed why this was, " A fact ... which we have all agreed shall not be acknowledged is as good as no fact at all. And it is disturbing - even indelicate- to mention it as something which, perhaps, does play an important part in the life behind the mask" (Seyersted 175). Even Chopin herself did not pity Edna, instead taking a detached view of the story. It has been suggested by Bloom that Chopin gives her sentiments through Edna's doctor: " Nature takes no account of moral consequences, of arbitrary conditions which we create, and which we feel obligated to maintain at any cost." (Bloom 23).

Chopin was a writer truly ahead of her time. It was not until fifty years after her death that The Awakening began to be appreciated by society. The French were the first to recognize this work with admiration; in the 1950's Contwell, Brooks, and Aronavon were the first to respect the book. In the sixties Chopin's popularity grew thanks to the feminists. They looked toward Edna as a heroine out of her time for her sexual awakening. This does not mean that Chopin was a feminist. Chopin wrote objectively and distanced herself from feminist struggles. Felix Chopin stressed that she "was not interested in the woman's suffrage movement" (Taylor 151). Anne Jones disagreed saying that Chopin "was fully conscious of the implicit contradictions between lady and artist and made the best of them, largely through irony" (Taylor 151).

"An isolated world-weary and misanthropic hero who revels in his own sensuality; who trusts in nature and distrusts human relationships, especially love; who experiences a sense of liberation through solitary walks and confidences in his writing... and who is strongly drawn to death as a solution to the repetitive meaninglessness of life's pleasures. (Taylor 160)

Some topics in this essay:
Robert Alcee, St Louis, Maupassant Chopin, Reddel Ladensen, Public Opinion, Oscar Chopin, O'Flaherty Chopin's, Bloom Chopin, Brooks Aronavon, Charlie Chopin, st louis, wife mother, taylor 163, edna meets, chopin wrote, encouraged chopin, society chopin, oscar chopin, condemned society, skaggs 3,