After reading "The Story of an Hour" (295), a story in which an ill woman learns of her husband's accidental death. The story examines the woman's reaction to her sudden and unexpected independence and ends surprisingly when she discovers her husband is actually alive. I found it intriguing to explore the woman behind the writing. Would I find her life experiences influenced her writing? I was anxious to discover my findings. So take a journey with me to reveal Kate Chopin: The life and death of a famous author; a story in its own.
Kate Chopin was born Katherine O"Flaherty on February 8, 1850 of an Irish and French descent in St. Louis, Missouri. Kate grew up surrounded by smart, strong widows in her family and the scholarly nuns of her school, who taught Kate to live a life of the mind as well as the life of the home. Kate was five and a half when her parents sent her to the Academy of the Sacred Heart, where the nuns were known for their intelligence. Her father, Thomas O"Flaherty, was an Irish immigrant who was very successful in many business ventures. On November 1, 1855 being one of the founders of the Pacific Railroad, her father was aboard the train on its inaugural journey over the Gasconade Bridge, which collapsed, killing her father and many of its passengers. Eliza O"Flaherty, Kate's mother, was a member of the prominent French-Creole community and a member of an exclusive social circle. Eliza was only 27 years old when she heard of her 50-year old husbands" death. I believe this tragic incident influenced her writing in the "The Story of an Hour". Louise Mallard, who was portrayed as being young in age, thought she had lost her husband, Brently Mallard, in a railroad disaster.
Eliza never remarried after her husband's death. Kate's grandmother and great-grandmother had also been widowed at a young age and never remarried. Kate's great great grandmother and her husband had been the first legal separation ever granted in St.
