Brittany-Chopin

** My Childhood: I was born in 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri to my parents Eliza and Thomas O’Flaherty.  I was their only child to live past  the age of twenty-five.  I attended a Catholic boarding school in St. Louis called The Sacred Heart Academy.  My father died when I was five and a half in a train accident.  I then started living with my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother.  All of them were widows who were very smart and independent, so they raised me that way. I grew up speaking both English and French.
 * Katherine (Kate) Chopin

I was separated from one of my good friends due to the Civil War. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(7, 115, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(7, 115, 13);">Her family was pro-South, so they had to movie out of the pro-North city, St. Louis. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(7, 115, 13);">

<span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(7, 115, 13);">In 1863, both my grandmother and my half-brother died. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(7, 115, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(7, 115, 13);">My father, grandmother, and half-brother all died on days considered “religious” so that is when I began questioning religion. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(236, 60, 168); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode';">My Adult Life: <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">I married Oscar Chopin when I was twenty years old in 1870. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">He was a French Catholic in background like me. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">I knew he loved and adored me and allowed me to keep my “freedom” that I grew up having. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">We moved to Louisiana and had a total of seven children together. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">He passed away in 1882 due to swamp fever.

<span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">I moved back to St. Louis with the children and not too long after that, my mother died. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">I began writing to bring in money for my children and myself.

<span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">One of my most popular stories, //<span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">The Awakening //<span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">, was published in 1899. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">It proved me to be a local colorist, because it was a true story set in Louisiana. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);">I ended up publishing over one hundred stories, essays, and sketches in magazines. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(10, 127, 13);"> http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/katebio.htm My Literature:

<span style="font-size: 90%; color: rgb(139, 85, 85);"> [|Read my stories online!]<span style="color: rgb(7, 131, 22);"> <span style="color: rgb(225, 91, 177);">Video of "Story of an Hour" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif';"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; line-height: 19px;">media type="youtube" key="DvaBbnLGoMw" height="344" width="425"
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">//A Night In Acadie//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">//A Pair of Silk Stockings//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">//A Reflection//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//A Respectable Woman//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Athenaise//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Beyond the Bayou//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Caline//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Desiree`s Baby//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//La Belle Zoraide//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Lilacs//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Madame Celestin’s Divorce//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Ma`ame Pelagie//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Miss McEnders//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Mrs. Mobry’s Reason//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Neg Creol//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Ozeme`s Holiday//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//Regret//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//The Awakening//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-family: 'Times New Roman, serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">//The Father of Desiree`s Baby//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">//The Locket//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">//The Maid of Saint Philippe//
 * <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(139, 85, 85); font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">//The Story of an Hour//

<span style="color: rgb(225, 86, 186);">References: <span style="color: rgb(233, 83, 202); font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">The Kate Chopin International Society. Retrieved January 7, 2009, <span style="color: rgb(233, 83, 202); font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"> from Kate Chopin Biography Web site: http://www.katechopin.org <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">Wyatt, Neal (1995). Biography of Kate Chopin. Retrieved December 28, 2008, Web site:        <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"> http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/katebio.htm       <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">  <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(209, 41, 170);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 13px; white-space: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">(2009). About Kate Chopin. Retrieved December 28, 2009, from Great Literature Online         <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;">  <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; color: rgb(209, 41, 170);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 13px; white-space: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"> Web site: http://www.classicauthors.net/chopin/