What Does Looking at the Author and His or Her Life Shed on the Work? How Does Knowing This Information Affect Your Reading of Their Work?
Kate Chopin can be regarded as a writer ahead of her time. Through her works, one can regard Chopin as a precursor of feminist writers. The author can be credited for her ability to develop her characters lacking inspiration from actuality, despite the settings of her writings being real locations. How she describes her locations takes her target audience to a place, not in existence. Kate Chopin can be considered an advocate for female independence and sexual freedom in her works (Holtzclaw 16). However, her works were an inspiration by real people. Viewing her work, Chopin used her life experiences to create her characters, finding plots and relationships in her stories and settings. Furthermore, she took characters from individuals she had interacted with and knew. This helped her to create characters from people she had known well.
In Kate Chopin’s stories, there are numerous connections between her text and her biography. Looking at her works, most of her stories carry feminist themes with well-rounded and strong characters that can complement each other. Her stories take more life because most of the characters she uses are her family members and close acquaintances. This provides a level glimpse into her life; from this, it is up to the audience to connect and come to the idea of what Chopin had been doing with her work through the years (Holtzclaw 26). Her feminist work can be based on the fact that she lived at home with her great-grandmother, grandmother and mother, all of whom were widows (Tolentino 3). Her great-grandmother shaped her artistic and mental growth until she died when Chopin was eleven. Her great-grandmother also influenced her storytelling tendencies.
Additionally, her work is also a reflection of the creole culture. Chopin had well-established ties with the world of Creole. Her mother was from a Creole family, and Chopin was also involved in creole society (Holtzclaw 11). Most of her friends were tied to the Creole to some degree. Looking at the author and her work, one can say that she was deeply rooted in the Creole culture. The fact that the Creole culture has embraced Chopin is a further link of the author to the culture.
Using Kate Chopin’s biography to understand her stories is vital in identifying what inspired her to become a writer. There are several authors who, through the years, have used their own experiences to develop their works. Some use their life experiences to fight for something they believe in, while others do it without realizing it (Tolentino 14). Kate Chopin got her inspiration from the traumatic experience she underwent in life and from her upbringing. For instance, by being raised without a father for most of her life, Chopin went against the chauvinist society to become an embodiment of feminism in stories like ‘The Story of an Hour’ and ‘The Storm.’ When growing up, she experienced the death of her great-grandfather, grandfather and father, preventing her from the traditional submissiveness of wives to their husbands (Holtzclaw 28). She also had to endure the death of her husband, which saw her inherit his debts and businesses. Chopin’s upbringing differed from other women, effectively enabling her to embody feminism in a culture dominated by chauvinism.
Looking at the text by Kate Chopin, there are definite parallels between some of her well-known texts and her biography. Her works contain glimmers of her life, which can be seen in her complied work. The connections occur in a synchronized and coordinated manner. Understanding this is important as it influences how the audience views Kate Chopin. When reading Chopin’s work, one can easily see that Chopin understood the importance of having her life put into a character (Holtzclaw 22). She understood that her life experiences led to the development of such characters. This means that Chopin was able to develop a perception about life and put it in writing.
Considering her biography, it is evident that her father died when she was young. From this, most of her stories start with a shocking or tragic event. For instance, in the story ‘The Story of an Hour,’ the audience is introduced to the death of Brently Mallard, who died from a railroad accident (HarperCollins Publisher 4). Kate’s childhood directly influences the death of this character. The story can be described as a recollection of what followed after her father’s death. Kate Chopin’s life was surrounded by tragedy. Her father died when she was five in a railroad accident, and she tries to recreate this in the story. Her father’s death significantly influenced ‘The Story of an Hour.’ At the start of the story, we are introduced to the death of Brently, who is considered an influential member of society (HarperCollins Publisher 5). The character shares the same status as Chopin’s father. This style of writing always brings out ideas about Chopin’s life, and it is incredible how she was willing to share her experiences through the recreation of her life in stories (Chopin 1). From the story, it is evident that the death of Mallard causes his family great pain. Mrs. Mallard was devastated, as established in short “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (HarperCollins Publisher 6). However, the wife still showed mixed feelings about the death of her husband. From her biography, we learn that Chopin’s mother was the second wife of Thomas; the first wife died when Thomas was thirty-nine years of age.
From clues presented in ‘Athenaise,’ one can argue that the couple described could be Chopin’s parents. If it is true, they were her parents, and then we understand that they had a passion for life and later for each other. There is a possibility that Chopin’s mother may have been unhappy in her marriage in the first few years. From ‘Athenaise,’ we learn that the just-married bride ran away several times before she settled down after learning of her pregnancy. By this description, Chopin’s mother could be the idea behind the Mrs. Mallard character. ‘The Story of an Hour’ can be viewed as a narrative that maybe Chopin used to explain the marriage between her parents. She points out that there was love between Mr. Mallard and Mrs. Mallard, only that Mrs. Mallard felt a degree of freedom after the death of her husband, but this is not an indicator that she hated her husband (Chopin 2).
Kate Chopin was an author who has ahead of her time. The author represents the epitome of feminism, which can be seen from her stories being banned. Her writing gave voice to women who felt trapped in society and marriage. The ability to draw and use her experiences and to use them to create characters made her work immensely strong. Both ‘The Story of an Hour’ and ‘The Storm’ liberate women from the oppression of marriage and society, drawing from the life of Kate Chopin. The analysis shows that Kate Chopin’s work has strong feminist themes and well-rounded and robust characters (Tolentino 24). However, remembering her biography, we have seen her stories narrating her life more than before. Most of her stories are a reflection of her dramatic life events. In conclusion, in the stories by Kate Chopin, the reality is presented in fiction, and the reader is the one to make connections and identify Kate Chopin for what she was all long a genuine writer who expressed herself from what she knew.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The story of an hour. Joe Books Ltd, 2018. https://cool4ed.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/199975/The%20Story%20of%20an%20Hour.pdf?sequence=1
HarperCollins Publisher. The Story of an hour. Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Holtzclaw, Jill N. “A life in fiction: how Kate Chopin’s biography changes how we interpret her works: an honors thesis (HONRS 499).” (2009). https://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/bitstream/handle/handle/190896/H68_2009HoltzclawJill.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Tolentino, Jasdomin. “Kate Chopin’s Life and Personal Influence.” (2008). https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=research_awards
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