1. American Short Stories
Kate Chopin –

2. Kate Chopin
1851 – 1904
Born in St. Louis, lived her married life in Louisiana
Returned to St. Louis when her husband died
Turned to writing to support her family and create an identity

3. Chopin lost most of her closest relatives while she was a young woman.
Her father died when she was a child and her husband and mother died close together.
After her husband’s death, she was left to raise their five children alone.

4. She came from a fairly wealthy family; after her husband died she felt the need to write and be more independent, especially since, after her mother’s death, she had no close relatives left.

5. Her Work
Chopin wrote two published novels and about a hundred short stories in the 1890s.
Most of her fiction is set in Louisiana and most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women

6. Most of her work shows a female protagonist trying to find her way in the world and make a statement about her role in the family/society and her individual identity.