1. Feminist Writer Before Her Time
Kate Chopin
Feminist Writer Before Her Time

2. Bio. At 19 married Oscar Chopin, a French Creole from New Orleans
Creoles= people of French or Spanish descent born in the states bordering the Gulf but who retain their European culture
Had 6 children and lived in New Orleans
At 32 her husband died of scarlet fever.
She returned to St. Louis and began to write.

3. Her Writings Concern the life of French Creoles in LA. Regionalism
Themes are controversial and concern repression of Victorian American women.

4. Writes of the female experience and the role of women in society
Psychological novels
Uses irony

5. The Awakening
The story of a woman who defies the Victorian ideals of motherhood and marriage.
The novel was banned; many friends shunned her.
She quit writing and never knew how important her works would be.
With the women’s movement of the 1960s, she was rediscovered and is now recognized as a writer ahead of her time.