hughesfvhs34

=Kate O'Flaherty Chopin by James Harrison Ashworth= Kate Chopin was an American author who wrote on issues that would not take social focus until many years after her death. Chopin wrote on issues such as female sexuality and female independence, Chopin resisted such matters normally left to male writers. One of the short stories that Chopin wrote was called “__The Awakening__, which details one woman’s adulterous affairs and, her intent to seize control of her own life” (Smith 70). Though many of her stories are brief the stories raise important issues that still plagued Chopin’s south, which is where she lived and wrote most of her short stories. One in particular is the destructive yet controversial nature of racism. Throughout my research I found many things that Kate Chopin wrote including her in-depth coverage of sexuality, individual freedom, and the consequence of action. One of the main reasons that Kate Chopin had such a wide range of writing was her different lifestyles that she experienced in her lifetime this in turn lead to her wide look on realism. From the Student Resource Center I learned that “Mrs. Chopin saw that the problems confronting her sex were too complicated to admit of easy solutions, she was also well acquainted with the manifold tendencies in the women themselves.” This is why Kate Chopin wrote so much about the sexuality and individual freedom of the modern day women. Another one of her short stories that I researched was called __Desiree’s Baby__, in this story it questions the potential fulfillment of women’s identity, which was a subject that Kate Chopin was fascinated over her years of writing. “In the short story a woman whose self-worth and self-explanation is intrinsically linked to that of her husband, Chopin opened the door to her lifelong query into a woman’s struggle for a place where she could fully belong”(Smith 69). It seems to me that Kate Chopin is trying to look at life and turn it into words that would go down on paper. She put much of her writings on women's lives and their continuing struggles to create a life of their own within the walls of the male perception of women during her time period. Kate Chopin lived in a very tough time period; she lived from February 8, 1851 to August 22, 1904. Most of her writings were written during post reconstruction and her writings included many controversial topics including women’s individual freedom and sexuality. In the Student Resource center I found information that was written by Seyersted, he said: “Its seems more that an accident that her three earliest extant stories are each in turn devoted to one of what we might call the three main types of women: the “feminine,” the “emancipated,” and the “modern”, and that the tension between the two leading components of this triad was to reverberate through her whole oeuvre.” Each one of these is a category for women. A “feminine” woman is someone who accepts the stereotypical view of her role as a woman and wife. An “emancipated” woman is someone who wants to be active and make her own choices in life that are different and independent from a man. A “modern” woman is someone who insists on being a subject and man’s equal, and agrees with the male rather than disagreeing with him. Finally, throughout my research I have found that the American writer Kate Chopin is a lady of distinction and difference. Chopin is recognized for her pioneer examination of sexuality, individual freedom, and the consequence of action. Chopin throughout her writings shows patterns of woman’s rights and belief in comparison to the male figure. In a way Kate Chopin has brought a new type of American literature to the table that had never been seen before and never been explored by a women writer. Chopin hopes to promote woman to be themselves and to believe in what they want to believe in and not the beliefs of men in the ever changing world of human politics. "Chopin, Katherine (1851-1904)." //DISCovering Authors//. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student// //Resource Center// //- Gold//. Gale. Fuquay Varina High School/WCPS/. 23 May. 2008 http://www.galenet.com/servlet/srcx

This citation was very helpful to me and helped me gain information involving Kate Chopin. In this document it gives me very valuable information involving Kate Chopin’s life and where she came from and what she was all about. This citation gives me background information about where she was born and who she married, the citation also tells about some of Kate’s financial difficulties. This citation was very in-depth with the summaries of some of Kate Chopin’s short stories and helped me to understand them better.

Seyersted, Per. "Criticism by Per Seyersted." //DISCovering Authors//. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student// //Resource Center// //- Gold//. Gale. Fuquay Varina High School/WCPS/. 23 May. 2008 http://www.galenet.com/servlet/srcx

This citation helped me with my research of Kate Chopin and what she did in her life and what she wrote about. In this information the author talks about many thing involving Kate Chopin and her life, he talks about the themes that Kate Chopin explores through her writings. The information was very informational and helped structure my paper in many ways by giving me very valuable information that would help me learn about Kate Chopin. In this citation it talks about why Chopin wrote about certain things such as Women’s rights and their individual freedoms as people.

“Desiress’s Baby: Kate Chopin 1893.”__Short Stories for Students Volume 13.__ Ed. Jennifer Smith Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2001 69-100

This citation gives me a variety of information about the author and her works. It starts by giving me a brief description of the works that Kate Chopin has written. The citation also gives me information about the author’s background and her bibliography it tells me about her life and what her inspirations behind her works were and why she wrote most of them. This citation also talks about the characters that were in the story and how they related to her main goal of writing the story.

“The Awakening: Kate Chopin 1899.” __Novels for Students Volume 3.__ Ed. Dian Telgen Detroit: Thomson Gale, 1998 45-67

This citation gives me a lot of information involving the novel The Awakening. It tells me about some of the characters and how they relate to the story and to the theme of the story. Also in this citation it talks about the Kate Chopin’s background and where she came from and how she grew up. Also in the citation it talks bout why Chopin wrote about some of the things that she wrote about and why this source is a very in-depth source with plenty information involving Kate Chopin.