Relationship between Chopin's life and the AwakeningKatherine O'Flahtery Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 8, 1851. She was the daughter of Thomas and Eliza O 'Flaherty, a prominent merchant of Irish origin and his wife. Together, Chopin's parents represented freedom and the American dream. Their ambition and spirit helped shape Chopin into a unique character with independence and intelligence. His father died suddenly when Chopin was four years old. His death was the result of a terrible accident that claimed the lives of several civic leaders as a key connection to the Pacific Railroad was completed and a bridge collapsed. After the death of Thomas O'Flahtery, Katherine's childhood was profoundly influenced by her mother and grandmother, French Creole pioneer women. As a child, Chopin spent much of her time with her family's Creole and mulatto slaves, whose dialects she mastered. He studied piano, wrote poetry and read books by famous authors such as Dickens, Austen and Goethe. Although Katherine displayed a very independent and responsible personality, she was once nicknamed the littlest rebel for tearing down a Union flag. However, despite her free spirit, Chopin became a leading social belle, admired for her wit and beauty. As a debutante, Chopin was a mediocre student at the convent school called St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart. She graduated at age seventeen and spent two years as a young woman in fashionable St. Louis society. It was then that young Katherine O'Flaherty met Oscar Chopin, a wealthy cotton Creole farmer. In 1870, Kate married Oscar, and, for the next decade, Kate Chopin pursued the demanding social and domestic commitments of a wealthy wife and mother. ...half of the paper... surrounding the publication of The Awakening, and its harsh reception is what ultimately stopped her from writing. She felt that, due to the enormous amount of controversy and criticism she received due to The Awakening, there was no future for her as an author. Chopin dedicated the last years of his life to his family. Katherine O'Flaherty Chopin died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 22 August 1904 at the age of 53. Many felt that Kate Chopin had been denied the recognition she desperately wanted and richly deserved. . In addition to The Awakening, other writings by Chopin are receiving critical acclaim for being overlooked. The short stories collected in Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie established Chopin as an important writer of local color fiction. Works Cited: Chopin, Kate. The awakening. 1899. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1993.