Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty, grew up in a prominent family on
             February 8, 1850. Her father, Thomas O'Flaherty, was an immigrant from
             Ireland who was a merchant. Her mother, Eliza Faris O'Flaherty, was from
             one of the oldest aristocratic Creole families in the St. Louis area. Kate
             attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis. During this time,
             Tonette Inge states that Chopin was "exposed to Catholic teachings and a
             French educational emphasis upon intellectual discipline" (Inge). Her
             early interests in reading and writing would benefit her later in life.
             Inge notes that while Chopin appeared to be a social belle on the surface,
             her writing suggests that she devoted a great deal of time contemplating
             Chopin married Oscar Chopin in June of 1870. He was from a French-
             Creole family and operated a cotton plantation. On her honeymoon, she met
             Victoria Claflin and Victoria Woodhull, two women who would influence her
             writing. In fact, Inge reports that Woodhull, with a reputation of being a
             "radical-feminist publisher, stockbroker, spiritualist, and future nominee
             for president" (Inge), advised Chopin " not to fall into the useless
             degrading life of most married ladies'" (Inge). This advice is something
             that Chopin certainly took to heart after events in her life left her alone
             to provide for her six children, Jean, Oscar, George, Frederick, Felix, and
             Lelia. Chopin was married for six years, of which while she devoted
             her family and household, she still managed to reconcile the needs of
             her own being with the expectations of her conventional milieu. She
             dressed unconventionally and smoked cigarettes long before smoking
             was an approved practice among women in her class. (Inge)
             Interestingly, Chopin was not a feminist in the way that the word is
             perceived today. Seyersted writes that she never joined women's rights
             organizati...