Kate Chopin was born on July 12, 1850. She was the daughter of an immigrant Irishman Thomas O'Flahestry and a French American mother Eliza Faris. She was one of three born to them being the youngest and the happiness. At five Kate changed her concept of the world. During her childhood Kate witnessed the death of her father and her sister. By June of 1870 Kate had married Oscar Chopin of New Orleans, whom was a Creole cotton broker. She gave birth to her first son Jean in May of 1871. She later had five more children. The happy marriage had ended in December 1882 when Oscar died and the close relationship with Kate and her mother had ended by 1885 when her mother had died. Kate was devastated by the loss of her mother and her husband. What can be determined from the formation of the close personal relationships in Chopin's life and their abrupt terminations from illness and death is that Kate would have had a constantly changing sense of who and what she was as a person. Th!
             is need for self-identification and self-understanding was later transmitted to many of her eventual protagonists. Just as she was searching for her own role and identify during this time of her life, her myriad characters search for their roles and identities and places in society. This searching for identity and place is a constant theme throughout her works. Perhaps the need to resolve this question of identity lead Kate Chopin to eventually write, but what ever her reasons for doing so, in 1889 Kate Chopin began to write fiction seriously. Many factors probably contributed to this. First she was a voracious reader herself and was greatly influenced by classic writers such as Manupassant. Secondly she was needed to provide for her children, and lastly she had many friends with literary interests. Also it has been suggested tongue in cheek that after 39 years of trial and tribulations and just plain living, she finally had something to say.
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