Thank You, Kate Chopin, for your Courage

The textbook/reader I am using this semester, and have often used before, contains two stories by Kate Chopin. As I was teaching the stories this semester, I was reminded once again of what a wonderful, brave, groundbreaking, and inspiring writer Chopin (1850-1904) was. She published two novels and about 100 short stories, mostly about women’s lives. Her 1899 novel, “The Awakening,” portrayed (very discreetly) a woman’s sexuality, and was widely condemned as “morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable” (katechopin.org). We forget how hard it was to speak out honestly about women's lives, and how devastatingly negative the response could be. The reception of this novel was a real blow to Chopin, and she almost stopped writing. After she died, her work was largely forgotten for some years, but was gradually rediscovered, especially after it received attention from feminist critics in the 1960s and 1970s and onward. Her 1969 biographer, Per Seyersted, stated that Chopin “broke new ground in American literature…She was the first woman writer in her country to accept passion as a legitimate subject for serious, outspoken fiction. Revolting against tradition and authority; with a daring which we can hardy fathom today; with an uncompromising honesty and no trace of sensationalism, she undertook to give the unsparing truth about woman’s submerged life" (katechopin.org). One of her most famous stories, “The Story of an Hour,” always provokes lively discussion in my classes. Within three pages, taking place inside a house, and describing the events of just an hour, in its compact way it says everything about the lives of married women in the United States during the late 19th century. It is beautifully written, powerful, and has a surprise ending. It was writers such as Chopin who made a difference in how readers thought about women’s lives, marriage, sexuality, and need for independence; I applaud and thank her for her insight, strength, and courage.