Katherine O'Flaherty Chopin was born on July 12, 1850. She was the daughter of Thomas O'Flaherty, an immigrant Irish businessman, and Eliza Faris, a French Creole mother. When Kate was four, her father died in train accident. Her father was aboard a train while it crossed the Gasconade Bridge, which had collapsed. Her father's death left Kate without any male role models. She lived with her widowed mother, widowed grandmother and widowed great-grandmother, Victoria Verdon Charleville. Charleville …showed first 75 words of 668 total…

…showed last 75 words of 668 total…around the house. She abandons her duty of Tuesday receptions. Leonce tolerates this, even though Edna's father disagrees. When one reads The Awakening, he/she is actually reading about the life of Kate Chopin and her views of intimate subjects such as marriage, sexuality, and racial prejudice. In a sense, Kate Chopin's biography is represented in her novel. Most of the main characters in The Awakening correspond with important and influential people to Chopin's life.