Kate Chopin was an woman's activist in a time where the idea of a women having rights seemed downright inappropriate (19th century.) She was born on Feb. 8th 1850 and lived throughout her life making beautiful pieces of work till her death on August 22 of 1904. Some of the work may be know as "The Story of an Hour," "Desiree's Baby," and "Madame Celestin's Divorce."
My favorite was "Desiree's Baby" a short story about a women, named Desiree of course, being taken in by the Aubigny family and raised with their son Armand. One day Armand falls in love with Desiree. Soon enough they are wed and have a baby boy. However, the child is part black. Armand, assumed to be caucasian, has accept the fact that his child is this race but not for long. He even treats his slaves better. After a while Desiree realizes her husband is giving her and the child the cold shoulder. Eventually Armand tells desiree to leave for he is very upset that he has married a woman of black ancestry. She leaves and Armand burns all of her belongings including the baby's crib. While burning a letters (From: Desiree, To: Madame Aubigny) Armand comes across one that says: “I thank God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery."
This story had my on the edge of my chair the whole time. I consider this to be a masterpiece and better than a lot of things I've read from this era. It brings out a mixture of racism and sexism people may not have seen through their own perspectives at the time. Armand's assumptions of how the baby's race was due to Desiree's ancestry and not his own shows the inequality of the 19th century. How he ignores his child just because he's black shows how sadly racist people could be. She was of the few authors looking for a change and she inspired a lot of women to take charge and to make change happen.
I'd like to think of it as a push towards the women movement. Without work like this, women may have never been inspired to fight for their rights. Without work like this we could be still at home in the kitchen instead of taking charge in offices. I know it impacted me (most likely many others) to see how hard it was for women of the 19th century and I'm very grateful for the rights we've been given. I'm grateful for literary heroes/heroines like Kate Chopin.
I know for sure that Chopin is definitely a favorite of mine. I hope to see more heros likes this making a change in the future. No one should underestimate the impact of a good story. Let's all make a difference. One word at a time.