Over the years, many authors have gone beyond safety to write about what's important. Rather than taking the easy way out, they rose above their peers to try to write about something real. Kate Chopin was one of these authors. She wrote about women as they really think and want to act. Her presentation of the female self had an immense impact on breaking down the conventional constraints placed on women. Many critics wonder how Kate Chopin wrote so far ahead of her time. As a child, she was strongly influenced by the environment in which she grew up. After the death of her father at the age of five, she lived in a house run entirely by women (Louisiana). These women had a great impact on his worldview. Chopin's great-grandmother, his first teacher, told the story of her great-great-grandmother who filed for divorce, had a child out of wedlock and ran a very successful keelboat line in Saint -Louis (Boren 18). However, her great-great-grandmother was not the only independent woman in her family. Many other women who influenced her life demonstrated an independent lifestyle. Virtually all of the women in her family that she was exposed to far outlived their husbands and never remarried (Toth 11). Chopin remained fascinated by the lives of her female ancestors, as shown in several of her works that directly depict their lives (Boren 18). The French nuns at the Convent of the Sacred Heart that she attended as a child also had unconventional ideas about women, encouraging them to educate themselves and engage in intellectual activities (Louisiana). All of these women contributed to Kate Chopin's vision of women as independent, which she later expressed in her writings. The majority of Chopin's writings are in the form of short...... middle of paper ...... beyond that of his late 19th century contemporaries. She discussed topics that others would not and the world was greatly enriched because of it. Works Cited Boren, Lynda S. and Sara DeSaussure Davis, eds. Kate Chopin Reconsidered: Beyond the Bayou. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1992. Print. Bukovinsky, Janet. Women of Words: A Personal Introduction to Thirty-Five Important Writers. Philadelphia, PA: Running, 1994. Print. Heeden, Jennifer. “A woman who is a person.” VWC: Faculty and Staff Web. Virginia Wesleyan College. Internet. February 22, 2012. .Louisiana Public Broadcasting, prod. Kate Chopin: an awakening. PBS. June 23, 1999. Television. Transcription.Skaggs, Peggy. Kate Chopin. Boston: Twayne, 1985. Print. Toth, Emily. Unveiling of Kate Chopin. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 1999. Print.