Kate Chopin was an influential author who introduced powerful female characters to the world of American literacy. She was best known for her brilliant book The Awakening. However, it received many negative reviews at the time, causing Kate's writing career to fall. Now the book is such an influential story that it is taught in classrooms around the world. This essay will discuss Kate Chopin's writing career and the impact her writing has on society. Kate Chopin was an author best known for her strong female lead characters. The essence of her characters was based on her female-oriented upbringing. She was raised at home by her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and was educated at school by nuns. The soul of his characters was thought to come from his great-grandmother's French stories. Common aspects of her great-grandmothers' tales, such as freedom, desire and convention, appeared in Kate's stories. Kate was taught the traditional role women had in society. However, because all the women in her life were widows and therefore had authority, she was not “experiencing in her family the traditional subjugation of women to men” (Skaggs 2). This and his happy marriage contributed to the creation of his characters seeking individuality. After the deaths of her husband and mother, Kate began her career as a writer. The three influences that pushed Kate to start writing were; she was an avid reader, needed to support her family, and her doctor, Dr. Kolbenheyer, told her to write as a form of emotional release. Kate had a strong vision of how people could live fulfilling lives. If they had a place in society, had love and a sense of individuality, they could live a full life. These three aspects...... half of the paper...... concern the literary world. She was one of the few writers of her time to write freely about women who openly sought fulfillment in their lives. Kate's last published novel, The Awakening, is such a brilliant story of a married woman searching for individuality and love that people in the male-dominant society harshly criticized, leading to the end of Kate's career. Works Cited "How to Write MLA Style Citations and Bibliographies." Memory University Libraries. Memorial University of Newfoundland, March 31, 2011. Shaker, Bonnie. Coloring by the locals. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003. Print. "The influence of women". Kate Chopin. Web page. March 26, 2011.Skaggs, Peggy. Kate Chopin. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985. Print.Toth Emily, Seyersted For, eds. Kate Chopin's private papers. Indiana University Press. 1998.