Critics know Kate Chopin for her regionalist narratives and her often radical depiction of sexuality in her works. She was able to write very radically and without scruples thanks to the influence of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. All three were widows and independent women, which meant that Katherine O'Flaherty, born in 1851, grew up as an intelligent and strong woman. Most of the women he wrote about in his stories also shared these characteristics. After graduating at seventeen, she spent the next two years as the "society beauty of St. Louis." Katherine O'Flaherty married Oscar Chopin in 1870, and "for the next decade, [Kate] Chopin pursued the demanding social and domestic agenda of a Southern aristocrat, whose memories would later serve as material for her short stories" (Bourgoin ). She began her writing career soon after due to many family members and friends encouraging her to write professionally due to the funny letters they often received from her. However, publishers did not publish some of his work until well after Chopin's death in 1904. During his lifetime he published two collections of short stories: Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie. The setting of both collections was the Louisiana aristocracy, but A Night in Acadie focused more on issues such as female sexuality, personal freedom, and social decorum. Chopin also wrote another collection of short stories, A Calling and a Voice, but no publisher published it in his lifetime because it was extremely radical and explicit in its descriptions of sex and marriage. Chopin also wrote a novel, The Awakening, which became his most popular work. The Awakening is the story of a woman whose freedom and sexuality were… at the center of the paper… I hope, Kate. “At the 'Cadian Ball” and “The Storm”. WebAbout.com. February 21, 2010.e.“Chopin, Katherine (1851-1904).” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Suzanne M. Bourgoin.2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 17 vols. Discovering Collection. Storm. Gwinnett CountyPublic Schools. February 28, 2010. Web.Rosenblum, Joseph. “The Tempest”. Masterplots II: Short story series. 7. Ed. Charles May. Pasadena: Salem, 2004. 3899-3900. Print.Stein, Allen. “The Kaleidoscope of Truth: A New Look at Kate Chopin’s “The Tempest.” American Literary Realism, 1870-1910. 36. 51-64 in Criticism of short stories. vol. 110. Detroit:Gale, 2008. Literary resources from Gale. Network. February 25. 2010.