Chopin a writer and feminist in the late 19th century wrote of freedom, independence, and sexuality in the Awakening. The Awakening is a heartfelt story of a woman who is discontented in her marriage without realizing it until someone "awakens" her. Over the course of the story, Edna falls in love, leaves her husband, has an affair, actually does things that make her happy, and in the end commits suicide because of this love. While Chopin brought many new and interesting ideas into her stories, she also demonstrates through Edna that she believes that marriage without love is harmful for a woman.
Kate Chopin was born Kate O'Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri in 1850. Chopin lived at home with her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, all of them widows. Chopin grew up surrounded by smart, independent, single women. Until Chopin was sixteen, no married couples lived in her home, although it was full of brothers, uncles, cousins, and borders.
In 1870, at the age of twenty, she......
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