Equality In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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Analysis of The Awakening
In the 1800s, there were problems with equality between men and women. Women always had to do what the men told them to do. It seemed as if women did not have their own voice. They were expected to be stay-at-home wives, while their husbands went to work. There were certain things that women could not do, but men could. Kate Chopin believed women should have the right to live their life how they want to. Influenced from meeting women and family deaths, Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening about a woman who is longing for independence during a time of women having to stay at home.
Katherine O’Flaherty was born in 1850 to a St. Louis couple, Eliza and Thomas O’Flaherty (“The Awakening” 46). When Chopin was a child, she …show more content…

After the novel was published, “the content and message of The Awakening caused an uproar and Chopin was denied admission into her St. Louis Fine Art Club based on its publication” (Wyatt). Her main character Edna Pontellier went against society and decided her own life, which most people did not agree with. The content of the novel is what caused it to be banned from certain libraries. Because the novel created chaos, it “remained unnoticed for several years after the commotion it initially caused” (“The Awakening” 57). People during Chopin’s time did not agree with how The Awakening was written, but it influenced women to stand up for their independence. Chopin was disappointed that the novel did not get the attention that she had wanted it to. In the novel, Edna went against society, so her “actions reflect the times and the emotions felt by many women who sought personal freedom” (“The Awakening” 55). Her actions caused women to stand up and fight for their rights and freedom. The novel caused a commotion, which nobody really wanted and they did not appreciate how Edna chose her own journey instead of sticking with society. Later in the 1930s, The Awakening was brought back after literary critics changed their minds about the novel (“The Awakening” 57). Critics have decided to bring back the book after many years of it being unnoticed. Even though the novel was noticed years later, Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening based on her beliefs of society. The novel fits in with what society would be because her beliefs in the novel took place ahead of her time

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