The Awakening

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CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Apr 12, 2017 - Fiction - 146 pages
A woman in the late 19th century from New Orleans, Louisiana is expected to conform to certain duties as a wife and mother, but what if a woman didn't have to conform? Edna Pontellier is a wife and mother of two boys, but questions if this is the life she wants. She sees two different views of women on their lives played out in the lives of her friends, Mademoiselle Resiz and Adele Ratignolle. Edna begins a relationship with Robert Lebrun, a local businessman. Even though they are deeply in love, Robert runs off to Mexico because he sees their relationship as doomed. Edna continues to contemplate her life and what choices she wishes to make. Will she and Robert find each other again? Will Edna be happy with her choices? Kate Chopin was an American authoress known for her short stories and novels. Chopin is considered a precursor to American feminist writing. She published stories in magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly and Vogue. She was met with some criticism that included her works to be considered as immoral. Kate Chopin died in 1904 and is buried in St. Louis.

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About the author (2017)

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O'Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 8, 1851. Although she was brought up in a wealthy and socially elite Catholic family, Chopin's childhood was marred by tragedies. Her father was killed in a train accident when Chopin was just four years old, and in the following years she also lost her older brother, great-grandmother, and half-brother. In 1870, at the age of 19, she married Oscar Chopin, the son of a wealthy cotton-growing family in Louisiana. The couple had seven children together, five boys and two girls, before Oscar died of swamp fever in 1883. The following year, Chopin packed up her family and moved back to St. Louis to be with her mother, who died just a year later. To support herself and her family, Chopin started to write. Her first novel, At Fault, was published in 1890. Her most famous work, The Awakening, inspired by a real-life New Orleans woman who committed adultery, was published in 1899. The book explores the social and psychological consequences of a woman caught in an unhappy marriage in 19th century America, is now considered a classic of the feminist movement and caused such an uproar in the community that Chopin almost entirely gave up writing. Chopin did try her hand at a few short stories, most of which were not even published. Chopin died on August 22, 1904, of a brain hemorrhage, after collapsing at the World's Fair just two days before.

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