The Awakening, originally titled A Solitary Soul, is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast at the end of the nineteenth century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension.
If anyone has written a story that captures the stifling, objectified life of society women better, I don't know them. Chopin deftly captures the sense of suffocation at having so little choice in one's life in this novel. Her words capture Edna's mood so smoothly and perfectly, you feel stifled yourself as you read it. The hopelessness that Edna feels, even after her "awakening" just go to show that being "woke," even the tiniest bit, does not solve the problem. Her soul's repression is so strong, even doing little things for herself are not enough to tamp down on the pressure she feels from the eyes of society. She truly believes her life will never be hers unless she does the one thing that can release her from everything.
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