Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a work of fiction that tells the story of Edna Pontellier, Southern wife and mother. This book presents the reader with many tough questions and few answers. It is not hard to imagine why this book was banished for decades not long after its initial publication in 1899. At that time in history, women did just what they were expected to do. They were expected to be good daughters, good wives, …showed first 75 words of 743 total…

…showed last 75 words of 743 total…tough issues. It paints a picture of what goes through the mind of a person who loses hope. Like Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Chopin's The Awakening tells us a story from the perspective of the oppressed. It is far more than another romance novel with a tragic ending. It is a book about the choices one will makes to protect one's freedom, and Chopin wonderful job presenting them in The Awakening.