With The Awakening being published in the year 1899, it can be deemed as an early work of feminism several years prior to the successes of the first wave feminist movement which granted women the right to vote in 1920. Chopin’s work could potentially have been inspired by the first wave feminist movement which proposed legislation in 1878. I think Chopin is finding inspiration from the first wave feminist movements and she is reflecting her progressive views onto the main character Edna. Edna serves as an example of several women, especially during that time period, that feel out of place with the molds of being a woman. Women in that period were supposed to serve as domestic housewives, not questions authority (their husbands), attend to the
