How does a person recognize the signs of oppression? As a woman living in the late 1800’s, Edna Pontellier comes to learn the difference between how men and women are treated in regards to sexual desires and exploration. Throughout the book, Edna desperately tries to find herself by pursuing her feelings and passions and is consistently admonished to abide by societal norms but evidently chooses to end her life to get away from it all. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses sex and sexism to reveal the devastating effects of the societal standards placed on women. In The Awakening Kate Chopin begins to reveal the emotional effect that societal repression places on women. Chopin exposes the true despair and depression that was lying in the
