Eminent 20th century writer, Kate Chopin, achieved literary prestige through her numerous publications that address a feminist ideology; however, such ideas conjured widespread controversy during her time, as it was unconventional for a woman to dare question the role society assigned to her. In 1899, she published her most well-known work, The Awakening, a story that follows the life of Edna Pontellier as she reevaluates whether being a wife and mother is enough to make her happy, while concomitantly abandoning her duties and engaging in multiple affairs as she does so. Chopin originally received fierce backlash from critics who condemned her novel based on what they described as unwholesome and immoral themes. It was not until years later in the 1960’s that Chopin’s novel attained the positive recognition for its addressment of feminist ideals that she desired (Sprinkle).
Roughly five years prior to the release of The Awakening, Chopin published a short story entitled “The Story of an Hour,” a work critics later described as a miniature of her novel due to the similarities in feminist topics. The story follows Louise Mallard as she …show more content…
Regardless of the path a woman should choose in this era, men would still influence her every move. Karami and Zohdi, in their critique of Chopin’s story, express that, “Patriarchy’s social conditioning creates codes of social behavior to ensure the suppression of feminine desires” (Karami, Zohdi). This unfortunate realization is undoubtedly what initiated women’s ‘be seen and not heard mentality’ in society, and it eventually became a societal norm, as Karami and Zohdi state, for females to suppress their innermost desires after new generations grew up instructed to act in such a
Roughly five years prior to the release of The Awakening, Chopin published a short story entitled “The Story of an Hour,” a work critics later described as a miniature of her novel due to the similarities in feminist topics. The story follows Louise Mallard as she …show more content…
Regardless of the path a woman should choose in this era, men would still influence her every move. Karami and Zohdi, in their critique of Chopin’s story, express that, “Patriarchy’s social conditioning creates codes of social behavior to ensure the suppression of feminine desires” (Karami, Zohdi). This unfortunate realization is undoubtedly what initiated women’s ‘be seen and not heard mentality’ in society, and it eventually became a societal norm, as Karami and Zohdi state, for females to suppress their innermost desires after new generations grew up instructed to act in such a