the sexual awakening

When she published The Awakening in 1899, Kate Chopin startled her public with a frank portrayal of a woman’s social, sexual, and spiritual awakening. Because it told its particular truth without judgment or censure, the public disapproved.
The idea of a true autonomy for women, or, more astounding yet a single sexual standard for men and women — was too much to imagine. Kate Chopin’s presentation of the awakening of her heroine, Edna Pontellier, her unblinking recognition that respectable women did indeed have sexual feelings proved too strong for many who read her novel.
Love and passion, marriage and independence, freedom and restraint these are themes realized in this story. When Edna Pontellier, the heroine of The Awakening announces “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” she is addressing the crucial issue of winning of a self, and the keeping of it. But when Edna Pontellier, raised...