Written by Kate Chopin, The Awakening draws many connections from the authors personal life. Chopin was the daughter of an Irish merchant and a French-Creole mother. She lived from 1851 to 1904 in the American South, and although she was a married woman with six children, Chopin always proved to be a uniquely independent and unconventional woman for her time.
Her husband died when she was just 32, and she spent the rest of her life managing their plantation, raising the six children, and writing. She wrote two novels, The Awakening and At Fault, as well as a number of short stories.
In writing The Awakening, Chopin had not intended to create such a controversial piece. However, at the time and throughout the years, The Awakening has been a highly controversial book because of its sexual themes and reference to adultery. Still, The Awakening is recognized as a revolutionary novel in American history for its early feminist themes.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin 