pon its publication, critics praised her portrayal of bayou life and its addressing of unfaithfulness and race issues (3). Chopin next produced a twenty-one short story collection called, A Night in Acadie, published in 1897. This collection showed her interest in passion, sexuality and marriage, and also her growing concern for the discrimination against women. After A Night in Acadie’s publication, Kate was working on another collection, A Vocation and a Voice. Publishers who felt that the collection dealt too strongly with love, sex, and marriage rejected this collection. It was then that she decided to write what was to become her masterpiece, The Awakening.The Awakening was published in 1899. In The Awakening, Chopin accomplished the largest exploration of feminine consciousness (Magill 91). The Awakening, a realist novel, focused on the role of women through the eyes of Edna Pontellier, the protagonist (“Kate Chopin” 4). While on a summer vacation without her husband, Edna met and fell in love with a younger man named Robert LeBrun. When Edna returned to her life in New Orleans at the end of the summer, she realized that she was no longer happy with her life and marriage. As the novel unfolded, Edna began to withdraw from her husband and continued to think about Robert. Thinking she had no chance with Robert, she decided to have a purely sexual affair with a man named Alycee Arobin. She still loved Robert, however, and after she returned to New Orleans a few years later, they resumed their affair. Only hours after they declared their love for each other, Edna was called away to visit a sick friend. When she returned, Robert had left her a note that said, “goodbye, because I love you.” Edna, devastated by Robert’s rejection and that of many other men in her life, went back to her old vacation spot, where she removed all her clothing and drowned herself. The critic’s response to The Awakenin...
