about women’s rights and their status in the society of the time.Lastly, in Priscilla Leder’s book, she talked about the conflict of cultures in The Awakening. Priscilla asserted that Edna’s character was an American who believed in the individual’s rights and ability to determine their own destiny while the cultures they encountered were habitual and naturally driven (97). Even though Edna was initially welcomed by her new society and attracted to the freedom of sexual expression, she ended up feeling her identity threatened by lack of individuality and the lack of opportunity for change. Leder mentioned that what was different about Edna besides her femininity, was that her true identity was not discovered at the beginning of the story. Eventually as she awakened to her true self, she could not accept either culture and swam to her death, described by Leder as, ”submerging…in the biological reality she has rejected” (104).After a fifteen year literary career marked by success, plagued by scorn and failure, two novels and over one hundred short stories, Kate Chopin died on August 22, 1904 from a cerebral hemorrhage (“Kate Chopin” 2). She was fifty-three at the time of her death. Kate Chopin’s stories, although controversial, are still widely read today. She was a source of inspiration for many feminist literary critics. She started the trend that many future feminist writers will follow. Her works, no matter how praised or condemned, will always be a reminder of the struggle for women’s rights and liberties. Her life can still be told by her stories and it is by those stories that she is immortalized, and a symbol of freedom for women forever....
