he parts of her father and her sister." (18). The same boldness is also demonstrated in Chopin's short stories. In the story "Night in Acadie", the main female character, Zaida, is going secretly by herself to get married against her family's wishes (Chopin, Night in Acaide 24). Another bold step Chopin takes is by allowing the character to and older, unmarried women to appear in her works. In The Awakening, Chopin gives us an example of her belief that women possess strength. The summer resort where the Pontelliers stay in the novel is owned and managed by Madame Lebrun. Madame Lebrun's husband has left her and she is making it on her own at the resort and caring for her two sons. At this time in history, it was unusual and almost unacceptable for a women not to marry. In the short story, "Regret," Chopin tells of an older, unmarried woman, Mamzelle Aurelie, who had never thought of marrying. She had never been in love. At the age of twenty, she had received a proposal, which she promptly declined. Also at the age of fifty she had not lived to regret it. (Chopin, Night in Acadie 145). In The Awakening, Edna becomes friends with Mademoiselle Reisz. Mademoiselle Reisz is another woman figure introduced into Edna's life. She is a musician who had devoted her life to music and considered to be somewhat eccentric because of her outspoken and candid views. Mademoiselle Reisz has no patients for social rules and violates many basic expectations of femininity. She, like other of Chopin's characters, is not married. This attitude on life that Mademoiselle Reisz expresses, and a certainty of who she is and what she thinks is absorbed by Edna. Mademoiselle Reisz seems to "reach Edna's spirit and set it free" (The Awakening 78). Chopin uses Mademoiselle Reisz's acts as a reinforcement to Edna's "Awakening". It is not until Mademoiselle Reisz plays a song for Edna that Edna announced aloud to others the love she feels for someone else other than he...
