The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin first published in 1899. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, faces many issues that were considered taboo in the early twentieth century. Women were expected to have and raise children and that was their sole purpose. Men, on the other hand, had to work and provide for their children. Edna's problems, seen today, are not atypical. She struggles with her happiness and longs for her own identity beyond that of a wife and mother, something she couldn't accomplish due to the gender biases of the time. These are very modern issues in a Victorian period. Kate Chopin, with great success, captures the struggles of a 1900s woman facing problems that are quite common today. The women in The Awakening face issues that can be recognized as issues of women today, and they face issues that were significant of the time period. . The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, is married to Leonce Pontellier and together they have two children. Edna admits in the novel that she only married Leonce to spite her father. Their wedding was very typical of the time. Leonce was the family's primary breadwinner, while Edna stayed at home, ran the house, and held a weekly reception. Although she has two children, her nurse mostly takes care of them. Edna takes little interest in her children and only spends time with them when it suits her or whenever she is overcome with emotion towards them and only misses them and periodically longs for their presence. Edna seems quite happy on the outside, but on the inside she is very dissatisfied with her life. At a certain point in the novel she expresses her desire to become a painter to Mademoiselle Reisz, an eclectic and independent pianist... middle of paper... frowned upon in Victorian society. If Edna had lived in the present day, she could have easily divorced and then married Robert. If she had found herself unhappy in her marriage to Robert, she could have gotten another divorce and married Alcee if she wanted. Women today have more freedom than ever. They can be their own person. They don't have to hide behind their husbands' identities. Women can work and support themselves without the help of their family or husband. Women today also have more sexual freedoms. Women can have sex with whoever they want and are not seen as “impure” or damaged and used.” Chopin's intuition about women's problems was correct. Many women of Edna's time certainly battled with the same demons as Edna, they just didn't act, as Edna did. Even though she killed herself, she was freed from her struggles.