Romanticism, Realism, and Local Color in the Awakening Kate Chopin is an author born in 1851 and died in 1904. Her father died when she was young and her husband died when she was thirty-one and left her with six children. Because of this, she had little male influence throughout her life. This may be why he had so little inhibition when writing his novels. It appeared to focus on the oppression of women and presented ideas that were socially unacceptable at the time of their publication. Although Kate Chopin sparked great controversy in her time, today her novels, short stories, and poems are often considered great literary works that incorporate bold concepts, dark social realities, and even romantic elements. One such Chopin novel that embodies these characteristics is The Awakening, first published in 1899. At the time of its release, men held the reins of society and women basically catered to their every whim. Acts such as adultery and child abandonment were rarely committed and were mostly not discussed. The Awakening was a shock to society when Kate Chopin presented a novel that developed her views through examples of romantic, realistic, and locally colored writing. Like many novels of its time, The Awakening is an example of Romanticism. Romanticism can be defined as a literary or artistic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that emphasizes individualism, love of nature, celebration of the common man, freedom, emotion, exotic worlds, fantasy and the tendency to look to the past. The main character of the Awakening,... center of the paper... examples of local color help heighten the characters, setting, and conflict. Chopin proved herself to be a talented writer by incorporating Romanticism, Realism, and local color into her novel The Awakening. He combined these elements to add dimension to his writing and further develop his thoughts and ideas. Kate Chopin was not a typical writer nor a typical person. As shown in her book, The Awakening, she was bold and wrote what she truly felt rather than what was expected of her. Literary devices, such as romance, realistic events, and local color, add volume to the novels, but without Chopin's skill in using these devices, this novel would not have been the enlightening masterpiece it is today..