Opportunity, freedom, a vote, strength, independence, an interpretation during the late nineteenth century of the idealistic human rights that women strived for, qualities seemingly more eccentric than those of the current era. The question of what it meant to be human lingered in the minds of so many women, few of whom held the confidence to speak their opinion against the societal norms that had for so long depleted the value of women. Following the Civil War, women and African Americans fervently fought for enfranchisement; however, to the woman 's dismay, only blacks received this right. Women;s rights activists turned to literature to vocalize their beliefs. Kate Chopin, a famous American writer, was one of few who spoke out and shaped