Sexuality In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

401 Words2 Pages
In 1899, the publishing year of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, a woman’s sexuality was kept hidden and was only for the bedroom. Women wore long dress that touched the floor, and were ridiculed if they showed even the slightest bit of ankle. The role that women played in this time period was that housewife and mother. They were to keep their husbands happy, cook, clean, and take care of the children. Edna’s provincial life leads her to try to find an escape from the world’s constricting views of women. She finds this escape in Robert. Edna and Robert meet on the Grand Isle; where Edna is vacationing for the summer. Soon after they meet they start an adulterous relationship. The affair with Robert gives Edna a feeling of new-found self and a