Both during the time Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening and during the setting of the novel, the discussion of a woman's place in the world was prominent. Ever since the 15th amendment was passed, women suffrage groups made an appearance in America. Abolitionist and women’s rights activists used to stand side by side with their views since they were both the “minority” of America during the 1800s. However, once (male) slaves had the right to vote but not women, most slaves made the argument that women (white) did not have to be whipped and demoralized everyday, so they could wait a couple of more years to earn the right to vote. Women, slowly but surely, attempted to make their voices heard to the men of the world. Women’s unions came about in …show more content…
The main cause of domestic violence is usually because the husband in the relationship was drunk, so the WTU believed by banning alcohol could limit the amount of domestic violence in America. Also, the National Woman’s Suffrage Association wanted women of America to have the right to vote. Although Chopin does not focus on Women Union Groups, she does articulate the same ideas that these unions hoped to achieve. The presence of these groups uniting together influenced Chopin to write a novel about another woman’s issue. In The Awakening, rather than political freedoms, Chopin focuses on individual (sexual) freedom. Chopin reveals how a woman should have the right to express their inner and sexual desires without any discrimination. Many people of this time had a conservative way of thinking when it came to women. Chopin even took the liberty to write what Edna’s husband was thinking when he confronted her about her children being sick. Leonce, and the rest of society, thinks,” If it was not a mother’s place to look after the children, whose on earth was it” (48)? This is how everyone in America views Edna and every other woman, for that matter. Women lived in such a strict and