Editing Kate Chopin (section)

=== ''The Awakening'' ===
{{Main|The Awakening (Chopin novel)}}
[[File:The Awakening Chopin.jpg|thumb|First edition title page of ''[[The Awakening (Chopin novel)|The Awakening]]'' (1899)]]
Published in 1899, her novel ''The Awakening'' is considered ahead of its time, garnering more negative reviews than positive from contemporary sources. Chopin was discouraged by this criticism, and she turned to writing short stories almost exclusively.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=http://go.galegroup.com.eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CH1420000416&docType=Work+overview%2C+Critical+essay&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=LitRC&contentSet=GALE%7CH1420000416&searchId=R1&userGroupName=viva23470&inPS=true|title=An overview of The Awakening|last=Susan|first=Green|website=Literature Resource Center}}</ref> The female characters in ''The Awakening'' went beyond the standards of social norms of the time.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3">{{cite journal|last=Bender|first=Bert|date=September 1991|title=The Teeth of Desire: The Awakening and The Descent of Man|journal=American Literature|volume=63|issue=3|pages=459–473|doi=10.2307/2927243|jstor=2927243}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{cite journal|last=Mou|first=Xianfeng|title=Kate Chopin's Narrative Techniques and Separate Space in The Awakening|journal=The Southern Literary Journal}}</ref> The protagonist has sexual desires and questions the sanctity of motherhood.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" /> 
The novel explores the theme of marital infidelity from the perspective of a married woman. The book was widely banned, and it fell out of print for several decades, then was republished in the 1970s.<ref name=":4" /> It now is considered a classic of feminist fiction.<ref name=":4" /> Chopin reacted to the negative events happening to her by commenting:
<blockquote>I never dreamt of Mrs. Pontellier making such a mess of things and working out her own damnation as she did. If I had had the slightest intimation of such a thing I would have excluded her from the company. But when I found out what she was up to, the play was half over and it was then too late.</blockquote>
According to Bender, Chopin was intrigued by Darwin's ''[[The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex|The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex]]''.<ref name=":3" /> Although she agreed with the theory of [[evolution]], Chopin disagreed with Darwin's theory of [[sexual selection]] and the female's role, and she expressed her opposition in ''The Awakening'', in which, Bender argues, Chopin references ''The Descent of Man''.<ref name=":3" /> In his essay, Darwin suggests female inferiority and says that males had "gained the power of selection". Bender argues that in her writing, Chopin presented women characters that had selective power based on their own sexual desires, not the need for reproduction or love.<ref name=":3" /> Bender argues this idea through the examples of Edna Pontellier in ''The Awakening'', Mrs. Baroda in "A&nbsp;Respectable Woman", and Mrs. Mallard in "The Story of an Hour".<ref name=":3" />

Martha Cutter's article "The Search for a Feminine Voice in the Works of Kate Chopin" analyzes the female characters in many of Chopin's stories. Cutter argues that Chopin's opinion of women as being "the invisible and unheard sex" is exemplified through the characterization of Edna in ''The Awakening''. Cutter argues that Chopin's writing was shocking due to its sexual identity and articulation of feminine desire. According to Cutter, Chopin's stories disrupt patriarchal norms.<ref name=":5"/> Today, ''The Awakening'' is said to be one of the five top favorite novels in literature courses all over America.<ref>{{Cite book|title=America Literature|publisher=McDougal Littell|year=2008|isbn=978-0-618-56866-6|location=United States of America|pages=758}}</ref>