introduction Kate Chopin, author of "The Awakening" and other short stories such as "A Pair of Silk Stockings," "Désirée's Baby," and "The Story of an Hour," actively searched for female spiritual emancipation, which she found and expressed in her writing. Her poems, short stories, and novels allowed her not only to assert her beliefs for herself, but also to question the ideas of individuality and autonomy during the turn of the century. Unlike …showed first 75 words of 6220 total…

…showed last 75 words of 6220 total…patriarchal norms is overcome; Chopin succeeds in not only mimicking male form to female purpose, but in disrupting this form and the patriarchy it represents "...from within its own discursive parameters" (Cutter p.18). Maupassant's example has been exploited to obtain feminist ends. Chopin has moved beyond the French androcentric influence; she has, in the words of Fusco "...blaze[d] her own path" - the path of feminism, that path which led, ultimately, to The Awakening.