Until the mid-20th century, women were in an inferior position to men in all aspects of society. Women who wanted to deviate from the norm were often held back by males and isolated in the sphere of the “perfectly submissive housewife,” a stereotype that women around the world ended up shattering. Kate Chopin achieved this through her realist piece, The Awakening. In The Awakening, Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier have retreated to their summer home, located on Grand Isle, just south of New Orleans. While on the Island, Mr. Léonce Pontellier is often busy with business matters or otherwise absent and spends most evenings dining at the club rather than at home. Mrs. Edna Pontellier is responsible for what may be considered housewife duties, including the care of the children, although it is often the case that others take care of them. She chooses to spend her days working in her atelier, resting on the porch and swimming, usually with her slightly younger partner, Robert, for whom she has developed a unique passion. While outward appearances may peg them as a typical upper-middle-class American family, a look at the inner workings of their home, marriage, and thoughts would suggest otherwise. As the summer progresses, Mrs. Pontellier finds herself continually intrigued by and wanting to spend more time with Robert. The couple often walks or swims together, and the combination of time spent with Robert and the "voice of the sea" seems to push her through a true awakening, in which she recognizes her desire to become independent from the social constraints of marriage, free to live . do as he pleases (Chopin 571). She then decides that “She [wants] to swim far, where no woman [has] swum before… middle of paper… dedicating herself to any one of the available social roles leads her to abandon them all in favor of a seductive and yet always elusive” (Ramos 147). Arguably, Kate Chopin used realist writings like The Awakening to break barriers constructed by the social image of male superiority and female acquiescence and push American literature deeper into an era of modernity. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. The awakening. 1899. 1865-1914. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 561-652. Press. vol. C of the Norton Anthology of American Literature.Ramos, Peter. "Unbearable Realism: Freedom, Ethics, and Identity in 'The Awakening'." College Literature 37.4 (2010): 145-65. MasterFILEPremier. Network. May 28 2014. .