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In Kate Chopin's The Awakening the central character of the novel is a "new woman," Edna Pontellier, who discovers that her marriage to a New Orleans Creole has prevented her emotional development and is responsible for keeping her in a state of ongoing innocence ....

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.... in an uneven, impulsive way” (37). Through the action of the novel, this initial realization continues to be reinforced by events. Edna makes a number of painful and complex discoveries about the society in which she lives and awakens to her own potential for passion, desire, and love but “…she reserves her greatest passion for a figure of pure fantasy…”(Wolff 236). Her husband cannot fulfill these potentials “She grew fond of her husband…” but “…no trace of passion…colored her affection”(37). Edna also realizes that Creole society, as represented by both Madame Reisz and Adele, allows men absolute freedom to come and to go ....