"If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it?" According to Franz Kafka, "A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us." Great literature always reveals a certain truth or message to its readers. Great literature should also enlighten and expand our knowledge. A work of literature is useless if it does not have the ability to open our eyes and awaken us to new ideas. It should stimulate a great wealth of emotions to its readers. It should make us feel like a "new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known." These revelations are unquestionably apparent in Kate Chopin's masterpiece The Awakening. In The Awakening we follow Edna through her journey of awakening. In The Awakening Edna awakens and becomes aware of her yearning for freedom, individuality and passion...