Kate Chopin's success as a writer plummeted after the release of The Awakening. It has been noted that contemporary critics were shocked at the way Chopin portrayed Edna Pontellier. Edna's character violated the codes of the behavior of nineteenth-century American women. The criticis...

"The Puritan ethic: the haunting fear that somewhere, someone is having a good time," annonymous. This qoute is an amusing example of the Puritan ethic. The modern American ethic is quite different. The Puritan value system is different from the modern American value system. Puritans valued G...

HEDDA GABLER The more I read and look into Hedda Gabler the more I like it and appreciate Ibsen's efforts. It is kind of a pre-modernistic soap opera. Each character exhibits a complex set of traits, some good and some wicked. All the traits play off of one another and create depth an...