Naturalism is another turn-of-the-century literary movement. The Awakening portrays the Creole culture of Louisiana in vivid detail, and other of Chopin's fictional works deal with this area of the country. At this time, the United States was still very fragmented culturally, and local-colorists wanted to convey the "quaintness" of a minority culture to mainstream American society. Local-color writers focused on a particular region of the United States and tried to recreate its culture, dialect, and customs in minute detail. The local-color movement was a literary movement popular during the 1890s. The Awakening is often considered in association with one of three distinct movements: the local-color movement, naturalism, and modern-day feminism. Kate Chopin was socially ostracized after the publication of her novel, which was almost forgotten until the second half of the twentieth century. Instead of condemning her protagonist, Chopin maintains a neutral, non-judgmental tone throughout and appears to even condone her character's unconventional actions. Kate Chopin's contemporaries were shocked by her depiction of a woman with active sexual desires, who dares to leave her husband and have an affair. The Awakening was published in 1899, and it immediately created a controversy.
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