American Romanticism

Kate Chopin writes The Awakening as a challenge to the social structure of late nineteenth-century American bourgeois, or middle-class life. Her writing at the time was considered quite radical, and she was criticized for it often. Still, her vision of liberate feminine thought and desire has gone on to shape our own contemporary sense of what is possible for women to achieve. In our own age, in the 21st century, are there still writers who seek to "resist" the social order in the way that Chopin seems to? If so, who are they and how do they compare to Chopin? If there aren't writers who do what Chopin did, what do you think has changed? Why is this sort of thinking no longer possible, or why has it become so much less a part of the conversation?
Nuts and Bolts: Typed, double spaced, MLA formatted on Microsoft Word and attached as a document that I can open. 550 words minimum and quote at least three times from Thoreau and/or Chopin in support of your explanations. Your work will be judged based on the uniqueness and quality of your selections, your familiarity and engagement with the play and of course fulfilling the formatting and length criteria of the assignment.