Kate Chopin A Style of her Own Kate Chopin uses symbolism and realism to enhance her theme of social conflict in the lives of women during the nineteenth century. These conflicts seemed to travel from one woman to the next, unnoticed by the rest of society. Chopin used these conflicts as a basis for all of her short stories and novels. This inevitably started turmoil about issues that never were brought out before. This in turn opened the eyes of society to the individuality of women. In The Awakening, by Chopin, a woman named Edna realizes that she is an individual and has individual feelin