Kate Chopin's lyrics The Awakening and "The Father of Désirée's Baby" explore themes such as the social conventions imposed on women at the end of the women in the (institution) of marriage. The women of the texts: Edna Pontellier, Chopin's protagonist in The Awakening and Désirée, Chopin's protagonist in “The Father of Désirée's Child”, both die tragically, due to their inability to maintain the social values ​​imposed on them. Since both women take their own lives at the end of the text, the underlying message that Chopin seems to convey is one of warning: a warning to those women who have supposedly been inappropriate in marriage highlighting the consequences; death. However, this reading of the texts is limited because it does not consider how the lives of the women in the text reflected the lives of women at the time Chopin was writing. The fact that both women commit suicide at the end of the novel suggests that Chopin's social commentary on the difference in status between women and men is present within the lyrics. Men do not (and are not required) to take any responsibility for the failure of their marriage, the burden of responsibility falls on women. In both The Awakening and “The Father of Désirée's Child,” the implications of the ending are Chopin's critique of the lack of status and agency that women have in the 18th century. Chopin's criticism in the novels stems from the fact that both Edna and Desirée fail to live up to the ideals of their society. In The Awakening, Edna fails to uphold the Victorian feminine ideal. During the early stages of Edna's awakening and after she has been "awakened", Edna often complains about how different she is from Adèle Ratignolle, (who represents the Victorian feminine... pushed to death by the society they live in. In both lyrics, it is women who have to pay for the injustice of the society in which they live, which is what Chopin comments by implying that death is the only option for women. Chopin highlights how problematic it is that a woman has to give up her own independence/innocence or dying, through the stories of Désirée and Edna. Each woman chooses to end her life because she feels there is no place for her in society. they would rather die. Works Cited Chopin, Kate "The Awakening, Per. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin Volume II: Louisiana, 1969." . New York: Oxford, 2000. 193-198.