How does The Awakening speak to the roles of women at the end of the 19th century?

The Awakening speaks directly to the
roles of women at the end of the 19th century because it presents prototypes of females
whose behaviors are changing as the times change, and whose roles within their families
are shifting as the century shifts into more modern
times.

The role of Edna, for example, is indicative of a
woman who is simply fed up with the demands placed on women earlier in the 19th century:
The nurturer, the solid rock, the loving wife, the loving mother, the enthusiastic
entertainer. She had an idea that she would have to do all those things, but her
awakening taught her that, to her, that whole thing was just not up her
league.

In terms of writing conventions, it is noticeable
that a female author would expose the reality of the emotion of women at the end of the
19th century.

Certainly it shows a shift in the paradigm of
romantic literature, and it is noticeable in the fact that women, as with every
romantic/realistic writing, are not portrayed as damsels in distress, nor as attractive
princesses, nor the men are shown as chivalrous knights that will save the
day.