Read the excerpt from willa cather’s review of the awakening from the pittsburgh leader, july 8, 1899. an author’s choice of themes is frequently as inexplicable as his choice of a wife. it is governed by some innate temperamental bias that cannot be diagrammed. this is particularly so in women who write, and i shall not attempt to say why miss chopin has devoted so exquisite and sensitive, well-governed a style to so trite and sordid a theme. she writes much better than it is ever given to most people to write, and hers is a genuinely literary style. what is willa cather’s response to chopin’s writing? cather is critical of chopin’s complicated plot. cather is critical of chopin’s writing style. cather is critical of chopin’s temperamental characters. cather is critical of chopin’s choice of themes.