Therefore, individuality plays an extremely important role in the influence of nineteenth-century American writing. Encouraging individuality and the rejection of rules made by society create a freedom in literature. Such freedom allows an expression of self that had not been seen before and ultimately allows the audience a clear insight into the individual. So, Whitman’s Song of Myself is not only original but is unique in its ability to transfer Whitman’s consciousness to the reader. The reader can access his writing and read it as naturally as Whitman had written it; without it being force to measure in rhythms and rhymes. The focus on the self is undeniably one that is prevalent in both Whitman’s Song of Myself and in Chopin’s The Awakening.