When do you use に to indicate a cause or reason for something?


I was reading a children's book and came across the following sentence:

> あまりの寒さに目を覚ました。

I can tell that it means "Because of the extreme cold, he woke up," but I was
kind of surprised to see に used as the particle to indicate cause.

An Internet search does tell me that に can be used to indicate a reason or
cause, especially, it seems, for feeling verbs, like in the case of something
like 雷に驚いた (startled by lightning) or 私に怒っている (angry with me). But I wouldn't
have thought "waking up" was a feeling verb, so I'm not sure why the author
used に instead of で to indicate the reason the character woke up.

Is it just a matter of style or personal preference? Is it idiomatic and I
just need to grow more accustomed to when it feels more natural to use に?
Would あまりの寒さで目を覚ました also be correct or does that sound weird?




In short,

  * あまりの寒さ **に** 目を覚ました is idiomatic.
  * あまりの寒さ **で** 目を覚ました is equally natural.
  * There is a difference in nuance, but it is small enough and you shouldn't worry unless you are translating literary texts.

* * *

My impression is that the usage of に is common when describing some
**reaction**. E.g., あまりのうれしさに泣き出す (From #7 of
[this](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%AB/#jn-166083)) is another
example of "non-feeling" verb.

* * *

Some other things vaguely relevant:

  * In English, I suppose it is possible to say _I wake up **to** the sound of something_ (even if not _to the coldness_ ).
  * The に in に怒る means more object of the anger, not reason. English _angry to_ should be unacceptable, but _anger towards someone_ should be fine.

So as you mention, it is ultimately a matter of getting accustomed to various
usages, but in my opinion に shares much with _to_ , even when using _to_
itself is not the norm in English expression.

