An Analysis Of Chopin's The Awakening

She leaves the care of her children to her grandmother, abandoning them and her husband when she leaves to live in the pigeon-house. To her, leaving her old home with Léonce is very important to her freedom. Almost everything in their house belonged to him, so even if he were to leave, she would still feel surrounded by his possessions. She never fully becomes free of him until she physically leaves the house. That way, Edna has no ties whatsoever to that man. Furthermore, Edna indulges in more humanistic things such as art and music. She listens to Mademoiselle Reisz’s playing of the piano and feels the music resonate throughout her body and soul, and uses it as a form of escapism from the world. Based on these instances, Edna acts almost like a very young child, completely disregarding consequences and thinking only about what they want to do experience most at that moment. However, to the reader this does not necessarily appear “bad”, but rather it is seen from the perspective of a person who has been controlled by others their entire life and wishes to break free from their grasp. In a way, she is enacting a childlike and subconscious form of revenge by disobeying all known social constructs of how a woman should talk, walk, act, and interact with others.

Edna Pontellier’s marriage is a failure in her own eyes. Although when thinking of other husbands she at one time admits that, “she

Edna seeks occupational freedom in art, but lacks sufficient courage to become a true artist. As Edna awakens to her selfhood and sensuality, she also awakens to art. Originally, Edna “dabbled” with sketching “in an unprofessional way” (Chopin 543). She could only imitate, although poorly (Dyer 89). She attempts to sketch Adèle Ratignolle, but the picture “bore no resemblance” to its subject. After her awakening experience in Grand Isle, Edna begins to view her art as an occupation (Dyer 85). She tells Mademoiselle Reisz that she is “becoming an artist” (Chopin 584). Women traditionally viewed art as a hobby, but to Edna, it was much more important than that. Painting symbolizes Edna’s independence; through art, she breaks free from her

Through the story Edna becomes more and more uneasy about not being able to do and have what she really wants. This can be shown from the beginning when she lets her children play by themselves and doesn’t miss her husband when he is away from home. Edna tried to be a good mother by becoming friends with an old fashioned woman, Madame Adèle Ratignolle, who devoted her life to her husband and children. However, when Edna was not around Madame Adèle Ratignolle, she forgot how to be like Adèle Ratignolle and instead busied herself with what was considered to be her “childish ways”. She would try to make herself as happy as possible; she was not her happiest with her husband and kids. When Edna discovered her passion for art, she embraced it and neglected her family even more so than before.

Edna’s suicide was victory of self-expression. Edna undergoes a gradual awakening process in which portrays not to only her newly established independence from the constraints of her husband, but also her ability to go against the social norms of society in order to individually express herself. Her suicide encompases the question and critique of living life through the perspective of society such as being responsible for taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, and entertaining any guests that the husband may have over anytime. In the first couple of capters, the novel is quick to emphasize the gerneralized roles kthat are placed onto females, making it apparent that fe,ales are expected to successfully fulfil these roles. For example, Leonce enters home after being out and stated one of the kids had a fever. Edna was certain the child had no fever but Leonce belittles her capability as a mother for indifference with him. “If it was not a mother’s place to look after the children, whose on earth was it?” (27capac).

As a forerunner of the modern feminist movement, Kate Chopin explored bold new characterizations of her female subjects. Chopin is famous for her progressive depiction of the female characters in her stories. Two such stories, 'The Storm' and 'The Story of an Hour,' examine and refute the long held ideal of the subservient wife. 'The Storm,' written in 1898 but not published until later because of its provocative content, describes the passionate extramarital affair between Calixta and Alcee, a former lover. 'The Story of an Hour' follows Louise Mallard as she deals with the death of her husband. Chopin uses the extraordinary events in the characters' lives to

But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul" (504).  Although Edna did perform her duties as a wife for some time, she is not the typical housewife.  She does not worship her husband or idolize her children, which makes both Edna and Leonce begin to sense that Edna is different from the other mother-women (Lin 1).  Edna never realized the reasons she neglected her duties as a wife until she fell in love with Robert and acknowledged that her desires and needs exist outside of her marriage.  Thus, after her experiences with Robert, Edna is ready to neglect her husband even more, because she now realizes that her husband is holding her back from her needs.  When Leonce tries to make Edna act like the other women that obey their husbands, his attempts to control Edna further instigate Edna's desire for independence from him.  For example, the scene when Edna is lying in the hammock, Leonce says: "I can't permit you to stay out there all night.  You must come in the house instantly," Edna replies: "I mean to stay out here.  I don't wish to go in, and I don't intend to.  Don't speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you" (492).  Edna is carefree and spirited, and she refuses to conform to her husband because she does not want to lose herself.  Becoming the perfect, obedient wife would mean losing her individuality, and Edna realizes she can gain no fulfillment

She was pressured to marry Leonce by her father and older sister. Along with marriage came the pressure to have children. She is forced into these roles but never actually succumbs to them. Edna not only has Madame Ratignolle's friendship and her marriage to wake her up to her dreams and emotions, her affairs wake up to her desires. The way the different male characters treat her reminds her that she will never happily fit into the role of a wife and mother, therefore awakening her.

In her essay "Un-Utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in Kate Chopin's The Awakening", Cynthia Griffin Wolff creates what Ross Murfin describes as "a critical whole that is greater than the sum of its parts." (376) By employing a variety of critical approaches (including feminist, gender, cultural, new historicism, psychoanalytic and deconstruction) Wolff offers the reader a more complete (albeit complex) explanation of Edna Pontellier's behavior and motivations than any single approach could provide. Wolff contends that locating the source of Edna's repression is the key to understanding Chopin's story.

Ideas that resist existing social boundaries commonly are rejected at first, because people don’t want to wake up from their reliable lives. Kate Chopin, however, believed that an awakening was in order, and she attempted to open the eyes of society through her novel The Awakening. The public’s reaction to Chopin’s novel was not one of acceptance. "Too strong a drink for moral babies, and should be labeled ‘poison,’" was the how the Republic described Chopin's work (Seyersted 174). This is how society viewed a novel that is intended to give people insight into the minds and feelings of women as human beings. Of course, over the years, society grew to not only accept Chopin’s ideas, but to embrace

After Robert and Edna stayed the whole day together in the island, his sudden departure to Mexico is escaping from Edna, a married woman. His leave brought Edna the totally different attitude to her life. She was no longer interested in anything around her. Edna said, “the thought of him was like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon her”. (XVIII) Her mind was dominated by Robert. In her thoughts, there was not only the memory with him, but also his existence. She did not realize that she was madly in love with Robert until his departure. I do not support Edna’s choice, because it is preposterous to give up her completed family and start over nothing with Robert. Since Robert was and would no longer there with her, and no one was going to

From the beginning of the novel, one can note that, although Edna is a woman of the 19th Century, she does not completely fit the standard mold of one. “She was rather handsome than beautiful” (pg 3) and “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman.”(Pg 8). Even more curious is the fact that Edna reads. The knowledge obtained from reading challenges the societal dictation of female ignorance. Contrary to Edna, Madame Ratignolle, represents more of a typical women of her time. She simply enjoys sewing and not reading. Furthermore, Edna finds her analogous to a “faultless Madonna.”( Page 10), which

Le mot juste, the perfect word, can be used in any novel and the perfect phrase can be used to summarize any novel. Within the novella The Awakening by Kate Chopin, it traverses many themes of oppression, transcendentalism, and women's rights. It is about a woman named Edna awakening from the stupor placed by society. There are many notable phrases about the state of women’s rights with many themes and connections. The one that stands out, or rather the lack of it makes it the perfect phrase to summarize the novel. Within the pages of chapter 17 lies the sentence “But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the little glittering circlet” (Chopin 52).

Being in the midst of being constantly brought down by your surroundings, there is a breaking point where no one can guide you but yourself. When you are in a situation where you feel confined to be a certain figure in order to please society, you feel as if you’re wearing a mask to the world. Once you unmask yourself you can either be applauded for it or pressured to not be this new person. In the story, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier is a married woman who is bewildered on who she is due to her relationships amongst various characters. Edna Pontellier does not fully grasp on who she is as an individual because she is tangled on multiple emotions that only leaves her with more confusion. Being in a labyrinth of indecisiveness of what she wants, it leads her to be vulnerable and willing to explore a new world in order to not be repressed from the thoughts and feelings that trouble her. Her acquaintances shows the attitudes and expectations she should be fulfilling. As the story unfolds, Edna’s existence is challenged which sparks a new flame inside her to get free from the birdcage everyone has put her in, which is preventing her to find her genuine self.

Life has an abundance of crossroads that we must pass in order to reach the zenith of our long and arduous journey to self-realization. One in particular is the decision to stay grounded in the relative safety of the earth or attempt to soar high in the vast sky amongst the birds and clouds. Many do not dare leave the comforts of the grass, haunted by the swift and deathly fall that is sure to follow and therefore mark anyone foolhardy to try as idiotic for even thinking of accomplishing the impossible. Yet who is the fool; the person brave enough to soar, willing to risk the unrecoverable drop down or the person who has already resigned to their position in the plains, content with this fate? Edna Pontellier, the main protagonist of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, is conflicted by this choice after she has plucked the already fragmenting mask society has made her wear and shattered it. Now aware of the façade and free of ignorance, Edna seeks guidance from her close confidants in order steer herself in the right direction. Through the conversation had with Adele Ratignolle, the embodiment of tradition, and Mademoiselle Reisz, the embodiment of eccentricity, Edna finds the answer to her own confliction.