No matter how old we are, we have all heard the daunting phrase from our parents in which they respond to our complaint with, ‘life just isn’t fair’. Though it’s true life isn’t fair, for women living in the “dining-room servant” (Chopin 5) and “starched skirt” (Chopin 5) days, life was restricted to societal rules. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, she demonstrates the impossibilities and hopelessness of women breaking the social norm by unfolding a story of a young married Mrs. Pontellier in which her goals in defiance ultimately costs her her life.
Chopin highlights the “struggle over ideologies” (Sprinkle 1) by utilizing parallel incidents where the two outcomes exemplify the unfairness women faced. One casual evening Edna asked her husband if he would
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Her discontent for her marriage strives her to easily fall in love with young and adventurous Robert and a loyal and romantic Arobin. Her new relationship with Arobin awakened her inner sensuality and “the excitement came back upon her like a remittent fever” (Chopin 67) because the connection with her husband was hesitant and she believes she had “married without love as an excuse” (Chopin 68). She even claims that she doesn’t love Arobin but “his presence” is enough to enrapture her thoughts and emotions. And when Robert expressed to Edna his love yet then leaves her with a disheartened note saying goodbye forever, Edna then results to take her life for she believes it is no longer worth living and drowns herself in the impossibilities of being with her true love Robert. These two relationships, though superficial and have no proper emotional grounding, push Edna to realize her self-discovery and awakening will never be truly accepted because of her role in society and resolves to death as her only
Unlike most women at the time, Edna refuses to conform to simply being a housewife. Edna tells Madame Ratignolle, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself.” indicating that even in the early stages of her awakening she had accounted herself more pretentious than society proclaims. At the end of the story Edna stands by her word by ending her life due to the level of unhappiness she was feeling. A housewife of those times would have simply lived her life unhappy and suffered until she possibly couldn’t. Edna on the other hand, chose to take actions into her own hands and take control of what is to happen in her life resulting in her suicide.
Edna fails to control her impulses of her sexual desires and willingly breaks social conformity of her era. She undoubtedly leaves her family to pursue a life without her children and husband. “The acme of bliss, which would have been marriage with the tragedian, was not for her in this world. As the devoted wife of a man who worshipped her, she felt she would take her place with a certain dignity in the world of reality, closing the portals forever behind her upon the realm of romance and dreams” (Chopin 21). Edna felt destined to live the fantasy life, and with that she believed starting over in another relationship would best benefit her. Morally, this wasn’t acceptable to society around her and she would be seen as a bad mother and wife, yet this did not seem to phase her. Further on Edna takes a moment to reflect if what she is doing is what she believes is following her passions. “But as she sat there amid her guests, she felt the old ennui overtake her; the hopelessness which so often assailed her, which came upon her like an obsession, like something extraneous, independent of volition. … There came over her the acute longing which always summoned into her spiritual vision the presence of the beloved one”(Chopin 159). After Edna realizes that following her passions may have led her to the wrong place, she finds herself still in a position she can be happy with, which is with the “beloved one”. Edna has
Edna becomes so caught up in wallowing in the instant gratification Robert used to provide her with that it “did not strike her as in the least grotesque that she should be making of Robert the object of conversation…” (47). Edna feels no shame in her infatuation with Robert. While she claims she loves Robert, he only sees her relationship with him for its short-term effect on her mood and not as a viable option for her future. Similar to Robert LeBrun, Alcée Arobin provides Edna with a false intimacy; but instead of emotional support, he offers Edna an outlet to act on her more carnal desires. Edna even acknowledges the fact that her affair with Alcée means nothing to her, but she still allows herself to submit to his intentions, only pausing briefly to wonder what Robert, not her husband, would think (77). At times, Edna exhibits a sense of morality, but she immediately silences her conscience whenever it is advising her not to do something that would yield immediate pleasure. Léonce is losing his wife, and Edna offers him no explanation as to why she is no longer
Chopin especially reveals the growth of Edna’s inner identity through her increasingly conflicting interactions with her husband
Edna does not care about society or even about being married but Robert knows that they can not be together. Robert leaves and essentially breaks up with Edna. Edna then realizes that she cannot be independent or just be who she wants to be without society judging her but she does not want to go back to how she was. “Despondency had come upon her there in the wakeful night and had never lifted.
Over the course of time the male species has always been the gender to attain the more favorable conditions. Numerous cultures heed to the belief that the man is the provider and head of his family. This machismo nature can condition the mind to believe that a man should feel superior to a woman. The continuous cycle of male superiority flows down from father to son subconsciously. Do to this unceasing sequence of behavior women fall subject to repression and control at the hands of mentally undeveloped men. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, illustrated this particular topic in a way that not only appealed to the readers’ sense of pathos but, the readers’ likeliness to be able to relate to the aforementioned as well. Chopin stylistically renders the struggle of the protagonist Edna Pontellier, a strong willed woman who finds herself imprisoned to the concept of trans-temporal existence, as she seeks refuge to her true being, Edna experiments relationships with multiple men that unintentionally repress her existence. Between Leonce Pontellier, Robert Lebrun, Alcee Arobin and The Colonel effect of Edna’s life they catalyze her awakening and ultimately lead her suicide.
In the iconic debated novel “The Awakening”, Kate Chopin’s novel takes place in the Victorian Era, which is in the 19th- century, similarly the novel was published in 1899. Edna is depicted as a woman longing for more, a woman who was looking for more than just a life of complacency and living in the eyes of society. The story uses Edna to exemplify the expectations of women during this era. For example, a woman’s expression of independence was considered immoral. Edna was expected to conform to the expectations of society but the story reveals Edna’s desires which longed for independence in a state of societal dominance. Throughout The Awakening, Chopin’s most significant symbol,
Throughout “The Awakening”, Edna is immersed in a constant clash with society over the significance of the difference between her life and her self. To Edna, the question of whether or not she would die for her children is somewhat simple. Edna attempts to explain this concept to her good friend, Adele Ratignolle, but to no avail, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (Chopin 62). Not only does Edna consider her life unessential, she categorizes it as equal with material objects such as money. The idea of self, on the other hand, lies on a completely different level in Edna’s mind. The most important goal to Edna in her life is the journey to discover her true character. The idea that her inner self is more essential than life or even her children causes Edna to stray farther from the social constraints of the typical domestic woman. Kathleen M. Streater weighs in on Edna’s situation and placement in
In his mind it was going to be another regular summer. However, he never predicted that he himself would catch feelings for Edna. Robert could’ve been portrayed as a stronger person than Edna in a few aspects of the way he handled the situation. He knew that what he was feeling was forbidden because Edna already belonged to her husband who she takes advantage of. (45, Chopin) “Write to me when you get there, won’t you, Robert?..
The ending of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is both controversial and thought provoking. Many see Edna Pontellier’s suicide as the final stage of her “awakening”, and the only way that she will ever be able to truly be free. Edna’s suicide, however, is nothing more than her final attempt to escape from her life. Edna Pontellier’s life has become too much for her to handle, and by committing suicide she is simply escaping the oppression she feels from her marriage, the suppression she feels from her children, and the failure of her relationship with Robert.
Edna is childish and foolish about her romances. She often cares for herself and not for her children or husband. Edna is very immature for her age and for having two children to look after. Mr. Pontellier; Edna’s husband; once said “If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” (Chopin 1214). Implying to Edna that she did not care for her children like other wives took care of their children. Edna falls in love with a man named Robert. Even though she is married, Edna does not care about the consequences that could occur. She does not tell her husband, nor does he realize what Edna is doing behind his back. He is more interested in his work and studies. Once Robert leaves for Mexico, Edna finds that her friendships with Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz become stronger and stronger as time goes by when Robert and her husband are gone. They keep
Throughout the novel, the betrayal of each person around Edna serves to further alienate her from society as it reveals the truly oppressive nature of
In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, the constant boundaries and restrictions placed on Edna Pontellier by society will lead to her struggle for freedom and her ultimate suicide. Her husband Leonce Pontellier, the current women of society, and the Grand Isle make it evident that Edna is trapped in a patriarchal society. Despite these people, Edna has a need to be free and she is able to escape from the society that she despises. The sea, Robert Lebrun, and Mademoiselle Reisz serve as Edna’s outlets from conformity. “Edna's journey for personal independence involves finding the words to express herself. She commits suicide rather than sacrificing her independent,
In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin (2005) uses deep symbolism to show how the main character, Edna Pontellier, discovers her own independence in the society in which she lived. Edna was a traditional mother and wife seeking freedom and independence throughout her adult life. Chopin portrays Edna as being a rebel against her own life. The story takes place in the 1960s when women were to follow certain rules made by the society they lived in. Chopin also foreshadows the things that occur in Edna’s life through nature and death itself. Based on the many ways Chopin uses symbolic meanings through the novel, we can see the events of Edna’s life as one that rebels against society. Throughout this novel, Chopin proves that Edna’s actions
In Chapter 8, Madame Ratignolle pulls Robert aside and asks him to leave Edna alone. She explains that Edna,” Is not one of us; she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously.” Chopin’s use of repetition in Adele’s dialogue puts emphasis on Edna’s uniqueness and labels her as an outcast. Adele sees Edna drifting further and further away from the social norms of their accustomed society and wishes to stop her before its too late. Chopin also uses this scene to foreshadow Robert’s unwillingness to commit to Edna as he brushes off Madame Ratignolle’s warning, seeing his relationship with Edna as a fling rather than being the passionate lover Edna craves.