Patriarchy In The Awakening

In the opening scene Chopin introduces “a green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door” and speaks a “language which nobody understood…” (1). This caged bird is used as a symbol for Edna. The parrot speaks in a foreign language, revealing how Edna feels misunderstood by society due to the differing expectations of Edna’s role. Her friends and family expect Edna to be the perfect mother, devoting all of her time to her children. They are not able to comprehend Edna’s rejection towards her role as a mother, her husband even calling upon the doctor. Yet while the parrot is kept captive by the cage, Edna is bound by her children. The parrot “suggests her feeling of being trapped by traditions” (Schraufnagel 1). The tradition that all women during this time period were to become mothers is what has enslaved Edna. In contrast, Edna’s husband has “the privilege of quitting their society when they ceased to be entertaining” (Chopin 1). In this case, the birds represent Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier’s two children. Mr. Pontellier often leaves his children behind as he goes on business trips or to the club, yet expects Edna to take care of the children at all times. Because of biology, Edna is not afforded the luxury of freedom that her husband has. Mr. Pontellier is a fine husband and he treats Edna well. Yet because of the freedom he has that Edna does not possess, he

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a story written in the late 19th century about a woman named Edna becoming independent and finding herself in a time when women had little to no rights and were seen as property of their husband. Racism, sexism, and feminism were all going on when this book was written, and therefore influenced it greatly.

Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening published in 1899, provides a snapshot of Creole society through a neutral point of view. The male dominated French-Louisiana society provides a challenge for the main character, Edna Pontellier to adapt to. Through the character of Edna Pontellier, we the audience, see both an emotional and physical awakening. After awakening, Edna tries to combat the societal structures of motherhood which define her as the wife of motherhood and force her identity as the wife of Leoncé and the mother of Raoul and Etienne instead of her own self-defined individual. Chopin’s concentration on two other principal females outlines Edna’s options; either

Throughout history, women have been expected to fit into a rigid gender stereotype. Women in the early 1900s would be expected to care for children, be able to do household duties and obey everything their husbands instructed. Those women that did not fit the stereotype were looked down upon by members of society and were often alienated. Edna, the protagonist of the novel, had to battle her inner conflict of not wanting to conform to society's standards throughout the novel. Over, and over again, she was reminded of the fact that she was different and that society did not approve of her way of thinking. In the novel The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the author uses the characters and their actions in society to express the oppression and expectations society had towards women.

To start, many comparisons can be drawn between Edna and an imprisoned bird. The first lines of the novel describe “[a] green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door” (Chopin 5). Starting at the bird’s physical description, the brightly colored feathers of this creature strongly represent the power and

During the late nineteenth century, the time of protagonist Edna Pontellier, a woman's place in society was confined to worshipping her children and submitting to her husband. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, encompasses the frustrations and the triumphs in a woman's life as she attempts to cope with these strict cultural demands. Defying the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna battles the pressures of 1899 that command her to be a subdued and devoted housewife. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity.

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,

Though it was uncommon during the 1800’s, some women didn’t want to assume the traditional role of a typical Victorian lady. Such is the case in Kate Chopin 's The Awakening; she introduces us to Edna Pontellier a mother and wife during the said era. Throughout the story, we follow Edna 's journey of self-discovery and self-expression through emotions, art, and sex thanks to the help of people she meets along the way. Chopin decides to end the book with Edna’s suicide in an attempt to convey a sense of liberation from her repressed life, but was the reasoning behind her suicide what everyone else thinks? Consequently, this said journey took me along for the ride, and I had no complaints. As Edna figured out who she was, I felt as if I was

Madame Lebrun’s caged parrot is a symbol of the caged feeling that Edna and women of her time experience.

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,

Chopin opens her novel with the a parrot in a cage repeating the same phrase over and over. The parrot is pretty to look at, but when the bird speaks it is very annoying. This is the way women were potrayed in the late 19th century restricted to very limited space in society, --- "hung in a cage outside the door" pretty to look at, but annoying because

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

Related to birds there is another symbol, the flight, which acts as a stand for awakening. This symbolic theme appears constantly throughout the novel. We can see that Edna escapes her life, her children and her husband following her own believes of freedom. In this fragment we can see that Mademoiselle Reisz guides Edna through her awakening, but she cannot help her forever: "she put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong. ‘The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth’” (page 217). In other words, she says that she has to be brave in order to defy society.

In Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening”, Edna finds herself in a society where women were socially confined to be mothers and wives. This novel embodies the struggle of women in the society for independence along with the presence of women struggling to live up to the demands that their strict culture has placed upon them. A part of Edna wants to meet the standards of mother and wife that society has set, however her biggest desire is to be a woman free from the oppression of a society that is male dominant. Readers will find that the foundation of “The Awakening” the feminist perspective because of the passion that Edna has for gaining her own identity, and independence,

The literary novel The Awakening written by author Kate Chopin was groundbreaking in its time as a story following Edna Pontellier’s transformation from an obedient, traditional housewife and mother into a self-realized, sexually liberated and independent woman— all written during the Victorian era of patriarchal constraints and beliefs that a woman was fit to be only a wife and mother. Chopin introduces a multitude of feminist issues throughout the duration of the story, including the societal structures of motherhood, marital expectations and feminine liberation. The fact that Chopin’s novel addresses these issues is a testament to how radical and ahead of its time The Awakening was. Although this novel was originally published over a century ago, it is clear that the feminist topics that Chopin proposes in the novel are still relevant today in our modern day patriarchal society.