Comparing The Awakening And Laugh Of The Medusa

Emma Howard 3-1-24 English 4 Honors Prompt #3 The Awakening Edna Pontellier, the main character in Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," is divided between her growing feelings for Robert Lebrun and her marriage with Leonce Pontellier, causing her to be caught in a confusing situation of emotions and desires. Edna struggles with her conflicting needs for independence and love as she makes her way through the social and economic limits of her era. This leads her to an inner struggle that then sets her on a path to personal growth and freedom.

Edna’s deliberate sacrifice is that she chooses a man who has her relive her young fantasies and mind over her husband and family who demonstrate that responsibility and maturity dictate her life. Before Edna meets Robert, the man who reminisces youth, she has her up and downs with her husband but has a consistent and regular lifestyle with her family. She constantly praises her children over everything but however,

Edna is a woman who expresses her distaste for what women are expected to follow and it is shown that she wishes to lead a life of passion and excitement. It is apparent that her husband

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening controversial protagonist - Edna Pontellier - lives a personally unsatisfying life with her idealistically perfect husband; a marriage that exists solely on the satisfaction of the Creole society they live in. In the beginning of the novel, she starts to struggle with the dominance of her outer identity that consists of how everyone sees her as the beautiful wife to a perfect, rich husband. But, when she is alone or with Robert, she begins to self-reflect on her inner identity that consists of how she sees herself and the new, rebellious freedoms that she desires. In The Awakening, the frequent symbolization of birds and the manner with how Edna interacts with music and the different men in her life illustrates

As we follow Edna throughout the story, we begin to see just how much she lets society rule her life. In one instance, we see her begin to fall in love with a man by the name of Robert LeBurn. Edna, who is miserable in her seemingly perfect

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening recounts Edna Pontellier’s journey to self-discovery and independence, in a society where women are supposed to be proper and dependent. In chapter VI of The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses imagery of light and the ocean to describe her awakening and foreshadow the end of Edna’s journey to independence, and ultimately, her death.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing more than devoted wives and nurturing mothers.

Although Robert left to get away from Edna, he might have actually made things worse. He promised to write to her, but never did. By Robert not writing to her, it left Edna in agony. She longed for him even more when she did not hear from him. Not knowing that Edna would eventually read the letters, he wrote to Mademoiselle Reisz unintentionally professing his love for Mrs. Pontellier. After reading the letters, Edna realized that the feelings were mutual. Edna came to the conclusion that she wanted to get away from her house, husband, and anything that reminded her of the such so she decided to move into a small apartment around the corner.

The final reason for Edna’s escape from her troublesome life is the failure of her relationship with Robert. Edna was able to find some form of escape through her desire and hope of being with Robert, but when those plans fell through Edna feels as if she has nothing to look forward to, nothing to live for in life. Robert realizes that he and Edna will never be able to have a true

This alienated Edna and caused her to seek out her desires outside of her dull married life. Robert, one of the men Edna feels love for, betrays her by refusing to challenge the societal norms and being unable to commit to a relationship. At the beginning, she believed that Robert could liberate her from marriage, but, by the time he comes back to ask to marry her, she is entirely disillusioned with being with another man. Through these betrayals, Edna becomes increasingly alienated from the societal pressures that attempt to bind her to motherhood and subservience. It is revealed through Edna’s journey, driven by these betrayals, the greater lack of power that women had under societal pressures during the Victorian era.

Throughout The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna Pontellier showed signs of a growing depression. There are certain events that hasten this, events which eventually lead her to suicide.

In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening a wife and a mother of two, Edna Pontellier, discovers her desires as a woman to live life to the fullest extent and to find her true self. Eventually, her discovery leads to friction between friends, family, and the dominant values of society. Through Chopin's use of Author’s craft and literary elements, the readers have a clear comprehension as to what the author is conveying.

    One theme apparent in Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, is the consequence of solitude when independence is chosen over conformity. The novel's protagonist, Edna Pontellier, is faced with this consequence after she embarks on a journey of self-discovery. "As Edna's ability to express herself grows, the number of people who can understand her newfound language shrinks" (Ward 3). Edna's awakening from a conforming, Victorian wife and mother, into an emotional and sexual woman takes place through the use of self-expression in three forms: emotional language, art, and physical passion.

The story of Medusa reflected the values on our society during the 20th and 21st century. Her myth helped explain and demonstrate the values of a woman and how gender roles are different. "Every woman is supposed to have the same set of motives, or else to be a

The story, The Awakening, is about Edna Pontellier’s internal conflict between her desire for independence and her need to remain a high-class member of society. When away on summer vacation Edna has the realization that she has control of her own life and begins to focus on her self and not what others think. During her awakening, Edna is faced with much resilience from her husband and friends and instead of becoming someone she is not, Edna Pontellier ends her own life as she sees it is her only option. The author, Kate Chopin, uses many characters to exemplify the conflicting ideals emerging in Edna; particularly Madame Ratignolle acts as a foil to Edna’s newfound persona, instead symbolizing the conservation of a traditional