Edna 's State Of Mind Before Her 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.

As Edna becomes her own person, she also becomes a better artist. Being an artist comes with responsibility in the novel. Prior to her awakening, she does not consider herself as an artist. The novel states, “Mrs. Pontellier had brought her sketching materials, which she sometimes she dabbled. She liked the dabbling” (13). After she awakens however, her artistic abilities increase and she begins to sell her artwork. Ironically, Edna and Mademoiselle Reisz have similar characteristics. Mademoiselle Reisz is Edna’s spiritual mother in a way, and the two have a love hate relationship. Mademoiselle Reisz is a key factor in Edna’s awakening, and she encourages her as she goes towards her heart’s desires. She knows that Edna does not want to answer to her husband or always watch after her children, and the best way to do so is to be like Mademoiselle Reisz.

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 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

The Awakening by Kate Chopin ends with the death of the main character, Edna Pontellier. Stripping off her clothes, she swims out to sea until her arms can no longer support her, and she drowns. It was not necessarily a suicide, neither was it necessarily the best option for escaping her problems.

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, two people who have the ultimate influence on Edna are Mademoiselle Reisz, and Robert Lebrun.

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.

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,

She is moved by music. During that summer Edna sketches to find an artistic side to herself. She needs an outlet to express who she is. Edna feels that art is important and adds meaning to her life. After the summer is over and they are back to the city and Edna is a changed woman. She makes many steps towards independence. She stops holding "Tuesday socials", she sends her children to live in the country with their grandparents, she refuses to travel abroad with her husband, she moves out of the Lebrun house on Esplanade Street, and to earn money, she starts selling her sketches and betting the horses. She also starts a relationship with another man Alcee Arobin. He meant nothing to her emotionally but she used him for sexual pleasure. Edna evolved above her peers she did not believe that sexuality and motherhood had to be linked. The last step of her "awakening" is the realization that she can not fulfill her life in a society that will not allow her to be a person and a mother. Edna commits suicide in the ocean at Grand Isle.

In The Awakening Edna’s investigation of the whereabouts of Mademoiselle Reisz acts to illuminate her internal search for her soul.

Chopin notes, "Perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impress of the abiding truth" (699). Mlle. Reisz feels the music is a mode of communication between Edna and herself. This prompts her to tell Edna during a party, "You are the only one worth playing for" (Chopin 700). The music calls to something within Edna, which further wakes her from the slumber of domesticity. As Edna realizes the expressive nature of music, she wants to apply this expression to her painting. She seeks the encouragement of her first teacher of expression, Madame Ratignolle, hoping her kind words will "help her put her heart into her venture" (Chopin 723). When Edna surrendered to "the service of art" her husband noted, "she was not herself. That is, he could not see the she was becoming herself" (Chopin 724). Self-expression through art progresses Edna in her new sense of self, but one more form must be learned to complete her transformation.

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.

There are many other areas of Edna's story while illustrate the rebellious ideas that she represents. For example, her view of religion is very controversial for that time period. Throughout the story, we can see that Edna had no tolerance for the religious practices that were held so dear to the rest of society (Klein 3). It is not surprising that Edna refuses to "worship" any higher power, since we have also seen that she refuses to hold even her family to any higher regard (Klein 4). Additionally, Edna's attitude towards art builds on the unconventional themes of the story (Klein 6). Edna is told by Mademoiselle Reisz that ""o be an artist... you must possess the courageous soul... the brave soul. The soul that dares and defies" (Chopin 115). This seems indicative of the very soul that Edna strives to possess in the story. Her quest to become an artist seems tied to her quest to break from the conventions of society because of this definition. Edna's reverence for art and the values that it seems to be connected with make her personality even more unconventional in the terms of the society that she lived in.

So, other people were able to see these changes and, in turn, questioned their own lifestyle through this exposure. Edna’s friend, Adèle Ratignolle, observes her transformation as she says, “In some way you seem to me like a child, Edna. You seem to act without a certain amount of reflection which is necessary in this life. That is the reason I want to say you mustn’t mind if I advise you to be a little careful while you are living here alone” (130). Madame Ratignolle is the epitome of a mother-woman, and thus, is unable to comprehend Edna’s desire for independence.

Both women were not only awakened in terms of their sexuality but also in terms of individuality. They realized that although they live in a collective they have different believes, thoughts and codes of behavior that they are not willing to give up on. One of the ways of expressing their individuality was through art. Hester had an amazing skills in sewing and turned her scarlet “A” – a symbol that was supposed to be identified with shame into a work of art. Edna’s talent was sketching. She enjoyed making sketches and in some point of her life wanted to be an artist.