Edna's Dual Identity In The Awakening

Edna’s children are different from other children, if one of her boys fell “…he was not apt to rush crying to his mother’s arms for comfort; he would more likely pick himself up, wipe the water out of his eyes and the sand out of his mouth, and go on playing”. Edna is not a typical Creole “mother-woman” who “idolized her children (and) worshipped her husband” (8) and at times that results in her husband’s claims that she neglects her children. Edna’s children leave her attached to her husband, and even if she is somehow able to escape the relationship with her husband she will never be able to escape her children. She realizes this and whether consciously or not, doesn’t care for her children the way this is expected of a woman in her time period. When Adele Ratignolle reminds her to, “Think of the children!…Oh think of the children! Remember them!” Edna finally realizes her decisions affect her and her children. Instead of accepting her responsibility as a mother Edna decides to give up, and does so by committing suicide.

Whether coerced or through self realizations, there were many awakenings in the book. The first was that Edna was not the traditional mother like Adèle, the second was that she enjoyed doing things for herself instead of for her children and husband. This second awakening is shown when Edna takes time to talk

Edna’s awakening was the beginning to her suicide. As Edna realized her capacity to be honest with herself, the old Edna began to die. Edna slowly started to realize she did not want to be like other women, whom “idolized their children, worshiped their

The Awakening begins in the vacation spot of Grand Isle. At first we believe that Grand Isle is a utopia, wealthy families relaxing at oceanside, but it is here where Edna first begins to realize her unhappiness. The first sign of dissatisfaction is when Edna allows herself to feel that her marriage is unsatisfying, yet she must agree with the other women that Leonce Pontellier is the perfect husband. Edna asks herself that if she has a good husband

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 Kate Chopin’s book, The Awakening, the women characters’ represent different types of women during the 19th century. The main character, Edna Pontellier, goes through a phase in figuring out her persona. Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz provide options for Edna’s future. While Adele represents the “sleeping” woman, Mme. Reisz symbolizes the “awake” woman.

In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, the main character, Edna Pontellier surrenders something extremely important: her life. She becomes very self-aware and secretly stands for women being independent from common gender roles and expectations, later realizing that society wants the exact opposite. This highlights several of Edna’s values, including her freedom, her art, and her sexuality.Throughout the novel, Edna Pontellier finds herself being held back because of her family. She is expected to devote all of her time and energy to her two children and husband. The audience should gather that Edna is very unhappy with her life as a mother and wife. In fact, Chopin uses symbolism to show just this. At the

Edna Pontellier: Mrs. Pontellier is the protagonist of The Awakening. Edna is 28 years old. Her character is the one who has experienced an “awakening.” Edna is unhappy in her relationship with her husband, Léonce Pontellier. Mrs. Pontellier later falls in love with her acquaintance, Robert Lebrun. She acknowledges her true desires, and “realizes her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.” She rejects her unchanging lifestyle and takes action to pursue her ideas of independency, which are not socially acceptable in the society she lives in.

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening there is a constant internal struggle within Edna about how she should be living her life. In the novel it is clear that society has a certain destiny for Edna. She is expected to be a wife and mother who must stay at home, care for the children, care for her husband, and maintain the household clean. Throughout the novel we see a shift in Edna beginning to question everything.

“She could only realize that she herself – her present self – was in some way different from the other self” (Chopin 67). The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a compelling story of a woman who is awakened from the miserable duties of a housewife and mother to a woman who falls in love and finds herself. This story is not to judge a woman for having an affair with her husband, but it is to make the reader fall in love with this woman named Edna and go with her on her journey of finding herself. Edna is an extraordinary character in The Awakening, and it makes the reader see the basis of independence, and also giving the reader his or her own journey and reflection of their own life throughout the novel. The

Edna is better off on just giving herself gratification, of going wherever she wants to without her husband permission. Edna has also had affairs with other men, while Leonce (husband) is out of the states and not care about the

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,

The Awakening by Kate Chopin compiles a story about identity, and how it relates to the 19th century Victorian ideal woman that comprises of a perfect wife and a perfect mother in the eyes of society while searching for independence. Throughout the novel a recurring image of children that helps relate to letting go of caring for yourself to care for them. For example to Edna, while going through her change she stars afresh, looking at the world from a child’s perspective. This links with the solemn tone lurking, Chopin’s purpose for this creates a sense of weight on the story. Though the identity crisis remains clear, the burden of society can be seen, every decision of a women represents themselves in societies eye, as today.

     Kate Chopin's The Awakening as the title suggests is just that‹the story of a young woman's awakening to life.  Even though it is a work of fiction, the character of Edna undergoes such a radical change one cannot ignore the psychological depth of the work.  The story could almost be seen as a case study.  In order to analyze the work psychologically, it is important to decide which psychological framework to use.  I chose the critic Cynthia Wolff who uses a Freudian framework for analysis.  Wolff feels that Edna's problems are a result of oral conflicts, while I see the work as more of an allegory of existentialism, and Edna's problems are a result of a lack of Being.

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