Feminism In The Awakening

This robbed them of a significant amount of individualism. For example, women weren’t seen to be strong enough to have free will and do things on their own. Chopin enjoyed walking through the city by herself, but this was not accepted at the time (Citation) . This principle is commonly shown throughout the novel. All women were chaperoned by men when leaving the house. In the beginning of the story, Edna never leaves the house without her husband Léonce, her friend Robert, or another man. Also, women were discouraged to live an independent lifestyle. It was very uncommon and shamed for women to fend for themselves, rather than relying on their husband. This was demonstrated by Edna’s reliance on her husband early in the novel. This brings up another example of history that is present in this story. Edna’s husband provides her a luxurious Creole lifestyle. This gives the reader a glimpse into social classes of the time. Lastly, women weren’t supposed to prioritize art above much, if anything, especially their family. Obviously, Chopin broke this rule, as she spent a significant amount of her time on performing arts, and her strongest form of art, writing (Citation) . The unwritten law that women weren’t to pursue art above other things is shown throughout the story by the lack of female artists and Edna’s hesitation to become an artist.

Romanticism put a lot of influence on changing, and in the novel Edna is influenced by art to transform herself. As the book progresses Edna learns to do what she wants even if it defied normal social guidelines for women. Chopin makes this easy to see when she says, “But when she was there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she stood naked in the open air…” (Chopin 124).

During the feminist movement many female authors began to write novels about female emancipation. In these novels, the protagonist experiences enlightenment where she discovers that she is living an incomplete life that society has oppressed her into. Before the movement, society forced women into roles that were inferior to men and they were thought of as men’s property. Harold bloom states, “The direction of The Awakening follows what is becoming a pattern in literature by and about women…toward greater self-knowledge that leads in turn to a revelation of the disparity between that self-knowledge and nature of the world” (Bloom, Kate Chopin 43). Moreover, Chopin viewed women’s independence as a personal challenge more than a social struggle, which contradicts her literary works. According to Harold Bloom, “Chopin’s novel was not intended to make a broad social statement but rather that it indicates that Chopin viewed women’s independence as a personal matter”(Bloom, Bloom’s Notes 58). In the past, the novel was banned because of its connection to the feminist movement.

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin creates a protagonist that clearly demonstrates a feminist. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier seeks more from life than what she is living and starts to refuse the standards of the society she lives in. Edna has many moments of awakening resulting in creating a new person for herself. She starts to see the life of freedom and individuality she wants to live. The Awakening encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain freedom and choose individuality over conformity. Chopin creates a feminist story that shows a transformation from an obedient “mother-woman” to a woman who is willing to sacrifice her old life to become independent and make an identity for herself.

Additionally, Chopin shows how women were stereotyped as a mother-woman and etc. Many women in the last 1800s and early 1900s were viewed as a mother-woman, a person who’s job is to only to worship their husbands and carry children and idolize them. Many women during that time, did not like the stereotypes that the society put on them. In this quote, “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” (Chopin 19), shows how women were stereotyped in their society. This shows what Edna thinks. She does not want to be a typical woman in the society and follow the rules

The theme of The Awakening is centered on Edna’s journey of individual identification and independence. Chopin condemns gender roles and pleads to the public to look at women as equals and not just commodities to be married off. Women should have all the

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

Chopin’s character Edna is used to comment on conformity in our society- particularly a woman’s. Women often have the inability to have a unique identity because of the pressure put on them to act in a socially acceptable way. Edna challenges these expectations and is eventually driven to suicide because she can’t express herself or act the way she desires to.

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 beginning of the story, there is a caged parrot described as similar to Edna. The fact that the parrot is caged shows the readers how much like a prisoner Edna feels. The Awakening is set during a time in which women were only mothers and wives. After hitting a point of self-realization and coming to terms with what she actually wants, Edna begins to drift away from her family. The audience can assume that she actually does love her children and husband to a certain extent, because she doesn’t just completely abandon them.One of Edna’s forms of escape is her art. She spends much of her time creating her own paintings and illustrations, while avoiding some of her other, seemingly less important responsibilities—tending to the needs of her children. Edna finds a specific enjoyment and satisfaction in painting that she cannot seem to find anywhere else. In today’s society, creating art—

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,

Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening in the opening chapter provides the argument for women's entrapment in roles that society has forced upon them. Chopin was not just trying to write an entertaining story but trying to convey arguments against these social injustices. Women are like these birds trapped in these cages unable to free themselves from these imposed roles by society.

In several instances, she casually slips in French phrases and words. For example, the characters are referred to by social titles and not first names such as Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. The central issue and theme is Edna's struggle with being the ideal, cookie cutter doting wife. She finds it hard to be as domestic and submissive as the women who were raised in a Creole household and community. She attempts to be a 'mother-wife" like the other women and ultimately ends up taking her own life because she despises it so much. Even though this work was published in 1899 it is still relevant today. Chopin's stories go hand in hand with modern feminism and the stigma that marriage is the ultimate goal.

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,

Through their works, Kate Chopin and Virginia Woolf were able to portray a certain relationship between women and society. While some literary pieces are optimistic towards women, others are not. In this case, The Awakening, a novella written by Kate Chopin, focuses on the inner battle that the main character Edna faces throughout her life. On the other hand, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, discusses ideas related to gender inequality. Both women seem to be facing inner turmoil that correlates back to the relationship between women and society during these time periods. Ultimately, their experiences are what drives them to change how they fit into societal norms. Therefore, the texts in this essay theorize the relationship between women and society in a way that can be encouraging towards women.