Feminism In The Awakening

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.

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.

when the roles of Victorian women were expected to be limited to childbearing and a housewife. Their life was suppose to be centered around their husband and their children. They would submit themselves to their husband and was in charge of the domestic duties. So the women’s and men’s role were not viewed with the same status since women’s rights are given to their spouse after marriage. Thus in The Awakening, Edna’s actions are viewed as uncanny and erroneous because women were not viewed as equals but as housewives.

When beginning to categorize the social issue of feminism, it is a sensitive topic that must be inclusive of all genders. The modern term of ‘feminism’ is defined as giving both men and women the same rights and privileges as each other. Basic human rights would give others the notion that this is how all humans should have been treated from the beginning. However, this is far from the truth. Books like The Awakening, give us an inside look at how women were treated around 100 years ago. When Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening, she created a blueprint for how we see modern feminism. Without being obvious, Chopin showed how one woman started to liberate herself from an oppressive society.

Constant struggle for power, control, and self direction is experienced by every human being at some point in their life time. In some desperate cases this struggle can lead someone to do something momentous. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the lead character, Edna, faces extreme sexism in a time where women were expected to act only as a primal caretaker. Edna’s search for self empowerment in a time where men were the primary decision makers causes her to make crucial sacrifices only to find out that there is no way she can truly control her life.

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

In Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening,” it takes the reader back to the 19th century when society had a defined meaning of what it was meant to be a woman. During the time that Chopin published her book in 1899 women were expected to stay home and take care of their husbands and children. By this means, society had implied that women were only allowed to act certain ways and do certain things; otherwise, they were thought to be senile. In the “The Awakening,” Edna Pontellier undergoes a dramatic change of self-realization, denying her role as a mother and wife. Edna awakens to discover her own identity seeing the world around her in a new perspective forgetting the roles that have been determine by society and ignoring the consequences to

In the end, the inequalities of gender roles are evident in the fact that Katherine learns to change her ways, which proves patriarchal views will always prevail. All of Petruchio’s taming methods eventually end up working out because Katherine changes her confident ways to approval of submission to male authority. As Petruchio and Katherine head for Bianca’s wedding banquet, they have the following exchange:

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin describes the tale and life of Edna, now in her late twenties, as she coming to the realization that she is not entirely pleased with her current life and is not particularly excited to see where it’s going. She’s aware that will never attain a future that will ease her of her sadness and make her life feel significant in any way. She is very much aware that she is filling a role that society expects of her and feels that she is losing her own independence, or at least what was there to begin with. Edna is a wife and mother of two. She spends most of her time with her friend Adele who is constantly reminding her of her duties and expectations as a mother and wife.

In the article, “Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: Struggle against Society and Nature, Megan P. Kaplon criticizes the outspoken fiction novel, The Awakening by expressing and analyzing the Protagonist, Edna Pontellier’s actions towards her role in society. Throughout the novel Edna pursues to fulfill herself thus causing tension between family and friends. The novel takes place in the nineteenth century and disappointed many women because women were expected to obtain social roles during this time period. Women were to attain chores and take care of their families at home but instead Edna was different. She was only caught up in her own desire to make herself happy. Edna was a wife of Leonce Pontellier and mother of Raoul and Etienne Pontellier

In the Victoria Era, women were fighting to break free of a society that suppresses a free spirit. In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Edna is the main protagonist of the story that has become awakened and now realizes the type of society that she lives in. Her husband, Leonce Pontellier, disagrees with her behavior; Robert Lebrun- Edna’s lover- has a complex relationship with her, and Victor Lebrun and his mother Madame Lebrun are Edna’s friends that are observant of her changes throughout the novel. Not to forget Alcee Arobin, a man she is having sexual relations with, and Mademoiselle Reisz who is a mother figure to her. Edna’s children- Etienne and Raoul cause her to second think a lot of choices in her life and Madame Adele Ratignolle, another close friend to Edna, provides to her opinions and advice. Edna’s unfulfilled life as a mother and wife urges Edna to release herself from the norm that is society. Now that she sees the domestication that a woman is expected of, Edna cannot return to the life she used to live. Marriage is unsatisfactory to Edna, and becomes something she hates, and something she learns she does not need.

Several novels and plays are written with a purpose in mind, be it to entertain an audience or to bring forth an issue the author feels needs to be addressed. Through the character’s dialogue and choice of action, an author is voicing their own thoughts, allowing the reader to understand their personal message. In the novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Chopin attempts to modify the standard and expected role of women in society. Chopin interprets a woman’s role to be quite different from the more common traditional role.

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,

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

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,