Gender Themes In The Awakening

Edna Pontellier is married to Leonce Pontellier, a businessman who expects Edna to follow the social norm and be the perfect wife to him and cater to his needs. Leonce is blind throughout the novel.

The author stated, “He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children.” (Stanton.9) Demonstrating that even though Edna is ignoring her children’s needs, his children, Leonce will never hit her as for punishment. Showcasing that she gets to use her voice, she gets to get away with not being the proper mother as women were once before. She is allowed to have a friendship with another man and not be seen as a scandalous woman in the society. She has more freedom than the previous woman had, sunbathing with her dear Robert. Since she is a Creole, who is not oppressed by cultural norms, her husband does not see that as a threat but that does not mean he stops seeing her as an object like others men

She married Leonce not because she loved him but because she could not refuse his admiration and persistence. This marriage thrusts Edna into a foreign culture. She questions her role as a mother because she is different from the typical Creole "mother-woman." Edna defies the central perception that women are mothers first

When Edna returns from the beach she sits in her hammock, silently, accompanied by Robert. Shortly after Robert leaves, Leonce comes home and tells Edna to go inside for bed. Edna refuses, and Leonce responds saying that he “can’t permit” her to stay outside. Leonce’s response shows his true colors and mentality towards Edna being a possession instead of a human. After Leonce’s response Edna then retreats inside while Leonce hypocritically stays outside and demands that Edna never speak to him with such disrespect again.

The Awakening challenges many of the preconceived notions or expectations that society sets for women. Especially during the late nineteenth century when the novel was written, this novel turned tables as it not only challenged society, but also was scandalous. The Awakening gives insight to what it was like to be a women living in this time period, when women were expected to fit the specific mold of a wife, mother, and homemaker.

Undoubtedly, the relationship between Edna and her husband, Leonce, serves as a large representation of society's values and the attempt to force Edna to conform. Often, women within this time period are considered to be possessions. Clearly, Leonce shares this ideology. After

In the TV show Lost, a character presses a button every 108 minutes because he is told that if he does not press the button, something very bad will happen. However, he does not know if something bad will happen, he is only told that something bad will happen. In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, society tells Edna Pontellier what she is supposed to do as a woman, and she does this because society tells her to do so, thinking that women who do not are crazy. But then one day she realizes that there is no reason that she should not be an individual, and she is repressed by society because she goes against society’s expectations. The novel’s title, The Awakening, refers to Edna’s realization of society’s expectations of women and begins to express herself as an individual instead of a woman by society’s standards. Edna’s initial awakening had her start expressing herself as an individual in different ways. Edna’s personal awakening changes the way that she views herself, going from a woman who in the beginning of the book went along with society's expectations, to the end of the book where she was expressing her individuality and realizing how society tries to repress her individuality. Edna’s social awakening changes the way that she acts in society by interacting with people differently, ignoring the responsibilities society gives her, and expressing her individuality by doing things she actually wants to do. Edna’s sexual awakening changed the way that she viewed the men

In the late 1800's, as well as the early 1900's, women felt discriminated against by men and by society in general. Men generally held discriminatory and stereotypical views of women. Women had no control over themselves and were perceived to be nothing more than property to men. They were expected to live up to a perfect image that society had created, while trying to comply with their husbands' desires. While many women felt dissatisfied with their lives, they would not come out and say it. However, in 1899, Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening, which showed women that they were not alone. This novel showed the discriminatory views and treatment towards women. It also distinctly indicates the dissatisfaction that women felt in their

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 The Awakening, Chopin questions gender roles. Chopin seeks an identity for women that is neither wife nor mother. To achieve this end, she incorporates progressive feminist ideas into her writing. Yet, in the end, Chopin also shows that, because of years of conditioning, many women are unable to escape society’s stereotypical roles by any satisfactory means. The protagonist of the novel, Edna Pontellier, does not possess the skills needed to become independent and, despite attempts to escape, succumbs finally to the doomed dream of romantic love.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin brings light to the strict social pyramid that all women and men during the late 1800s were forced to conform to, and how when one woman dares to step outside of society’s boundaries the consequences she faces proves to be deadly. Gender roles during the setting of the novel had no fine line. The way that men were expected to act and the way that women were expected to act were taught at a very young age, and deviances from these ways of living were highly frowned upon. This suffocating society where one is not able to express themselves freely is ultimately the cause for the protagonist’s downward spiral and eventual death.

Identity and feminism, complex themes that have survived the ages from Kate Chopin’s work The Awakening. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, breaks many of the Victorian cultural era norms, exploring these themes and influencing society’s perception of women. For these reasons The Awakening is a novel of immense merit and should continue to be taught in an AP Literature course. Throughout the novel, Edna Pontellier questions her identity and roles as a woman and as a mother.

R clay tries to look through Hannah’s point of view like walking to the check points on the map she gave him.

““How many years have I slept?” she inquired. “The whole island seems changed. A new race of beings must have sprung up, leaving only you and me as past relics.””(Chopin 67). The turn of the century was on the horizon, coinciding with those who seek change, rising with the dawn of the new era. One movement to emerge was that of feminism; the challenging of equity and social expectations for women. Kate Chopin’s revolutionary novel The Awakening serves as a catalyst for much of the 20th century’s critique on the place of women in society, particularly pertaining to expression, equality, and Chopin's juxtaposition of men and women.

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 …show more content…