Kate Chopin 's The Awakening

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin ends the novel in a vastly different way than most authors would have at that time with her main character, Edna Pontellier, committing suicide by drowning herself. If one were to isolate this ending without any context whatsoever, it would feel tragic and depressing; however, the events leading up to her death actually explains to the readers her spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation, both of which being themes significant to the book as a whole.

Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening published in 1899, provides a snapshot of Creole society through a neutral point of view. The male dominated French-Louisiana society provides a challenge for the main character, Edna Pontellier to adapt to. Through the character of Edna Pontellier, we the audience, see both an emotional and physical awakening. After awakening, Edna tries to combat the societal structures of motherhood which define her as the wife of motherhood and force her identity as the wife of Leoncé and the mother of Raoul and Etienne instead of her own self-defined individual. Chopin’s concentration on two other principal females outlines Edna’s options; either

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.

Commonly explored throughout her works, the idea of marriage inhibiting a woman’s freedom is the driving force behind Kate Chopin’s contextual objections to propriety. In particular, The Awakening and “The Story of an Hour” explore the lives of women seeking marital liberation and individuality. Mrs. Chopin, who was raised in a matriarchal household, expresses her opposition to the nineteenth century patriarchal society while using her personal experiences to exemplify her feminist views.

Flannery O’Connor’s work opens up wide doors and gives direct access to the true heart

Pigsy, Rib of man, Piece of goods, Frail, Scupper are some of the many words that were used to describe over the last millennium, some of the words which are very offensive today. According to dictionary.com, Feminism means the advocacy of women’s right on the basis of the equality of the sexes. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Chopin expressed female oppression and feminism through Edna’s life, her choices and the people in her community. Chopin had many examples of female oppression and feminism in her novel, such as Adele Ratignolle’s life, how women were stereotyped in the society at that time, why women in the 1800s fought for their feminist rights,

In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, we see how much of an importance the men in Edna’s life serve as a purpose to her awakening. Chopin is known to write stories about women who are unsatisfied with their lives while living in a life that is dominated by men. Other than Edna, the main men characters are typical men of the late 19th century era. Chopin shows how these three men are diverse from one another. The Creole men are Léonce Pontellier, Edna’s husband, Robert, Edna’s mystery man number one, and Alcee, mystery man number two. Léonce, Edna’s husband, is a businessman who has no time for his family let alone his wife. Alcee comes off as carefree and does not seem to care what society thinks of him. Robert is Edna’s main mystery man who she loves but Robert doesn’t love her back. Throughout the novel, these men make Edna question herself, which lead her to her awakening. These men show how men in the late 19th century behaved. In a male dominated world, women were not allowed to do much except for be good wives and mothers to their families. Edna learned the hard way as to what it meant to be the wife of a Creole man in the Victorian era. Men expected too much of women because appearances meant everything and no man would want to have a wife who is out of line and not well behaved in public. In studying these three men in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, we see how different yet alike these men are to one another.

Sexual transgression and sexual exploration is one of the most highly talked about topics in today’s society. The path to sexual liberation within society begins with experimentation and exploration, followed by personal acceptance, and finally, although not always, societal acceptance. Although we have come a long way on the path of acceptance of different sexual transgressions, the stories of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Tennessee Williams’ “Vieux Carre,” and Lyle Saxon’s “The Centaur Plays Croquet” show that this type of acceptance has not always been the case. Each story plays an integral role when looking at the steps on the path to societal acceptance. Chopin 's story dives deep into the area of experimentation and exploration, whereas Saxon 's story looks more at the areas of personal acceptance, and Williams ' story lies more along the area of societal acceptance, and whether or not acceptance is always the end result.

In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening a wife and a mother of two, Edna Pontellier, discovers her desires as a woman to live life to the fullest extent and to find her true self. Eventually, her discovery leads to friction between friends, family, and the dominant values of society. Through Chopin's use of Author’s craft and literary elements, the readers have a clear comprehension as to what the author is conveying.

To what extent does Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, mark a departure from the female characters of earlier nineteenth-century American novels

In the story about Edna Pontellier a major theme is her omitted self discovery. In the story we can see how Chopin uses style, tone and content to make the reader understand how it was for a person challenging many of the beliefs of the society at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing more than devoted wives and nurturing mothers.

It is a bird, it is a plane, it is Edna! Edna Pontellier, a woman who challenges the patriarchal society, undergoes many hardships and development in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. In the beginning of the novel, Edna is misunderstood and caged, depicted as a parrot. As the novel develops, Edna desires to soar above the patriarchal society and believes she has the ability to do so. Later, Edna moves into the ‘pigeon house’, attempting to escape her husband and this society as a whole. In doing so, however, Edna isolates herself, eventually leading to her suicide. While Edna expresses her desire to escape the patriarchal society, Kate Chopin’s bird symbolism depicted her inability to do

Women would never dream of disobeying their husbands because it had been ingrained in their brains that the act of defiance was punishable due to it being a force of rebellion. However, not every eccentric act is undoubtedly wrong. Some actions may be for the betterment of an individual that is struggling to find themselves in a sea of societal regulations. In the controversial book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier loses sight of her moral responsibility, to be an obedient and loyal wife as well as a caring mother, when she starts to symbolically view her life as a nonpartisan women would.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin published in 1899 is a novel that can teach the true meaning of family, the importance of friendship, and the value of independence. Chopin teaches the true meaning of family by showing how Edna receives no support from her own family and struggles to succeed without them. Chopin shows the importance of friendship when Edna has no one by her side until she meets a woman named Adele and a man named Robert. The primary area that Chopin focuses on is the satisfaction of independence. Edna loses herself throughout time but has two friends to help her get back on track. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses family, friendship, and independence in order to show the obstacles women go through, such as being disciplined by the men in their life, and not being able to choose who they would like to spend the rest of their life with, in the 1800s.