Kate Chopin 's The Awakening

“Looking at the situation of women some centuries ago, one can hardly deny that women had permanently been discriminated: Neither were they allowed to take part in political life, nor did they get a proper education or were granted any kind of selfhood. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, wives were still regarded as the objects of others rather than as the free subjects of their own fates” (Fox-Genovese 35). The limitations and beliefs forced on Edna are only because of her gender. During the Victorian Era the society believed that women were just fit to be mothers and wife.

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.

Chopin uses the first hand description of Adele from Edna as a literary comparison to previous descriptions of Adele, allowing insight into Edna’s own perceptions and changing world view.

Edna Pontellier was a very respectable woman from the 1800's that was unsatisfied with her situation in life. Mrs. Pontellier was a mother of two sons and had a husband whom she adored at the beginning of their marriage, but overtime they have became distant and her sexual desires were no longer being fulfilled. She soon broke the role society had casted upon her and became rebellious by leaving her womanly duties behind. Kate Chopin reveals Edna Pontellier's character through the her actions, through dialogue, and by telling the reader the thoughts and feelings that are circulation through Mrs. Pontellier.

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

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.

Over the course of time the male species has always been the gender to attain the more favorable conditions. Numerous cultures heed to the belief that the man is the provider and head of his family. This machismo nature can condition the mind to believe that a man should feel superior to a woman. The continuous cycle of male superiority flows down from father to son subconsciously. Do to this unceasing sequence of behavior women fall subject to repression and control at the hands of mentally undeveloped men. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, illustrated this particular topic in a way that not only appealed to the readers’ sense of pathos but, the readers’ likeliness to be able to relate to the aforementioned as well. Chopin stylistically renders the struggle of the protagonist Edna Pontellier, a strong willed woman who finds herself imprisoned to the concept of trans-temporal existence, as she seeks refuge to her true being, Edna experiments relationships with multiple men that unintentionally repress her existence. Between Leonce Pontellier, Robert Lebrun, Alcee Arobin and The Colonel effect of Edna’s life they catalyze her awakening and ultimately lead her suicide.

Chopin especially reveals the growth of Edna’s inner identity through her increasingly conflicting interactions with her husband

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,

As her reality unveils itself she cried an “indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in her consciousness”(Chopin 8). Edna’s dilemma is “she experiences herself as double”(478) she cries to disguise the pain associated with duality which engages her self- awareness of her rejection and awakens her tactic to not be dependent. During the period of the novel, divorce was revolting: abandoning the role of a wife or mother was an outrage. Edna dispenses societal beliefs of allegiance to marriage, family, and the pursuit of personal interest. Through the illustration presented in the novel, Chopin drafts marriage as being trapped by the ideas of society, leads to feeling secluded and without a purpose. Ambitiously, Edna’s is determinded by the need to “define herself as distinct from others, her husband, and most importantly her children” (Killeen 425). Edna was wrestling, sandwiched between the awakening of two pigeonholes restricting women, enforced by the Cult of True Womanhood with the intention to seclude women from conceiving their identity and attaining independence. As her senses were awaken, her drive for freedom is

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.

Edna’s relationship with Madame Ratignolle depicts the strong dichotomy between homemaking and free living. Madame Ratignolle is considered the perfect mother and homemaker. Everything about her has an air of perfection surrounding it. Edna confides within Madame Ratignolle about her unhappiness in her own life. Madame Ratignolle responds with, “I don't know what you would call the essential, or what you mean by the unessential … but a woman who would give her life for her children could do no more than that — your Bible tells you so. I'm sure I couldn't do more than that” (40). She states simply: it is a woman’s duty, as told in the Bible, to raise a family. This direct statement shows clearly how many women feel complacent in their roles in society, as well as how these ideals are fully ingrained into the culture of the nineteenth century. This provides a direct contrast with Edna’s values and her feelings towards the expectations of society. She expressed an unhappiness with her life, and in turn was met with a wholesome retelling of what women should be doing. The sharp contrast between these two women provides insight into the how society reinforces its expectations of women. Later, Edna expresses her pity for Madame Ratignolle’s boring life. Edna was, “moved by a kind of commiseration

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