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.

The story, The Awakening, is about Edna Pontellier’s internal conflict between her desire for independence and her need to remain a high-class member of society. When away on summer vacation Edna has the realization that she has control of her own life and begins to focus on her self and not what others think. During her awakening, Edna is faced with much resilience from her husband and friends and instead of becoming someone she is not, Edna Pontellier ends her own life as she sees it is her only option. The author, Kate Chopin, uses many characters to exemplify the conflicting ideals emerging in Edna; particularly Madame Ratignolle acts as a foil to Edna’s newfound persona, instead symbolizing the conservation of a traditional

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,

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

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.

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.

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,

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.

Edna, the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s novella The Awakening, experiences a transformative internal “awakening”, brought about by a realization of her own romantic feelings toward the young Robert Lebrun. The development of her attraction toward Robert and of their love for each other rouses Edna’s long-repressed sexuality; and her desire to be with Robert makes her realize how unfulfilling she finds both her marriage and her life, impelling her to take steps to shirk the confines and regulations of conventional society and pursue her own contentment and free expression. These steps include her forfeit of her social status, her rejection of her husband and the life he had provided her, her detachment from her children, and culminates with

The conflict of society’s expectations versus an individual’s will is an important theme that is evident throughout the plot of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. The main character, Edna Pontellier, faces heavily oppressive societal expectations for women in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The author uses the main character’s situation to demonstrate how hard it was for a woman to become her own person back in that time period. It was a social norm back then for a woman to marry and be obedient to her husband; the refusal of marriage and the act of going against one’s husband was not socially acceptable. In achieving her individualism, Edna starts to disregard what her husband tells her and starts thinking for herself. She realizes how

Realism emerged in American culture as a direct reject against romanticism during the late 19th century. Authors begin to structuralize their works to mirror the simplistic reality of everyday life. As an artist during this era, the principal achievement to develop realistic works is to faithfully capture the essence of the life that surrounds him or her accurately. Writers sought to portray life as beautifully or tragically as it real was, without straying from the absolute truth. In doing so, authors vulnerable allowed readers into the lights of real characters and social problems not often exposed candidly. Kate Chopin is honorably amongst this group of authors. Her works divinely portrayed the culture of New Orleans and the lives of Louisiana 's Creole and Cajun residents. Chopin openly express her views on sex, marriage, and the injustices of women during the time. Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, best exemplifies the contextual achievement of realism through the rejection of conformity, the exploration of love, and the weight of social opinion on individual choices.

A woman awakens. Edna Pontellier, like Eve, awakens to the knowledge of desire--she awakens to the knowledge that she is not free. Before the end, she awakens to the knowledge that freedom will be expensive but resolves to pay the price. “The artist must possess the brave soul. The soul that dares and defies.” Patriots warn us that -- “freedom isn’t free!” Kate Chopin tested the limits of our acceptance of the consequences of that slogan in the dilemma of Edna Pontellier, who lives in New Orleans at the end of the 19th Century with her two children and with her husband, a respected merchant.

When “The Awakening” was first published in 1899, it was condemned for delving into taboo social issues such as adultery and suicide. The issues of self-discoveries in the novel are as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. “The Awakening” is a book ahead of its time. It was one of the earliest explorations of the nature of a woman. Chopin’s “The Awakening” is a movement for feminism at that