Oppression Of Women In The Awakening By Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin was an American author who wrote novels as well as short stories. Her work was extraordinary and some of her greatest work was based on the feminist movement. Kate Chopin became known throughout the world as one of the most influential writers during the feminist movement. She has attracted great attention from scholars along with students, and her work has been translated into many different languages.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism is a major part of the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which is a story that portrays women’s lack of freedom in the1800s. Women had no rights, and had to cater to all of their husband’s needs. The main character in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman who suffers from heart trouble, named Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard was told about her husband’s death, she was initially emotional, but because of her husband’s death she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy. The story is ironic because Mrs. Mallard learns her husband was not dead, and instead of exulting

Women’s rights have evolved over time; beginning with being homemakers and evolving to obtaining professions, acquiring an education, and gaining the right to vote. The movement that created all these revolutionary changes was called the feminist movement. The feminist movement occurred in the twentieth century. Many people are not aware of the purpose of the feminist movement. The movement was political and social and it sought to set up equality for women. Women’s groups in the United States worked together to win women’s suffrage and later to create and support the Equal Rights Amendment. The economic boom between 1917 and the early 1960s brought many American women into the workplace. As women began to join

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.

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, the author frames the notions of freedom and responsibility by contrasting them within an opposing dichotomy portrayed through the main character, Edna Pontellier, and through her subconscious denial of Creole responsibility while attaining freedom for her body, mind, and soul. Within this dichotomy the notions change inversely: the more freedom that is exercised by Edna because of unknown, and undisclosed, subconscious analysis deep in her mind, her sense of Creole responsibilities ebb proportionately. As these opposing forces ebb and flow, Chopin shows freedom in its basic and natural light—as being instinctive and as the normal state of a human being, evidenced by Edna Pontellier's actions flowing

Edna realizes that "she had all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves. They had never taken the form of struggles" (96). In the novel the struggle begins and it is against the demands of her husband and children. As she walks into the ocean at the end of the novel to escape her life she thinks, "they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul" (176). Emily Toth claims, "an escape from confinement is the overriding theme of The Awakening" (242). The primary means for this emotional confinement is the societal expectation, held over from the early Republican era of America, that "'the best way of a married woman to carry her points is to yield sometimes.'" Jan Lewis says that in early America "it was the wife who had to bend" (712). This remained true at the middle of the century when William Alcott declared "the balance of concession devolves on the wife. Whether the husband concede or not, she must" (32). Edna comes to understand that earlier in her life she followed this dictate without even thinking; she conceded in all cases, "not with any sense of submission or obedience to his compelling wishes, but unthinkingly, as we walk, move, sit, stand or go through the daily treadmill of the life which has been portioned out to us" (78). But she now realizes that this pattern was a mere treadmill whose path was always determined by

In the essay, Chopin's The Awakening, Platizky writes that “while one could argue she was just shy or introverted, Edna's sweeping passions later in the novel suggest the introversion may have been imposed.” (Platizky, Roger). While this is true that Edna has sweeping passions later in the novel, it is not correlated to Edna wanting to block something from her memory, such as sexual violence. While someone could insist that Edna’s mood swings are suggesting the protagonist “is trying to block something more than just her realization that she is unhappy in her present marriage” (Platizky), that information is extremely faulty. Instead, Edna’s mood swings deal with the oppression of the patriarchal society that women were thrown into during this time period. Each woman was supposed to lack individuality and obey the men, especially in the Creole Catholic society. Edna’s lack of cooperation towards this norm shows up often in The Awakening.

Have you ever wondered what the lifestyles of Nineteenth Century women were like? Were they independent, career women or were they typical housewives that cooked, clean, watched the children, and catered to their husbands. Did the women of this era express themselves freely or did they just do what society expected of them? Kate Chopin was a female author who wrote several stories and two novels about women. One of her renowned works of art is The Awakening. This novel created great controversy and received negative criticism from literary critics due to Chopin's portrayal of women by Edna throughout the book.

Questioning Women’s Equal Rights led to an uproar during the 1800’s, within the literary world the re-establishment of such era was exposed, through Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899). The protagonist, Edna Pointillier was beared in mind as selfish: as she“rejected domesticity in favor of her own fulfillment”(Walker 5). In the course of identifying a white middle-class woman, “the United States, disseminated through novels, religious writings, and advice books.” Proclaimg to be a true woman, “she must be confined to the home, devoted to husband, and children,” and deliberately avoid employment and the sphere of politics (Smith-Rosenberg). Shockingly, the empowerment of middle-class women grew, as reform movements and campaigns resisting

Kate Chopin's The Awakening is truly a novel that stands out from the rest. From the moment it was published, it has been caused women to examine their beliefs. The fact that The Awakening was shunned when first published, yet now taught in classrooms across the country is proof that The Awakening is full of rebellious and controversial ideas.

Sojourner Truth’s words in her speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” served as an anthem for women everywhere during her time. Truth struggled with not only racial injustice but also gender inequality that made her less than a person, and second to men in society. In her speech, she warned men of “the upside down” world against the power of women where “together, [women] ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” Today, America proudly stands thinking that Truth’s uneasiness of gender inequality was put to rest. Oppression for women, however, continues to exist American literature has successfully captured and exposed shifts in attitude towards women and their roles throughout American history.

As a country founded in freedom, American literature often explores what it means to be free and what has to be abandoned in order to achieve freedom. “Freedom is not free” is a popular American idiom often used to express gratitude towards American military, but it also can be found in what a person is willing to sacrifice in their own life to gain personal freedom. In “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, we find a woman, Edna Pontellier, who destroys her own life in order to gain what she perceives as personal freedom; by committing suicide, Edna still remains in control of her life, even in death, by making the personal choice to end her own life.

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.

Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour is a great story that conveys an important message about life and how difficult it can be for women, particularly in previous centuries. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when this story was written, women were quite often mistreated and had to live restricted lives that lacked opportunity. Generally, women weren?t liberated during the 19th century. Traditionally, women did all the hard work in the house and had no opportunities to make their own living or pursue their own personal dreams. Kate Chopin does an outstanding job of portraying a woman living in these times. The Story of an Hour is a good depiction of the unspoken repression that women faced in the past. Kate Chopin's major theme of the

“The Awakening” gives readers different view of feminism. The novel not only displays how Edna begin to gain independence from the role of an obedient wife but the novel also embodies of how Edna gains control of her body. The idea of Feminism rebukes people from being treated as property. This notion of feminism not only applies to independence but also freedom of making decisions, in Edna’s case, Decisions about her body and sexuality. Edna cared for her husband and appreciated how well he took care of their family. However, she didn’t love him, “she had married without love as an excuse” (Chopin, 2005). This being evident in the novel, it’s no surprise the Edna started to stray from her marriage to Leonce. The estrangement between the couple started earlier in the novel