Spring Awakening By Frank Wedekind

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 musical is based off of the play Spring Awakening written by Frank Wedekind in the late 1800’s. At the time, it was written for the purpose of commenting on how German culture revolved around the purpose of oppressing young teenagers’ sexual desire and shaming those who were curious about sexuality. The controversial and, at the time, problematic themes were meant to act as a wake up call to those who forced ignorance of sexual instruction on their children. This is the reason for the significance of the setting, at the time Germany was focused on preventing children from becoming educated on sex. As the characters grew up, this setting was a catalyst for the tragic events that occurred in the wake of the children being poorly informed on sex, pregnancy, and the cause of their sexual desires. While the musical adapted from the original play does not contain the same social commentary, the harshness of the message is still evident.

The poem Fifteen by William Stafford, describes the ideas of a young teenager and imaginations when he sees a motorcycle at the side of the rail, It tells us of how the main character gets familiar with adulthood and starts getting mature, it gives us changes. The author in his poem describes the ideas and temptations that a fifteen year old would have, and it gives us a message of how when you are blinded of your teenage dreams, at the same time to take and decide the correct paths and decisions.

The play Spring Awakening, written by Frank Wedekind, pushed the boundaries of the strongly moralistic society of the Victorian age. It was written in 1891, but because of its explicitness, it was not performed until more than a decade later, in 1906. One controversial aspect that is detailed in the play is the unwanted pregnancy of the character Wendla Bergmann. Wedekind 's description of this topic illuminates the destructiveness of the Victorian age, which believed in morality and virtuosity above all else. The complete lack of sexual education, middle class values, and hostile feelings towards illegitimate children are the topics concerning sex and sexuality examined in Spring Awakening.

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.

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.

The Awakening is a story based around a woman, Edna Pontieller, during the nineteenth century that has decided that she is not like all the additional women in her life because she questions her life ambitions and dreams and realizes that she does not fit into the usual role of a wife and mother. The Awakening begins on Grand Isle, an island off the coast of Louisiana and then to the state of Louisiana and then the story ends on Grand Isle. This story focuses on metaphors, symbolism, difference and the personal struggles that a woman might face during the nineteenth century where men are the dominating force and women stay home to raise the children. Edna lives in this world were woman have firm guidelines on how to live and present

A restructuring of religious doctrine, beliefs, and social practices during the 17th and 18th centuries in England, and in North America, infused with Calvinistic religious doctrine initiated the beginning of The Great Awakening. Following this further, according to Christine Leigh Heyrman, The First Great Awakening: Divining America,” a New Age of faith rose to counter the currents of the Age of Enlightenment. Ultimately reaffirming the view that being truly religious meant trusting the heart rather than the head, prizing feeling more than thinking, and relying on biblical revelation rather than human reason. After a while, several religious revivals sprung forth appeasing the colonists in America desire for a deep and significant personal relationship with God. Thus, this dogma spread to other denominations throughout the colonies in America (Heyrman).” As a result, The Great Awakening spread throughout the middle colonies in America by notable revivalist preachers instituting moderate Calvinistic doctrinal theology especially for the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists, and opened the door to unprecedented world societal changes.

Chapter ten flashes forward to McCandless death, and it was published in the New York Time and Anchorage Daily News. The media wrote of how foolish and ignorant McCandless was for going into the wilderness so unprepared. Once the death is being investigated by the police the police begin to question Sam, McCandless’s half-brother. To identify him he shows them a picture with long hair and a beard. This made me question who was the man in the picture, was it really McCandless? He wasn’t reported as having long hair, ever. As the half-brother informs his parents of McCandless death the parents respond in devastation. I find it weird that the police contacted his half-brother first and not the parents. Oddly enough I find myself agreeing with the media more than I do with the author. I cannot seem to grasp the thought of going into the wilderness, and not being overly prepared. While I understand that it is a brave action, it is also foolish and somewhat stupid on his part. I also find him to be very selfish. In chapter eleven the author starts to interview McCandless parents, and starts to question the family’s dynamics. The father is very similar to McCandless in the aspect that he is very intense and highly intelligent. Chapter twelve is a continued exploration of McCandless’s character. The author wants to know what made McCandless, McCandless. He finds that he took a road trip to the desert the summer before his freshman year of college, and nearly died of dehydration. I

Can you imagine being sold to someone that consistently beats you every day and also makes you sell your body for money that you don’t even get too keep. In “Half the Sky”, the author Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn gives the readers a glimpse of the oppression of women worldwide. “Half the Sky” is one of the most important books I have ever read. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. The first three pages I read already had me in tears. What makes this book so outstanding to me was reading and learning about all these different women and girls that has suffered in a way I didn’t think people were doing. Some of the stories were dealt with sex trafficking, maternal death, attacks on women, and not sending girls to school because of income. But the moving portrayals of the survivors improve the issues. Many of these survivors are healthy and doing very well. I never thought most of these stories that was in the book was going on in the world.

In Spring Awakening, the central conflict is between the children and the sexually repressed society they live in. For example, when fourteen-year-old Wendla asks her mother how babies are made, her mother initially refuses to tell her. Instead, her mother responds with “Go get dressed, young lady; go get dressed,” with clothes functioning as a symbol for ignorance and supposed purity (Wedekind 40). Eventually, Wendla’s mother does offer an explanation for procreation, but it’s a lie: “You have to love him, Wendla, in a way that you at your age absolutely can’t” (41). Ironically, Wendla does end up having sex at such a young age, through a nonconsensual experience with Melchior; this leads to her pregnancy, an abortion, and ultimately her death.

The boys go through the same kind of situations teenagers endure nowadays, and their reactions are as expected. Their internal journey runs parallel to their emotional growth, as well as their language changes at the same time as they mature. The events narrated are true to life. Sexual identity is not longer a taboo, and teenagers are more susceptible than any other age group to challenges and doubts about it. The boys' journey into adulthood is entertaining, sweet, and sometimes emotional. Young readers will easily identify with the theme of the story: family life, friendship, love, and quest for self-identity. The author's style is fresh, simple, and straightforward. There are many pages of pure dialogue that contrast with others filled with narrative, which produces a nice balance the reader will surely appreciate. Even though homosexuality is an important factor in the story (Ari and Dante, Aunt Ophelia and her partner), the author avoids all kinds of stereotyping and presents his characters as real people with real problems. Nevertheless, this is an element to take into consideration when recommending this

The play ‘’Spring Awakening’’ is a coming of age story about the discovery of sexuality and the intense transition teenagers go through as they are desperately trying to figure out who they are and who they will become. The title of the play makes an implicit reference to those aspects featured in the story using a metaphor that doesn’t give any hint of what the story might be about. While reading the play, readers realize that the words ‘’spring’’ and ‘’awakening’’ have a lot more meaning than what they might have thought. The two words in the title can be analyzed separately, as the word spring the birth of physical changes and the word awakening is about the birth of emotional changes and the seek for meaningful answers as the characters

With the 1960s came a need for change, as an immense amount of smog and toxic chemicals used in agriculture and industry caused, the blue to fade away from the sky and water in America. Rachel Carson provided the catalyst for this change with her book Silent Spring published in 1962, which revealed the harmful impacts of pesticides on almost all wildlife and human beings. People reading a book wouldn’t be enough, though, for twenty million Americans came together on April 22, 1970, to celebrate the beauty of Earth and raise awareness about increasing concerns for the environment and declining quality of life. (maybe add a sentence about structure and diversity of the movement) Without these key events leading to the Environmental Movement’s diversity and unique structure through the 1970s, American values in politics and way of life would not have been able to change.