Summary: The Awakening

The video, Eyes on the Prize: Awakenings, gives an influential look into the beginning of the civil rights movement. It shared many different events that helped bring about the movement and eventually caused that Black society would have the same or similar rights as the White’s. The main events that took placed happened in the southern states, particularly in Alabama. In the US blacks were segregated and were not allowed the same rights or privileges as the white race. They also were of the poorer class and that made it harder for them to have a voice in specific matters. However, it was very strict in the south and almost everything has either a black or white section. As time passed blacks began to show small acts of courage of standing up for themselves and demanding equality.

The novel The Awakening is an empowering masterpiece that shows a woman stepping out of the social norm to find her bliss. Edna Pontellier is expected to be the perfect wife and perfect mother. The needs of her husband and children are supposed to triumph over her own. She is well ahead of her time because she wants independence and to live her life to the fullest. In Chopin’s story, not only is there a daring young woman who is on the hunt to find her independence, but there is also a housewife, whose life belongs to her family.

The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, is the story of a woman who is seeking freedom. Edna Pontellier feels confined in her role as mother and wife and finds freedom in her romantic interest, Robert Lebrun. Although she views Robert as her liberator, he is the ultimate cause of her demise. Edna sees Robert as an image of freedom, which brings her to rebel against her role in society. This pursuit of freedom, however, causes her death. Chopin uses many images to clarify the relationship between Robert and Edna and to show that Robert is the cause of both her freedom and her destruction.

The humanly gift of imagination is a unique power within that subconsciously is a locomotor to both the body and spirit to a person 's individual Elysium. It goes far and beyond our cognition into an exuberant fantasy molded by our wants and desires, reaching untamed worlds. Turning imagination into realism is denounced as an impossible being, but it 's in fact the awakening to our lucid dreaming. Edna Pontellier is a woman with a heart that soared beyond the horizons into a limitless world, forced into cage by the inevitable way of life. Kate Chopin through the beautifully sculpted novel “The Awakening” condemned Edna with a mindset beyond her years, finding meaning through her unsocial actions shunned by the eyes of others. Edna used her

As the novel progresses, Edna is able to escape from the hands of Leonce Pontellier, and she moves into a small house down the street in which she calls the pigeon house. The symbol of the bird is used here by saying she may be able to release herself from Leonce but she isn’t able to release herself from society, that she if forever trapped. In the end of the novel, before Edna’s tragedy, a bird with a broken wing crashes into the sea. This bird can be connected with the advice that Mademoiselle Reisz told Edna that she needed strong wings to soar. The connection for shadows Edna’s tragedy, and reveals her complete failure to find complete freedom and happiness.

The great awakening was a devoted religious revival movement in the 1720s through the 1740s that was spread throughout the colonies by ministers. It inspired ordinary citizen to assert their right to independent judgment by allowing them to make their own decisions about their religion and personal lives. The great awakening sparked people to stand up for what they believed in; their religion. It inspired ordinary citizens to stand up against the authority so that they could basically have freedom of religion.

During the Second Great Awakening many Americans were stirred by passionate religious movements and Mormonism was one of them. Although it initially began as a revelation given to Joseph Smith, his strong beliefs led to powerful revivals in the New York area that drew people from across the northeast. Despite strong interest and numerous converters to the faith, the Mormon community would not remain in the New York area for long. Though they had an objective of spreading Mormonism throughout America and other parts of the world, this was only part of the reason for their move west. Religious persecution, government issues, spiritual revelation, financial problems, and land disputes ultimately led to their decision to settle in Utah.

Described as theologically significant, The First Great Awakening (c. 1735-1743) was the beginning of a revitalization that hit the American colonies by storm. It began to form once religion had eased down and preachers began to take an emotional foot in religion and increasing liberalism - Armenia (free will) ideals began to form. George Whitefield, a circuit rider who preached spiritual awakening, and Jonathan Edwards, imposed fear in people by claiming God had already chosen who get his salvation, were the main contributors to the First Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening (c.1795-1830) was experienced across the country due to the advancement in the nation's economic growth. Preachers often spoke emotionally about their message to increase the reaction in people. Preaches proclaimed that the power of eternal salvation is in the hands of the person to decided to be saved and avoid eternal damnation. This ideals were closest related/influenced by Arminianism which sinfulness is a choice rather than a destiny in which it appealed to more people because of its optimistic outlook. The First Great Awakening changed religious ideology by promoting Calvinist ideals and individualism amongst people; The Second Great Awakening promoted salvation and damnation at the expense of the person true willingness to be saved, positive female roles in the church and the infusion of lower classes with higher classes; both transforming the methods of worship to become more emotionally

The Second Great Awakening was the most significant events in the history of American religion. It was a series of religious revivals that occurred in 1801. The revivals emphasized on religious philosophy of salvation through good deeds and tolerance for all Protestants The revivals attracted women, slaves, and Native Americans. Reform movements such as the Women Suffrage and Educational Reform arose due to the Second Great Awakening to make people more spiritual and eradicate evilness that occurs in society.

In Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, she writes about a woman’s desire to find and live fully within her true self during the 1890s in Louisiana. The woman, Edna Pontellier, is trying to find herself in the masculine society of Louisiana, leading her to cause friction with friends, family and the Creole society. Edna begins to feel a change; she begins to feel like a whole person with wants, interests and desires. She learns that she is not comfortable with being a wife and mother. The imagery of the parrot in the cage in Chopin’s novel is being compared to Edna because it represents Edna’s unspoken feelings and imprisonment. The sense of unspoken feelings and imprisonment of Edna causes her to put her own needs before her family. As Edna finds herself trying to satisfy the Creole society, she begins to feel isolated and confused. Through Edna’s trace of freedom, she begins to undergo a transformation of self, slowly straying away from society, and taking control over her own actions and beliefs. Through obstacles to Edna’s freedom, she learns that she does have control of her own body. The symbolism of the birds and the sea is used to symbolize Edna’s struggle for independence.

Sacrifices can define one’s character; the definition can either be the highest dignity or the lowest degradation of the value of one’s life. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin implicitly conveys the sacrifice Edna Pontellier makes in the life which provides insight of her character and attributions to her “awakening.” She sacrificed her past of a lively and youthful life and compressed it to a domestic and reserved lifestyle of housewife picturesque. However, she meets multiple acquaintances who help her express her dreams and true identity. Mrs. Pontellier’s sacrifice established her awakening to be defiant and drift away from the societal role of an obedient mother, as well as, highlighting the difference between society’s expectations of

Throughout The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna Pontellier showed signs of a growing depression. There are certain events that hasten this, events which eventually lead her to suicide.

It has been said that ignorance is bliss and if we do not know that something more exists, we do not yearn for it. It has also been said that the door to enlightenment and inner wisdom, once opened, can never be closed again. Many great philosophers and teachers have dealt with the idea of whether it is better to live a life of servitude and submission, or are we to pursue a life of personal happiness and emotional freedom.

To this present day, women throughout America would be drastically different and would withhold fewer rights if it were not for women in the nineteenth and twentieth century like the characters Madame Ratignolle, Edna Pontellier, and Mademoiselle Reisz in the novel The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. They shaped America into a place where freedom and equality for women is possible. Although the three women were different, they all contributed to different aspects of the feminist movement. Each character represents a distinct type of woman that strongly relates to the progressive stages of the great feminist movement in America.

    The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, is full of ideas and understanding about human nature. In Chopin's time, writing a story with such great attention to sensual details in both men and women caused skepticism among readers and critics. However, many critics have different views with deeper thought given to The Awakening. Symbolism, the interpretation of Edna's suicide, and awakenings play important roles in the analysis of all critics.