Taking the Veil (by Katherine Mansfield)

Edna and Mrs. Mallard are both victims of the 1800s, they both show that by their displeasure in being married. Edna shows her displeasure in novel by frolicking around with other men, and by openly disagreeing with her husband which at that time was a social faux pas. Mrs. Mallard showed her displeasure by simply liking the fact that she was finally

Edna Pontellier’s marriage is a failure in her own eyes. Although when thinking of other husbands she at one time admits that, “she

Marriage did not bring fulfillment or satisfaction to Edna’s life, nor did being a mother. “She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them.” (Chopin, ch. 7) When her children were away with their grandmother, they were not missed by their mother. “Their absence was a sort of relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her.” (Chopin, ch. 7) What mother forgets her children and does not miss them when they are gone? Edna was searching for meaning in her life, she wanted happiness.

Deeper into Edna’s alternate personality, she begins to realize how much positive has come from the new Edna. When the Doctor and Edna finally get to meet, the Doctor talks with Edna in hopes of changing her back to the stereotypical wife Mr. Pontellier wants her to be. In the conversation between the two, Edna says, "The years that are gone seem like dreams--if one might go on sleeping and dreaming--but to wake up and find--oh! well! Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life" (Choppin 38). Edna is praising herself for being one of the few women who have been able to be a realist, and for not letting illusions pull her into a fantasy life. She believes it is better for one to live aware and conscious to the world around one’s self. This being a new way of looking at life at the time, especially for a woman. While there are many positive changes that are present in Edna’s life due to her recent awakening, there are some negatives as well. There are days where Edna feels as if she understands the world and everything within it. But then there are days where Edna feels utterly alone. Edna’s thoughts are expressed, in which she says, “There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why—when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead...She could not work on such a day, nor weave fancies to stir her pulses and warm her blood” (Choppin 19). Edna expresses that she feels what appears to be a depressed mood at time, due to the life she has become awakened to. It is a confusing sadness that she does not know how to explain, completely countering the days of pure happiness that she often feels. Thus showing the change in Edna’s psychological views are apparent, and bring both happy, understandable thoughts, as well as

There are certain ideals that need to be met while being in a relationship; they play concrete roles in the stability of the partnership. The idea of Edna being confined in a marriage with Mr. Pontellier who doesn’t

When Edna receives gifts from Mr. Pontellier she is forced to realize that she loves him, yet what she also realizes is that she truly does not love him. In her romance with Robert, she feels great affection and love for him. He as well feels that same for her, yet he cannot corrupt the union of marriage by being with Edna so he decides to leave and not further the relationship. Edna’s inability to attain

Edna’s deliberate sacrifice is that she chooses a man who has her relive her young fantasies and mind over her husband and family who demonstrate that responsibility and maturity dictate her life. Before Edna meets Robert, the man who reminisces youth, she has her up and downs with her husband but has a consistent and regular lifestyle with her family. She constantly praises her children over everything but however,

Finally, Edna’s vulnerability to love and passion serves as a major contributing factor to her “defeat and regression” in the sense that it directly impacted some aspects of her despair and desire to escape from reality. The narrator reveals in Chapter VII, “[Edna’s] marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident,” (Chopin, 24). She simply becomes caught up in a moment of passion and impulsiveness, satisfied at the fact that her marriage would upset both her father and sister. In this sense, her rushing into marriage without a basis of love may be the root of her depressive episodes. Additionally, after Robert leaves for Mexico, Edna becomes overly anxious to receive letters from him, actually breaking into tears upon finally laying her eyes upon a letter from Robert addressed to Mademoiselle Reisz (Chopin, 86-87). This is a prime example of Edna’s vulnerability to love; her emotions are controlled by her “lover’s” presence and lack thereof, influencing and even worsening her sudden moments of dread and despair. Also, Edna succumbs to seduction by Alcee Arobin’s charm, first with a kiss (Chopin, 112) and then through sleeping with Arobin (Chopin, 125). Edna’s adulterous actions with Arobin are representative of the independent will she now possesses and has displayed in the past in her

When Edna returns home later that day, she finds out that Robert is leaving for Mexico. She is rather upset with this news and afterwards leaves to go home. "She went directly to her room. The little cottage was close and stuffy after leaving the outer air. But she did not mind; there appeared to be a hundred different things demanding her attention indoors." (42) She tries to ignore that his leaving and not telling her affects her so much. Yet she declines an invitation from Madame Lebrun to go and sit with them until Robert leaves. When Edna sees him leave it tears her up inside that her companion, the one person that she felt understood her, is leaving: "Edna bit her handkerchief convulsively, striving to hold back and to hide, even from herself as she would have hidden from another, the emotion which was troubling - tearing- her. Her eyes were brimming with tears." (44) Edna's life is not complete when Robert leaves:

Harriet Jacobs, in her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was born into slavery in the south. While her youth contained “six years of happy childhood,” a few tragedies and mistresses later, Jacobs spent many years in pain under the possession of her cruel five-year-old mistress, Emily Flint, and Emily’s father, Dr. Flint. Once able to obtain freedom, Jacobs spent most of her life working for the Anti-Slavery office in New York, in hope that one day she could make a difference in the world. “She sought to win the respect and admiration of her readers for the courage with which she forestalled abuse and for the independence with which she chose a lover rather than having one forced on her” (Jacobs 921). Linda Brett, the pseudonym that Jacobs uses to narrate her life story, endures the harsh behavior women slaves were treated with in the south during the nineteenth century. The dominant theme of the corruptive power and psychological abuse of slavery, along with symbolism of good and evil, is demonstrated throughout her narrative to create a story that exposes the terrible captivity woman slaves suffered. The reality of slavery in the past, versus slavery today is used to reveal how the world has changed and grown in the idea of racism and neglect.

She is moved by music. During that summer Edna sketches to find an artistic side to herself. She needs an outlet to express who she is. Edna feels that art is important and adds meaning to her life. After the summer is over and they are back to the city and Edna is a changed woman. She makes many steps towards independence. She stops holding "Tuesday socials", she sends her children to live in the country with their grandparents, she refuses to travel abroad with her husband, she moves out of the Lebrun house on Esplanade Street, and to earn money, she starts selling her sketches and betting the horses. She also starts a relationship with another man Alcee Arobin. He meant nothing to her emotionally but she used him for sexual pleasure. Edna evolved above her peers she did not believe that sexuality and motherhood had to be linked. The last step of her "awakening" is the realization that she can not fulfill her life in a society that will not allow her to be a person and a mother. Edna commits suicide in the ocean at Grand Isle.

The remaining question for the reader is: Does Edna's suicide show that she succeeded or failed in her struggle for independence?

The Solitude of Self is a speech that was given by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was a leader of the women’s suffrage movement. This speech mainly discussed gender equality in every situation, including education and suffrage. Stanton clearly was opposed to the idea of inequality and believed that every person, man or woman, deserved to have the same rights.

Due to the restrictions put on Edna not only by her husband’s dedication to appearance, but by the society that encourages women to be viewed almost as property in a marriage instead of an equal participant in the relationship, Edna grows increasingly dissatisfied with her lifestyle, and feels as if she has been living two separate lives. The reader can sense this duality within Edna, even before she meets Robert leading the reader to believe that while the affair was the lynchpin for her awakening, there was always some dissatisfaction with her role in society. Chopin illustrates this when she describes Edna’s duality, stating: “Even as a child, she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended

Unlike most women at the time, Edna refuses to conform to simply being a housewife. Edna tells Madame Ratignolle, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself.” indicating that even in the early stages of her awakening she had accounted herself more pretentious than society proclaims. At the end of the story Edna stands by her word by ending her life due to the level of unhappiness she was feeling. A housewife of those times would have simply lived her life unhappy and suffered until she possibly couldn’t. Edna on the other hand, chose to take actions into her own hands and take control of what is to happen in her life resulting in her suicide.