The Awakening: A Life Of Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin was born February 8, 1851 in St. Louis. Her father was an Irish merchant and her mother was the daughter of an old French family. Chopin’s early fluency was with French and English, and her roots in two different cultures were important throughout

     Kate Chopin was one of the greatest and earliest feminist writers in history, whose works have inspired some and drawn much criticism from others. Chopin, through her writings, had shown her struggle for freedom and individuality.

In Kate Chopin's, The Awakening, Edna Pontellier came in contact with many different people during a summer at Grand Isle. Some had little influence on her life while others had everything to do with the way she lived the rest of her life. The influences and actions of Robert Lebrun on Edna led to her realization that she could never get what she wanted, which in turn caused her to take her own life.

In the life and writings of Kate Chopin and Mary E. Freeman, how can you see the obvious cry for women to have an equal status in a man’s world?

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, the main character, Edna leaves her husband to find place in the world. Edna believes her new sexually independent power will make her master of her own life. But, as Martin points out, she has overestimated her strength and is still hampered by her "limited ability to direct her energy and to master her emotions" (22). Unfortunately, Edna has been educated too much in the traditions of society and not enough in reason and independent survival, admitting to Robert that "we women learn so little of life on the whole" (990). She has internalized society's conception of woman as guided by her emotions and not her mind and, therefore, in the search for another man to fill the void of love in her

'The Storm' begins on a stormy spring day, with the protagonist Calixta at her sewing machine. She is alone, her husband Bobinot and son Bibi have gone to the store. Calixta seems to be a bored woman, confined to her duties as a housewife and mother. As the distant storm approaches she is unaware of what the storm brings, her former lover Alcee.

To what extent does Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, mark a departure from the female characters of earlier nineteenth-century American novels

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.

The chapter begins with a parrot--who is owned by the resort’s proprietor, Madame Lebrun--on a porch shouting at Leonce Pontellier to “Get out!” Leonce, who is trying to read the newspaper, distances himself from the bird so he can continue his reading in peace and quiet. He situates himself in a rocking chair on the porch of his own cottage and watches his two sons (ages five and four) play croquet with some other people. After he lights a cigar and continues to watch them, he catches sight of Edna Pontellier, his wife, and Robert Lebrun approaching from the beach underneath a sunshade. They sit on the porch steps with obviously sunburnt skin. Leonce scolds Edna for allowing herself to get burned. He then hands her her wedding ring that she apparently gave him for safekeeping. Edna and Robert attempt to tell Leonce a funny story about what happened at the beach but Leonce finds it boring. He tells them that he is going to go to Klein’s hotel and asks Robert if he wants to tag along. Robert declines so he can stay with Edna and Leonce leaves.

Kate Chopin was an American realism author, writing various novels and short stories. An interesting tidbit about her birth is that there is controversy surrounding her date of birth. Her birth date has been recorded as being on February 8th, 1851; however, Kate claims that she was born in 1850. Regardless of her true birth date, she was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. She had four other siblings, but was the only one to live past the age of twenty-five.

     Kate Chopin by the means of creations like The Awakening is trying to make the female in society think about her condition and also push the feminism movement. Her depiction of The Awakening is realistic as she develops Edna Pontellier’s character from a socially and morally respectable individual to an individual that turns her back on everything that was certain in her life to become independent. She struggles between her subconscious and conscious thoughts as unusual feelings stir unfounded emotions and senses. Chopin portrays Edna as a character who is struggling against the society throughout the story and is also going through series of ‘Awakenings.’

For an audience to fully grasp why an author feels the compulsive conviction to write about a particular subject, they must first have a base of knowledge on the author and the story they wish to examine. Kate Chopin was born as Kate O’Flaherty to Eliza and Thomas O’Flaherty in 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri (Wyatt). Chopin had an absence of male presence in her early life after her father died until she was married. Due to the fact that every aspect of Chopin’s early life after her father’s death was dictated by her mother and grandmother, including her education and social life, many of Chopin’s stories put a great emphasis on strong independent, smart women (Wyatt). Furthermore, Chopin grew up during the Civil War and many aspects of war and race are evident within her works.

“The Awakening” by Kate Chopin is a story of a housewife in New Orleans during the late eighteen-hundreds as she faces social discrimination from not only her friends and family, but society as a whole. The point of the book was to create social change within the US as women were not seen as human beings, but as possessions instead. The book brings light to several issues of the time by using realism and other methods to bring social change to not only the country, but the entire world as they knew it. The Awakening is dependent of its characters, setting, and the time it is based off of in order to bring social change to women’s rights.

In the 1800's married women had to submit to their husbands. Woman who got married had no voice with law. This meant their husbands would have to take legal action for them. Wives did not have any rights to their own property, and they would not have right to wages they earn. But these started to change through feminist women who raised their voice against men. Even though the feminist movement started in the 1960's, there were women ahead of this time that were feminist too. In her short story, "Story of an Hour", and novel "The Awakening", Kate Chopin explores the themes of woman rebellion against their husbands, and woman becoming independent from their husbands. Even though Kate Chopin was born

Frédéric François Chopin was born on March 1st 1810, and was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era. He grew up in Warsaw as a child prodigy, and at the age of six was instructed professionally by a Czech pianist Wojciech Żywny. By the age of seven he had begun giving public concerts and composed two polonaises in G minor and B-flat major. He continued his education, receiving organ, music theory, figured bass, and composition lessons. His first published work was Rondo in C minor which earned him his first mention in the foreign press. Throughout his career he composed music still famous to this day such as the Nocturnes and Fantaisie Impromptu. In his music, Chopin refused to conform to a standard method of playing and