The Awakening By Kate Chopin

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.

In “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the paradoxical nature of Edna’s life is heroic because she

Ranging from caged parrots to the meadow in Kentucky, symbols and settings in The Awakening are prominent and provide a deeper meaning than the text does alone. Throughout The Awakening by Kate Chopin, symbols and setting recur representing Edna’s current progress in her awakening. The reader can interpret these and see a timeline of Edna’s changes and turmoil as she undergoes her changes and awakening.

Katherine O’Flaherty, later Kate Chopin, was born to Eliza and Thomas O’Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri on February 8, 1850 (Deter). Unfortunately, when Mrs. Chopin was four, her father died in a train incident leaving her under the care of three independent widows’- her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother (Deter). Mrs. Chopin’s great-grandmother, Victoria Verdon Charleville, directed her education, “giving her a taste of the culture and freedom allowed by the French that many Americans during this time disapproved of . . . through the art of storytelling” (Deter). Therefore, much of Mrs. Chopin’s success in writing about women pursuing morality, freedom, and political independence can be attributed to Victoria. Furthermore, the teachers at the St. Louis Sacred Heart Academy, a school Mrs. Chopin’s father had previously enrolled her in, “exposed her to Catholic teachings devoted to creating good wives and mothers, while also teaching independent thinking” (“Biography”).

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.

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,

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.

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening controversial protagonist - Edna Pontellier - lives a personally unsatisfying life with her idealistically perfect husband; a marriage that exists solely on the satisfaction of the Creole society they live in. In the beginning of the novel, she starts to struggle with the dominance of her outer identity that consists of how everyone sees her as the beautiful wife to a perfect, rich husband. But, when she is alone or with Robert, she begins to self-reflect on her inner identity that consists of how she sees herself and the new, rebellious freedoms that she desires. In The Awakening, the frequent symbolization of birds and the manner with how Edna interacts with music and the different men in her life illustrates

In the iconic debated novel “The Awakening”, Kate Chopin’s novel takes place in the Victorian Era, which is in the 19th- century, similarly the novel was published in 1899. Edna is depicted as a woman longing for more, a woman who was looking for more than just a life of complacency and living in the eyes of society. The story uses Edna to exemplify the expectations of women during this era. For example, a woman’s expression of independence was considered immoral. Edna was expected to conform to the expectations of society but the story reveals Edna’s desires which longed for independence in a state of societal dominance. Throughout The Awakening, Chopin’s most significant symbol,

Sexual transgression and sexual exploration is one of the most highly talked about topics in today’s society. The path to sexual liberation within society begins with experimentation and exploration, followed by personal acceptance, and finally, although not always, societal acceptance. Although we have come a long way on the path of acceptance of different sexual transgressions, the stories of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Tennessee Williams’ “Vieux Carre,” and Lyle Saxon’s “The Centaur Plays Croquet” show that this type of acceptance has not always been the case. Each story plays an integral role when looking at the steps on the path to societal acceptance. Chopin 's story dives deep into the area of experimentation and exploration, whereas Saxon 's story looks more at the areas of personal acceptance, and Williams ' story lies more along the area of societal acceptance, and whether or not acceptance is always the end result.

In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening a wife and a mother of two, Edna Pontellier, discovers her desires as a woman to live life to the fullest extent and to find her true self. Eventually, her discovery leads to friction between friends, family, and the dominant values of society. Through Chopin's use of Author’s craft and literary elements, the readers have a clear comprehension as to what the author is conveying.

In Chopin’s The Awakening Edna Pontellier, the main protagonist, experiences an awakening that is extremely climactic for the reader’s. Edna’s awakening is emotional, sexual and intellectual because she discovers her internal desire for independence, the consequence of freedom and the realization that it is unattainable.

Analytical Essay THE AWAKENING Throughout Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, numerous scenes of birth and renewal are depicted. Various symbols placed throughout the book show Edna Pontellier’s awakenings. For instance, many references are made to oceans and water. It is in the water that Edna has her first rebirth, but it is also the place where she chooses to die. Water symbolizes life, which is the reason that Edna’s renewal takes place there, but it also symbolizes darkness and death. Birds, which are featured frequently in the story, symbolize Edna, and in many cases they foreshadow what’s to become of her, or they show her renewal of life. The imagery of birds throughout the book is used to symbolize freedom, which is

Catherine O’Flaherty, most know as Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 8, 1850. Her Mother and Father are Thomas and Eliza. Kate was the second child. She grew up bilingual, being able to speak both French and English. She attended school in St. Louis at Academy of the Sacred Heart from 1855 to 1868. She was there with nuns and formed a greater bond. Her sisters taught her school along with her grandmother, great grandmother, and her mother. Her longtime friend, Kitty Garasche was there too. Most of her fiction, she wrote was drawn from the nurturing she received from women who she grew up with. Kate went through many terrible things in her life. Her father died when she was only five years of age in a railroad accident.

Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 8, 1850. She was the second child of Thomas O´Flaherty and Eliza Faris. Kate attended the St. Louis Academy of the sacred Heart. Kate had a very hard childhood due to the death of her father in a railroad accident then followed by the death of her grandmother. Since she grew up surrounded and mentored by woman, her mother, the sister, and the nuns, she grew to be dependent and began to rely only on herself. People that have studied her life say that she descends from an eccentric and strong-willed line of woman.