The Awakening Feminist Analysis

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening depicts Edna Pontellier’s struggle to find and assert herself within the cultural constraints of late 19th century America. Like her name “Pontellier”, which means “one who bridges,” it implies that Edna is in a transition between two worlds but not fully embedded in either. Her intent is to bridge the limited world of the mother-woman to that of selfhood.

The theme of The Awakening is centered on Edna’s journey of individual identification and independence. Chopin condemns gender roles and pleads to the public to look at women as equals and not just commodities to be married off. Women should have all the

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.

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,

Though it was uncommon during the 1800’s, some women didn’t want to assume the traditional role of a typical Victorian lady. Such is the case in Kate Chopin 's The Awakening; she introduces us to Edna Pontellier a mother and wife during the said era. Throughout the story, we follow Edna 's journey of self-discovery and self-expression through emotions, art, and sex thanks to the help of people she meets along the way. Chopin decides to end the book with Edna’s suicide in an attempt to convey a sense of liberation from her repressed life, but was the reasoning behind her suicide what everyone else thinks? Consequently, this said journey took me along for the ride, and I had no complaints. As Edna figured out who she was, I felt as if I was

Have you ever wondered what the lifestyles of Nineteenth Century women were like? Were they independent, career women or were they typical housewives that cooked, clean, watched the children, and catered to their husbands. Did the women of this era express themselves freely or did they just do what society expected of them? Kate Chopin was a female author who wrote several stories and two novels about women. One of her renowned works of art is The Awakening. This novel created great controversy and received negative criticism from literary critics due to Chopin's portrayal of women by Edna throughout the book.

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.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing more than devoted wives and nurturing mothers.

In the TV show Lost, a character presses a button every 108 minutes because he is told that if he does not press the button, something very bad will happen. However, he does not know if something bad will happen, he is only told that something bad will happen. In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, society tells Edna Pontellier what she is supposed to do as a woman, and she does this because society tells her to do so, thinking that women who do not are crazy. But then one day she realizes that there is no reason that she should not be an individual, and she is repressed by society because she goes against society’s expectations. The novel’s title, The Awakening, refers to Edna’s realization of society’s expectations of women and begins to express herself as an individual instead of a woman by society’s standards. Edna’s initial awakening had her start expressing herself as an individual in different ways. Edna’s personal awakening changes the way that she views herself, going from a woman who in the beginning of the book went along with society's expectations, to the end of the book where she was expressing her individuality and realizing how society tries to repress her individuality. Edna’s social awakening changes the way that she acts in society by interacting with people differently, ignoring the responsibilities society gives her, and expressing her individuality by doing things she actually wants to do. Edna’s sexual awakening changed the way that she viewed the men

Throughout the 1800’s women were known to be the homemakers, they were responsible for household chores along with taking care of the children. Some women had been growing tired of these social normalities and did not want to assume the traditional role of a typical woman anymore. These thoughts can be seen throughout The Awakening by Kate Chopin when Chopin creates the character Edna Pontellier who was a woman in that era who took on the role of a mother and wife. Edna endured many obstacles in life and moments of self-discovery involving her own emotions. Each decision she makes throughout the book takes part in the ongoing battle with herself which ultimately leads to her own suicide.

Feminist Fulfillment and the Ultimate Defiance Social paradigms are a societal construct. Survival does not depend on our ability to conform. In the Victorian era, conformity was valued above all else, especially concerning gender roles. Women were seen as objects of marriage and motherhood, nothing more. However, literary critic Katherine Thompson in an essay describes the Victorian era as the “essential beginnings of gender equity changes” (Thompson).

Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening in the opening chapter provides the argument for women's entrapment in roles that society has forced upon them. Chopin was not just trying to write an entertaining story but trying to convey arguments against these social injustices. Women are like these birds trapped in these cages unable to free themselves from these imposed roles by society.

In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin (2005) uses deep symbolism to show how the main character, Edna Pontellier, discovers her own independence in the society in which she lived. Edna was a traditional mother and wife seeking freedom and independence throughout her adult life. Chopin portrays Edna as being a rebel against her own life. The story takes place in the 1960s when women were to follow certain rules made by the society they lived in. Chopin also foreshadows the things that occur in Edna’s life through nature and death itself. Based on the many ways Chopin uses symbolic meanings through the novel, we can see the events of Edna’s life as one that rebels against society. Throughout this novel, Chopin proves that Edna’s actions

In the novel The Awakening, by Kate Chopin the critical approach feminism is a major aspect of the novel. According to dictionary.reference.com the word feminism means, “The doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.” The Awakening takes place during the late eighteen hundreds to early nineteen hundreds, in New Orleans. The novel is about Edna Pontellier and her family on a summer vacation. Edna, who is a wife and mother, is inferior to her husband, Leonce, and must live by her husband’s desires. While on vacation Edna becomes close friends with Adele Ratignolle, who helps Edna discover she must be “awakened”. Adele is a character who represents the ideal woman. She is loving,

Throughout the course of history, women have always been underestimated, oppressed and taken advantage of. To this day, women have been under some sort of patriarchal control. This influenced their ability to learn, express themselves, and even think for themselves, especially in the earlier years. Eventually, women began to realize their unequal treatment and this new stream of consciousness inspired them to contradict, question, and rebel against the patriarchy. These actions ranged from simply refusing to do a task assigned by a woman's husband, to getting completely out of the gender role and expressing herself. In The Awakening, by Kate Chopin in 1899, Edna, the protagonist of the story, craved independence worked