The Effects Of Sleep On The Lives Of Women

Throughout most of her life, Edna Pontellier’s true self was majorly suppressed by her husband, as well as her duties as a mother, and society’s image of

“Looking at the situation of women some centuries ago, one can hardly deny that women had permanently been discriminated: Neither were they allowed to take part in political life, nor did they get a proper education or were granted any kind of selfhood. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, wives were still regarded as the objects of others rather than as the free subjects of their own fates” (Fox-Genovese 35). The limitations and beliefs forced on Edna are only because of her gender. During the Victorian Era the society believed that women were just fit to be mothers and wife.

As the novel begins we are shown Edna’s life before her escape from society’s standards. At the beginning we are shown that Edna is valued by society because of her physical appearance and is portrayed as a housewife married to a wealthy husband. On only the seventh page of the novel we are shown the lack of individuality women had during this time period. We are first introduced to Edna and Edna’s husband, Leonce. Leonce creates the income for the family as well as viewing his wife more of a possession rather than a partner. Leonce notices Edna is sunburned when she has come back from swimming and views her as “a valuable piece of property which has suffered some damage” (7).

Additionally, Chopin shows how women were stereotyped as a mother-woman and etc. Many women in the last 1800s and early 1900s were viewed as a mother-woman, a person who’s job is to only to worship their husbands and carry children and idolize them. Many women during that time, did not like the stereotypes that the society put on them. In this quote, “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” (Chopin 19), shows how women were stereotyped in their society. This shows what Edna thinks. She does not want to be a typical woman in the society and follow the rules

Edna Pontellier's suicide is the unfortunate pit falling of this otherwise feminist piece of literature. Her action, in fact, completely discredits the classification of feminism. Regardless of her ability to withdraw from her husband, venture out on her own, and buy her own home, Edna lacks a very

Madame Reisz is the representation of the social consequences of insisting on a developed self. Though she is a talented artist, she is also depicted as disagreeable and rude. Unsurprisingly, she is often alone. By contrast, the Ratignolles are a prime example of the Victorian family. Adele is a living bourgeois picture of a woman and, along with her husband, represents the expected patriarchal family: “The Ratignolles understood each other perfectly. If ever the fusion of two human beings into one has been accomplished on this sphere it was surely in their union”. Madames Reisz and Ratignolle “not only represent important alternative roles and influences, but they suggest different plots and conclusions.” Although Edna can embrace neither of these extremes, she does not. The narrator’s point of view is not explicitly judgmental, but Edna lies between the two extremes and one seems to be portrayed in a much more positive way than the other, as we notice by the descriptions granted to both female characters. Reisz is the antithesis of Adele Ratignolle, who is the “embodiment of every womanly grace and

During the events of the book, in chapters, one through four, Mr. Pontellier returns home from visiting a bar, to his surprise when he returns home, he checks on his children, and believes that one of them has fallen ill with a fever. To where after he ‘discovers’ the fever he wakes his wife and scolds her claiming that she neglects the children, where Mrs. Pontelier assures her husband, Mr. Pontellier, that nothing had befallen the child to make him ill that day. During the reading of the text, Mr. Pontellier states clearly that, it was the woman’s job to take care of the children, and he cannot take care of them because he is so busy with work, and it’s obvious to conclude that with this text, comes with a social norm of the time, where the men of the family would go out in the world and support the family, while the women tended for things at home. So with the conclusion that Women tended to problems and activates at home is a social norm, that was given as text speech from Mr. Pontellier, we can see that, because of this social norm, Edna is pressured to do a more exceptional job on taking care of the children, which causes her to struggle in this

As with her religious faith, Edna has viewed her domestic life with the same unquestioning attitude.  Her entire adult life has been driven along by the force of habit.  She marries, has children, engages in appropriate hobbies and accepts what society deems standard for a woman of her class because it is expected and normal.  Only in the months in which this story takes place does Edna once again begin to question her complacency.  She begins “to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” (14).

Edna Pontellier is a woman of great needs. Although she has a husband who cares for her and two children, she is very unhappy. She plays her roles as a mother and wife often, but still keeps doing things unmarried, barren women should do: enjoy the company of other men, ignore her children's cries, dress unladylike for the times. The story is set in the late 1800's, when women were to be in the kitchen preparing a meal for their family, giving birth to more children to help with daily chores, or sitting quietly at home, teaching the children while the husband was at work. Edna Pontellier was a woman not of her time. At only 28, she would have rather been out gallivanting with different men, traveling with them, and painting

The subjects of the two novels, Edna Pontellier and the Narrator, undergo a similar change; at the onset of the novel they meet all societies expectations and standards for women of their time- Mrs. Pontellier is described as shy and reserved and neither protagonist ever disobey their husbands- but with each coming page, the women convert into someone unrecognizable to their antierior selves. Though their metamorphose are both ignited by a new environment, they had internally harbored yet suppressed their need for independence and freedom. Like these two, every woman holds creativity and free will; however during this time they were unable to practice them, as doing so was almost unheard of and rarely tolerated. The Narrator and Edna themselves serve to represent the healthy creative urges within women that have been suppressed.

Edna’s role in this era of society is that of a housewife with the responsibilities of the house and taking care of the children. It had been expected of every woman at the time to cook, clean, and care for the house in general, and this is apparent within the first chapter when her husband, Leonce Pontellier, is expectant of her to follow behind him and do as she is told.

Sleep is undoubtedly one of the most essential requirements for the human body to function properly. It plays a very important role in ensuring the wellness of the human body both physically as well as mentally. In fact, the importance of sleep is clear from the fact that it helps you in maintaining a good lifestyle throughout our entire lifetime. Not only does it help maintain our physical and mental health; rather it also helps in maintaining a decent and healthy lifestyle along with ensuring safety from a number of fatal diseases. It is usually said that the mood in which you wake up is largely dependent on the type of sleep you have been in. This in itself is a big proof of the importance of sleep in our lives. While sleeping, our body finally gets its share of rest and it also gets ample time in rejuvenating from all the wear and tear that it went through during the entire day. Not only this, the body is in its own working condition when we are sleeping as this is the time when it supports the healthy functioning of the brain as well as physical attributes of our body.

Before looking at the women themselves, it is important to look at the world they live in. Both take place on the eve of the gilded age and the dawn on the industrial revolution. During this time in history, 1st wave feminism had started across the world, particularly in the United States. Edna is an upper class woman, she would be considered a southern belle. And as such she is often in the spotlight of her social group so everything she does is judged by her friends and family. So when she rebels sexually, at a time when something our society would consider mundane their society would consider flat out unacceptable Edna is unsuitable in the world she resides in. At that time another big part of Feminism was women 's suffrage, attempts for women to gain the same political rights as men at the time.

Women characters also depict the feminist critical approach throughout the novel. Society views women as being inferior to men. For example, The Awakening states that Mr. Pontellier, “… looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of property which has suffered some damage,” (3), which shows he does not appreciate his wife. He treats Edna as if she was an object that he owned, and had full possession of. Although it takes a while for these women to break free, they end up realizing

In several instances, she casually slips in French phrases and words. For example, the characters are referred to by social titles and not first names such as Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. The central issue and theme is Edna's struggle with being the ideal, cookie cutter doting wife. She finds it hard to be as domestic and submissive as the women who were raised in a Creole household and community. She attempts to be a 'mother-wife" like the other women and ultimately ends up taking her own life because she despises it so much. Even though this work was published in 1899 it is still relevant today. Chopin's stories go hand in hand with modern feminism and the stigma that marriage is the ultimate goal.