Who Is Edna Pontellier's Awakening?

Edna’s children are different from other children, if one of her boys fell “…he was not apt to rush crying to his mother’s arms for comfort; he would more likely pick himself up, wipe the water out of his eyes and the sand out of his mouth, and go on playing”. Edna is not a typical Creole “mother-woman” who “idolized her children (and) worshipped her husband” (8) and at times that results in her husband’s claims that she neglects her children. Edna’s children leave her attached to her husband, and even if she is somehow able to escape the relationship with her husband she will never be able to escape her children. She realizes this and whether consciously or not, doesn’t care for her children the way this is expected of a woman in her time period. When Adele Ratignolle reminds her to, “Think of the children!…Oh think of the children! Remember them!” Edna finally realizes her decisions affect her and her children. Instead of accepting her responsibility as a mother Edna decides to give up, and does so by committing suicide.

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin creates a protagonist that clearly demonstrates a feminist. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier seeks more from life than what she is living and starts to refuse the standards of the society she lives in. Edna has many moments of awakening resulting in creating a new person for herself. She starts to see the life of freedom and individuality she wants to live. The Awakening encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain freedom and choose individuality over conformity. Chopin creates a feminist story that shows a transformation from an obedient “mother-woman” to a woman who is willing to sacrifice her old life to become independent and make an identity for herself.

Awakening Sacrifice Essay In The Awakening, sacrifice is a topic that can apply to a select few characters. The idea that what someone sacrifices can bring a spotlight on what their values are is a strong thought. In the Awakening, Edna Pontellier sacrifices the unity of her family and the respect of others towards her to express her individuality and freedom as a person.

Edna’s awakening was the beginning to her suicide. As Edna realized her capacity to be honest with herself, the old Edna began to die. Edna slowly started to realize she did not want to be like other women, whom “idolized their children, worshiped their

Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening expresses the difficulty of finding a woman’s place in society. Edna learns of new ideas such as freedom and independence while vacationing in Grand Isle. Faced with a choice to conform to society’s expectations or to obey personal desires for independence, Edna Pontellier realizes that either option will result in dissatisfaction. Thus, Edna’s awakening in Grand Isle leads to her suicide.

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.

Throughout the novel “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna Pontellier travels through her journey of finding herself. A complete foil to Edna’s open-mindedness, her friend, Adéle Ratignolle is one of the most influential characters on Edna’s awakening. Remaining a static character throughout the plot, her devotion to her family, conventional and set-in-her-ways behavior, and candidness make her an interesting character with a hidden, but deep impact on the plot.

In Kate Chopin, “The Awakening”, longing for passion and freedom Edna Pontellier leaves the safety of her gilded cage, only to find that death is her only salvation. In the 1800’s the main role in society for a female was to be a wife and mother, women at this time were the property of their husbands and had little say in anything. Which for Edna was the opposite of what she wanted, she wanted to be free from these responsibilities and to live her own life. Although Edna is not a victim in the role society has chosen for her, she freely walked into her gilded cage and into the role of wife to Leonce Pontellier and mother to their children. The longer she stayed in her marriage, the more she realizes that the passion she needed was not

“When one realises one is asleep, at that moment one is already half-awake,” Peter D. Ouspensky once stated. While some let their soaring ideals beguile them, others face their hardships and forge onwards; awareness of one’s delusions marks the first step towards a solution. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, protagonist Edna Pontellier struggles with confronting reality. Although the title of The Awakening alludes to Edna's budding realization of her constraints as a married woman in Creole society, her efforts to rebel against her societal role display her self-delusion rather than a true awakening, which she only gets close to experiencing at the end of the novel.

Edna’s discoveries throughout the novel are things she wants from life, not things she wants in death. She cannot love when she’s dead. Though looking for a partner was no easy task, she was making forward progress when she was alive. Despite becoming aware of life’s multidimensionality, she maintains views of romance that are flat. She believes she cannot live alone like Mademoiselle Reisz, but views this as the only alternative to a picturesque romance. Though none of the other characters can own her while she is dead, she cannot really own herself while she’s dead either. The only thing she can control is her death, but that ignores the many things she can still control in her life that are far better alternatives for Edna than

Throughout “The Awakening”, Edna is immersed in a constant clash with society over the significance of the difference between her life and her self. To Edna, the question of whether or not she would die for her children is somewhat simple. Edna attempts to explain this concept to her good friend, Adele Ratignolle, but to no avail, “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” (Chopin 62). Not only does Edna consider her life unessential, she categorizes it as equal with material objects such as money. The idea of self, on the other hand, lies on a completely different level in Edna’s mind. The most important goal to Edna in her life is the journey to discover her true character. The idea that her inner self is more essential than life or even her children causes Edna to stray farther from the social constraints of the typical domestic woman. Kathleen M. Streater weighs in on Edna’s situation and placement in

The Awakening is a story written by Kate Chopin, which is taking place in the late 18th century at a vacation place called Grand Isle. The story talks about a woman and her “awakening”. The Awakening is illustrating the female hero’s life, Edna Pontellier, where she is dealing with life problems such as defining what she really wants and what has priority in her life. The hero in The Awakening is Edna Pontellier, a married woman with two children which she does not care much about. Not only that Edna Pontellier does not care much about her children, in addition, she also does not care much about her husband. One day Edna Pontellier woke up and figured out that her freedom as an individual is more important to her than her duties as a wife and mother. Whereby, she developed a crush on another man, Robert Lebrun, and furthermore, she has at the same time an affair with another man, Alcee Arobin, while Robert Lebrun was gone. During the story the reader gets also introduced with Edna Pontellier’s friends and guide’s Adele Ratignolle, who is a very carrying woman, who loves her children and her husband, and Mademoiselle Reisz, who is the complete opposite of Adele Ratignolle since she is selfish and very cold to other people besides Edna Pontellier. Both are responsible for Edna’s “awakening” throughout the story.

Edna realizes that the patriarchal society is quick to condemn particularly a freedom-seeking woman who neglects her children since she is “intended by nature” to take care of them (Dyer 126). She is "uneven and impulsive" in her affections for her children. When they leave to visit their grandmother, she is relieved because she is not suited to the responsibilities of motherhood. Edna’s mind was at rest concerning the present material needs of her children:

In Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening”, Edna finds herself in a society where women were socially confined to be mothers and wives. This novel embodies the struggle of women in the society for independence along with the presence of women struggling to live up to the demands that their strict culture has placed upon them. A part of Edna wants to meet the standards of mother and wife that society has set, however her biggest desire is to be a woman free from the oppression of a society that is male dominant. Readers will find that the foundation of “The Awakening” the feminist perspective because of the passion that Edna has for gaining her own identity, and independence,