Awakening Edna Essay

The ending/suicide of the protagonist of Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, is complex and controversial. In the 19th century, motherhood and wifehood were women’s priorities. Edna Pontellier, as a wife and mother, does not enjoy her duties. The encounter with Robert and the sea awakens her spirit and passion, which changes her inner self but also eventually leads to her death. Some view it as a tragic defeat, while others see it as a significant and powerful act. Among all the

Edna is not a senior artist like Mademoiselle Reisz, whose piano overshadows her personal life. Likewise, Edna is not a recreational artist like Madame Ratignolle, whose musical talent is another example of her domesticity. The progress Edna makes with her paintings and illustrations is more of an indication of her growth as an individual than a catalyst for it. Instead, it is music that warrants a change in Edna, inviting her to experience passions otherwise

after an emotional breakdown due to the death of her husband. Her writing generally received good reviews from critics, but nothing brought widespread public attention until the publication of her second novel, The Awakening. Published in 1899, the story of Edna Pontellier’s sensual awakening and abandonment of her family was just as unconventional as Chopin herself. It was met with harsh criticism and surrounded by controversy. Sensitive to the pushback, Chopin retreated into the background, publishing

In Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening,” it takes the reader back to the 19th century when society had a defined meaning of what it was meant to be a woman. During the time that Chopin published her book in 1899 women were expected to stay home and take care of their husbands and children. By this means, society had implied that women were only allowed to act certain ways and do certain things; otherwise, they were thought to be senile. In the “The Awakening,” Edna Pontellier undergoes a dramatic

their full potential. Edna Pontellier lives among a high society of Creoles with her husband Leonce, on Grand Isle in the Gulf of Mexico. Her interactions with key characters on the island stimulate an awakening in which she opens her eyes to a new lifestyle. She steps outside of the typical expectations by defying her marriage and falling in love with Robert Lebrun. This relationship sparks Edna’s interest in becoming an independent woman and guides her awakening. When Edna realizes what her life

many found themselves fulfilling the role without protest and enjoying the simplicity of such a life back in the 1800s. Edna Pontellier, however, refused to be one of these obedient women, deciding to instead

the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier, the main character, struggles with making a choice about what she wants in life. Edna compares herself to the other “more feminine and matronly” woman throughout the book, and more specifically to two separate characters, both perfect examples of the two opposite paths she can choose for her future (Choplin, 19). One of the women, Adele Ratignolle, is the example of a perfect mother and wife with a “luxuriant beauty” of whom Edna “long wished

Awakening to Freedom Awakening or to awake means “to wake up; to be or make alert or watchful” (Webster 23). This is what Edna Pontellier experienced in The Awakening. There has been some discussion over the appropriateness of the ending to this story. Was it appropriate for Edna to commit suicide? Yes, this story of Edna Pontellier, including the ending, is appropriate to what a woman probably would have felt like if she were in that time feeling what Edna was feeling. Edna

(Edna with her children at a beach in Grand Isle) In 19th century society, men consider chastity the holy grail to the proper moral character of a woman. However, during a summer trip to Grand Isle Bay, Edna Pontellier betrays society’s fetters as well as her wealthy, yet objectifying husband, Leonce; she begins a relationship with the idiosyncratically gallant Robert Lebrun. Since Edna’s husband is always fortuitously preoccupied or away with work, Edna and Robert become closer. Robert tells the

The people and culture of 1899 New Orleans dictate how things should be done. Edna rejects the image of the idea women and wife, most of which is caused by the factor in her marriage. In Chapter One, Chopin displays the faults in the Pontellier’s relationship, where Edna takes off her wedding rings, Leonce insists not to stay for dinner, and Edna goes spends time on the beach with Robert while her children are left to the nanny. Mrs. Pontellier has rejected her position as a mother and the idea