The Awakening Essay

The time period of the 1880s that Kate Chopin lived in influenced her to write The Awakening, a very controversial book because of many new depictions of women introduced in the book. The Awakening is a book about a woman, Edna Pontellier. In the beginning, she is a happy woman with her husband and 2 kids vacationing at Grand Isle. While there, Edna realizes she is in love with Robert Lebrun and that she was just forced into an unloving/dissatisfying marriage with Mr. Pontellier. Robert however

Critical Views of The Awakening       The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, is full of ideas and understanding about human nature. In Chopin's time, writing a story with such great attention to sensual details in both men and women caused skepticism among readers and critics. However, many critics have different views with deeper thought given to The Awakening. Symbolism, the interpretation of Edna's suicide, and awakenings play important roles in the analysis of all critics.   Symbolism

The movie titled “Awakenings” directed by Penny Marshall is about the doctor - Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams), who is trying to find a treatment to the patient with encephalitis lethargica. Robert De Niro portrayed a patient who suffers from an encephalitis lethargica. This paper will explain the “Awakenings” veracity. Almost of the films based on true story can change their details. “Awakenings” is an exception; although the names of people and methodology of treatment for a disease involved

pushing marriage back onto her, revealing how society will always reinforce marriage, while Edna’s acceptance of the ring back exemplifies the complacency of women at the time. The music is the catalyst to her “awakening.” Everytime she listens, her “awakening” progresses. This is why Robert keeps telling Mademoiselle Reisz to play for her. But Mademoiselle Reisz doesn’t play just any music; she plays Chopin, who is the ideal Romantic composer. The style of the music fits the feelings and emotions

Analayzing the novel “The awakening” , the protagonist can be seen in different stages of her life: as a wife, as an artist, as a mother and as a woman. From the beginning, the author gives a fair description of Edna: “She was an American woman, with a smal infusion of French which seemed to have been lost in dilution.” (Chopin, The awakening, pg. 9). As a wife she seems not take care of the households as her husband expect to. He also believes that she does not take good care of their children

expressed by the author. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses many strong symbols to help the reader understand that Edna Pontellier is trying to break through the limitations of society that have held her captive for too long (“A Green” 33). Although some critics argue that there are few symbols in The Awakening, others believe that Kate Chopin uses nearly every character, setting, and object surrounding Edna as a symbol to support or accentuate her “awakening.” In Creole society, it is said women

conflicts arise in The Awakening by Kate Chopin as Edna Pontellier struggles with her internal conflicts. Chopin uses foils to demonstrate her evolution in the novel. In a time where women are expected to be subordinate, Edna begins to defy the standards and her oppressive husband. Compliance and individualism are exemplified by two polar characters: Adèle Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. These women act as foils and provide references to the reader in understanding Edna’s awakening. Additionally, Robert

them and cause them to lose hope. Kate Chopin uses words like “depressed” (56), “hopeless” (56) and “despondency” (p115) to describe Edna, the heroine, in The Awakening. Coupling this description with Edna taking her life at the end of the novel and Chopin’s own inferred demoralization, due to the almost universal aversion to The Awakening, the natural conclusion is that it is a work of “great personal demoralization”, (Companion 5) as Michael Levenson states. Levenson suggests most modernist authors

Criticism of The Awakening      Reading through all of the different criticism of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening has brought about ideas and revelations that I had never considered during my initial reading of the novel.  When I first read the text, I viewed it as a great work of art to be revered.  However, as I read through all of the passages, I began to examine Chopin’s work more critically and to see the weaknesses and strengths of her novel.  Reading through others' interpretations of her

as the perfect Victorian housewife, or “mother woman” as Kate Chopin coined the term. In her most controversial novel, The Awakening, she embodied all those women who wished to break out of their constraints of mother and wife into the protagonist Edna Pontellier. Kate Chopin was severely criticized for even allowing her character to question her role in society. The Awakening was not only a reflection of Kate’s own life, but of the culture at the time the novel was produced. The 1800s Creole society