More handpicked essays just for you.
The relevance of the title the awakening
How is the role of women described in the awakening by kate chopin
Feminist theme in the awakening
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Society displays many rules, written and unwritten, that people are directed to comply with. Different groups of people have different guidelines in which they expect people to behave like. In most cases, there are people who are against and do not agree with the demands to which society suggests. There are two ways that those people choose to react, they either complete disregard and be themselves the rules or they conform to the rules and question them inwardly. In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, is said to possess “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions”. Edna conforms in a patrachical Creole society that limited the freedom of women, and internal Edna wants to escape and freedom from this pain.
“Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life- that conforms, the inward life which questions” (pg.13). For most of Edna’s life, she has adopted and implemented a tactic of making others perceive that she was conforming with society but inwardly questioning the reasons why she has to conform in a specific way. This quote support the symbolism of Edna to all women who were
…show more content…
That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world”(pg.57) .Chopin compares Edna’s portrayal of conformity to a garment which Edna can wear and remove when she chooses. That simile shows the development of Edna’s courage to defy and not conform to society. The comparison of clothes of a false image supports the illusion of nakedness represents one’s true self. Later in the novel, Edna realizes how amazing and astonishing it feels to be naked under the sky, and that symbolizes not having to display a false image of
In fact, Edna seems to drift from setting to setting in the novel, never really finding her true self - until the end of the novel. Chopin seems highly concerned with this question throughout her narrative. On a larger scale, the author seems to be probing even more deeply into the essence of the female experience: Do women in general have a place in the world, and is the life of a woman the cumbersome pursuit to find that very place? The Awakening struggles with this question, raising it to multiple levels of complexity. Edna finds liberation and happiness in various places throughout the novel, yet this is almost immediately countered by unhappiness and misery.
Edna’s recognition of herself as an individual as opposed to a submissive housewife is controversial because it’s unorthodox. When she commits suicide, it’s because she cannot satisfy her desire to be an individual while society scorns her for not following the traditional expectations of women. Edna commits suicide because she has no other option. She wouldn’t be fulfilled by continuing to be a wife and a mother and returning to the lifestyle that she led before her self-discovery.
The passage of The Awakening which truly marks Edna Pontellier’s new manner of thought regarding her life revolves around her remembrance of a day of her childhood in Kentucky. She describes the scene to Madame Ratigonelle as the two women sit on the beach one summer day. The passage opens with a description of the sea and the sky on that particular day. This day and its components are expressed in lethargic terms such as “idly” and “motionless” and suggested a scene of calm sleep. Such a depiction establishes an image of serenity and tranquility, in other words the calm before the storm which derives from Edna’s “awakening.”
Essentially, Edna is not able to fulfill any of the roles that are presented by Chopin in the novel: mother, sister, daughter, wife, friend, artist, lover to either man, and finally the traditional role of a woman in society. She does not quite fit into any niche, and thus her suicide at the end of the novel is the only way for Edna’s story to end. Chopin must have Edna die, as she cannot survive in this restrained society in which she does not belong to. The idea of giving yourself completely to serve another, Edna declares “that she would never sacrifice herself for her children, or for any one” (47). However, her awakening is also a realization of her underprivileged position in a male dominated society. The first sign that Edna is becoming comfortable with herself, and beginning to loosen the constrictions of not being an individual is when she asks Robert, her husband, to retrieve her shawl: "When he returned with the shawl she took it and kept it in her hand. She did not put it around her" (30). Edna is trying to establish herself as an artist in a society where there is no tradition of women as creative beings. For any woman to suggest a desire for a role outside the domestic sphere, as more than a mother or housewife, was perceived as
During the American Industrial Revolution, women began to work in factories, leading to conflicts in 19th century society that would eventually result in the Cult of Domesticity—the belief that women’s only responsibilities existed at home. This aimed to establish the subservient woman and the husband as the master of the house as the social norm. Kate Chopin's bleak but realistic depiction in her work, The Awakening, reveals her reasonable attitude during the Second Great Awakening in American history. Men coveted control and achieved it by undermining women and being their superior. Society followed a mob mentality and accepted gender inequality as a social norm. Subjugation of women lead to panic and mania in men and the oppression made
Throughout Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, the main protagonist, experiences multiple awakenings—the process in which Edna becomes aware of her life and the constraints place on it—through her struggles with interior emotional issues regarding her true identity: the confines of marriage vs. her yearning for intense passion and true love. As Edna begins to experience these awakenings she becomes enlightened of who she truly and of what she wants. As a result, Edna breaks away from what society deems acceptable and becomes awakened to the flaws of the many rules and expected behavior that are considered norms of the time. One could argue that Kate Chopin’s purpose in writing about Edna’s inner struggles and enlightenment was to
When Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" was published at the end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they perceived to be the author's defiance of Victorian proprieties, but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is borne out by Chopin's own words throughout her Preface -- where she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment. (Chopin, Preface ) Edna takes her own life at the book's end, not because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a wife and mother. It is this very type of independent thinking which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny women any meaningful participation.
She doesn't follow the rules. morals that all the women surrounding her succumb to in life. By defying these "laws" Edna makes clear the morals that all the other. women value the satisfaction of their husband, the acceptance of society, and the conformity to the stereotypical roles of a woman. In The Awakening, Edna is used as a tool to emphasize the surrounding.
Another obvious example of the symbolism of clothing is seen at the end of the novel when Edna removes all of her clothing before committing suicide. Chopin writes that when Edna was "there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she cast the unpleasant, prickling garments from her, and for the first time in her life stood naked in the open air" (558). Edna seems to be removing her final restrictions before finding her freedom in death. This last rebellion against society seems to give Edna her final "awakening". This awakening can be seen when Chopin writes, "She felt like some new born creature opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known" (558).
As Kate Chopin’s The Awakening develops a woman’s journey to defy the present social oppression, this selected passage is Edna’s metamorphosis and the turning point in the novel. After listening to Mademoiselle Reisz’s music at Robert’s departure party, Edna swims for the first time and experiences her awakening to the desire for freedom. The surrounding ocean becomes a place that provides Edna strength to free herself and an isolated hiding where she can express her true essential self. However, Edna’s attempt for liberation eventually resigns to the overwhelming presence of death and the unfortunate realization about the society’s dominance. This passage from page 47-48 is the point of epiphany, establishing Edna’s transformation
When her husband and children are gone, she moves out of the house and purses her own ambitions. She starts painting and feeling happier. “There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day” (Chopin 69). Her sacrifice greatly contributed to her disobedient actions. Since she wanted to be free from a societal rule of a mother-woman that she never wanted to be in, she emphasizes her need for expression of her own passions. Her needs reflect the meaning of the work and other women too. The character of Edna conveys that women are also people who have dreams and desires they want to accomplish and not be pinned down by a stereotype.
The most prevalent and obvious gender issue present in the novella was that Edna challenged cultural norms and broke societal expectations in an attempt to define herself. Editors agree, “Edna Pontellier flouts social convention on almost every page…Edna consistently disregards her ‘duties’ to her husband, her children, and her ‘station’ in life” (Culley 120). Due to this, she did not uphold what was expected of her because she was trying to be superior, and women were expected to be subordinate to men. During that time, the women were viewed as possessions that men controlled. It was the woman’s job to clean the house, cook the meals, and take care of the children, yet Edna did none of these things. Her lifestyle was much different. She refused to listen to her husband as time progressed and continually pushed the boundaries of her role. For example, during that time period “the wife was bound to live with her husban...
This implicit rule about following what society thinks and sees as right impacts the characters and constricts their decisions. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the main characters, Edna Pontellier and Robert Lebrun, are trapped by the enforcement of cultural boundaries, such as the constraints on love and gender roles and the importance of reputations in their societies.
One of the first main themes is identity. Throughout Edna’s life she has labels put on for her, she wants to become her own person and discover her identity without society's labels. The book focuses largely on the identity crisis that Edna is having to find herself. We can see that Edna has always been looking for her own identity even if she didn’t realize it, for example, the quote: “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward
In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, Chopin criticizes society by emphasizing society’s flaws, such as: expectations of women, society’s portrayal of individuality, and patriarchy. Kate Chopin criticizes society with cynical examples throughout the novel, in order to evince to society their flaws. Kate Chopin evinces these examples in order to society to take notice of their own flaws and “wake up” in order to become individuals and live in a life of liberty.