The story "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin is about a women who struggles within her relationship and finding herself. The book is set in the late 1800s when women were beginning to rebel and fight for their rights. The late 1800s was a time that sparked women empowerment. Edna Pontellier is the main character within the novel, and as the novel unfolds Edna becomes rebellious and seeking her independence. Edna lives in New Orleans, and is married to a man, who is constantly away on business, while she cares for their two boys. She receives no credit from her husband but instead back lash and neglect. One summer Edna and her children spend the summer at Grand Isle while her husband Léonce is away. To the other women Ednas husband is the ideal …show more content…
Pontellier upon returning home is shortly granted an opportunity to freedom and independence. She is offered an opportunity to sell art through Laidpore who will provide for her. "I have sold a good many through Laidpore. I can live in the tiny house for little to nothing, with one servant. Old Celestine, who works occasionally for me, she says she will come stay with me and do my work. I know I shall like it, like the feeling of freedom and independence" (Chopin 86-87). This quote is extremely important because it present Mrs. Pontellier's gate way to her future and what she's dreamed of, art, independence, and freedom. She will finally be her own person, and have to answer to no husband or have any duties but the ones she makes for herself. Thus being said, she writes to her husband to tell him about her opportunity and departure. After her husband's disapproval, Mrs. Pontellier continues to leave and live her dream. However, she becomes wrapped up in an affair with Arobin. However, during the affair she still is in contact with Robert, who she claims to love. Upon both of them being in the same room of her house at once, Mrs. Pontellier remains calm and talks her way around to avoid conflict. Robert leaves and after a short consult with Arobin she pushed him out the door to continue her work. "'I'll go away if I must; but I shan't amuse myself. You know that I only live when I am near you... I have said it before, but I don't think I ever came so near meaning it'"(Chopin 111). Mrs. Pontellier dug herself into a deeper hole, but she is happy. She has a love for Robert that will not work but Arobin provides the love, lust, and attention that was lacked within her marriage. Arobin is there for her, while she is still independent and not attached. This is important because it allows Edna to focus on herself, while remaining happy and full of life. Kate Chopin was an artist and an author. Through her pieces of literature and art she told stories and
Social expectations of women affected Edna and other individuals in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, struggles throughout the novel in order to become independent and avoid her roles as mother and housewife in American Victorian society in 1899. This was because women during the 19th century were limited by what society demanded of them, to be the ideal housewives who would take care of their families. However, Edna tries to overcome these obstacles by exploring other options, such as having secret relationships with Robert and Arobin. Although Edna seeks to be independent throughout the novel, in the end she has been awakened but has not achieved independence.
Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening, focused a spotlight on some very dark corners of our society. As a woman, I want to have a voice in my marriage, and I want to make decisions along with my husband, if I decide to marry. In The Awakening, Edna is a married woman who does not want to be a wife or a mother. She is bound to her home and her husband who makes every important decision in their marriage.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening takes place in the late 19th century, in Grande Isle off the coast of Louisiana. The author writes about the main character, Edna Pontellier, to express her empowering quality of life. Edna is a working housewife,and yearns for social freedom. On a quest of self discovery, Edna meets Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, falls in and out of love,and eventually ends up taking her own life. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening shows how the main character Edna Pontellier has been trapped for so many years and has no freedom, yet Edna finally “awakens” after so long to her own power and her ability to be free.
The Awakening sheds light on the desire among many women to be independent. Throughout the novel Edna conducts herself in a way that was disavowed by many and comes to the realization that her gender prevented her from pursuing what she believed would be an enjoyable life. As the story progresses Edna continues to trade her family obligations for her own personal pleasures. This behavior would not have been accepted and many even criticize the novel for even speaking about such activities. Kate Chopin essentially wrote about everything a women couldn’t do. Moreover, it also highlights the point that a man is able to do everything Edna did, but without the same
The Awakening by Kate Chopin was published during the turn of the century which heavily influenced the themes of the novel. The plot takes place in the late nineteenth century Southern American Society with a woman named Edna Pontellier as the main character. The novel narrates Edna’s struggles as she lives in this society. The ending is very controversial as Edna takes her own life by swimming out into the ocean. Though it may seem like Edna’s suicide is liberating herself from society, it is really the author criticizing the society that oppresses women into domesticated roles. To understand Edna’s reasons for her suicide, women’s domesticated role in the society must be analyzed by not only looking at Edna’s relationship with other characters,
In Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, the reader immediately notices the sexual undertones of Mrs. Mallard and Robert’s relationship and the strained relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. There are always going to be women who do not want the routine “married with children” lifestyle, unfortunately in Edna’s time period that was the primary role of women. Had she been living in today perhaps she would have been without a husband and children, possibly totally devoted to a career in the arts and totally single. Back to her reality though: I believe she is unsure if she wants that one true love (supposedly Robert) or if she just wants anyone who will pay her a little attention and is fun (supposedly Alcee Arobin). Edna wants to be Wild and Free, not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but she needs to recognize it for what it is because she is really fooling herself.
The time Edna spends in water is a suspension of space and time; this is her first attempt at realizing Robert's impermanence. In a strange way, Edna is taking her self as an object of meditation, where at the extremity of self absorption, she should be able to see through her own selflessness. "As she swam she seemed to be reaching for the unlimited in which to lose herself[emphasis added]" (Chopin 74). Edna has left her earthly existence on the shore and looked forward to a new existence, with the "unlimited", or nirvana as a tantalizing prize on the other shore. Her mistake lies in looking back.
In The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier is a married woman with children. However many of her actions seem like those of a child. In fact, Edna Pontelliers’ life is an irony, in that her immaturity allows her to mature. Throughout this novel, there are many examples of this because Edna is continuously searching for herself in the novel.
Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a woman who throughout the novella tries to find herself. Edna begins the story in the role of the typical mother-woman distinctive of Creole society but as the novelette furthers so does the distance she puts between herself and society. Edna's search for independence and a way to stray from society's rules and ways of life is depicted through symbolism with birds, clothing, and Edna's process of learning to swim.
Edna’s Fall from Grace in The Awakening. In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin tells of Edna Pontellier's struggle with fate. Edna Pontellier awakens from a slumber only to find that her life is displeasing, but these displeasing thoughts are not new to Edna. The actions taken by Edna Pontellier in the novel The Awakening clearly determine that she is not stable.
During the late nineteenth century, the time of protagonist Edna Pontellier, a woman's place in society was confined to worshipping her children and submitting to her husband. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, encompasses the frustrations and the triumphs in a woman's life as she attempts to cope with these strict cultural demands. Defying the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna battles the pressures of 1899 that command her to be a subdued and devoted housewife. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity.
In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the setting is in the late 1800s on Grand Isle in Louisiana. The main character of the story is Edna Pontellier who is not a Creole. Other important characters are Adele Ratignolle, Mr. Ratgnolle, Robert Lebrun, and Leonce Pontellier who are all Creole's. In the Creole society the men are dominant. Seldom do the Creole's accept outsiders to their social circle, and women are expected to provide well-kept homes and have many children. Edna and Adele are friends who are very different because of their the way they were brought up and they way they treat their husbands. Adele is a loyal wife who always obeys her husband's commands. Edna is a woman who strays from her husband and does not obey her husband's commands. Kate Chopin uses Adele to emphasize the differences between her and Edna.
Could the actions of Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening ever be justified? This question could be argued from two different perspectives. The social view of The Awakening would accuse Edna Pontellier of being selfish and unjustified in her actions. Yet, in terms of the story's romanticism, Edna was in many ways an admirable character. She liberated herself from her restraints and achieved nearly all that she desired. Chopin could have written this novel to glorify a woman in revolt against conventions of the period. Yet, since the social standpoint is more factual and straightforward, it is the basis of this paper. Therefore, no, her affairs, treatment of her family and lovers, and suicide were completely unwarranted. She was not denied love or support by any of those close to her. Ultimately Edna Pontellier was simply selfish.
Kate Chopin's The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother living in the upper crust of New Orleans in the 1890s. It depicts her journey as her standing shifts from one of entrapment to one of empowerment. As the story begins, Edna is blessed with wealth and the pleasure of an affluent lifestyle. She is a woman of leisure, excepting only in social obligations. This endowment, however, is hindered greatly by her gender.
Freedom means to be able to do what one desires to do without being restricted from doing that action. In Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening, she displays how the protagonist, Edna, escapes from her relationship and society .She feels cornered by society and she is not satisfied with her relationship. Mr.Pontellier Edna’s husband does not treat her with respect, but as if she is a child. Edna is trying to get out of the relationship because she wants to be treated equally (Chopin). During the 1800s, oppression of women was beginning to happen more frequently with women not taking anymore of the unfair rights and actions toward women. Edna uses others distractions or hobbies to feel free away from everything else in her life. Throughout The Awakening, Edna’s obsession with water, playing music and just flat out leaving her family despite her children are her actions toward freedom. She finds these activities soothing and comfortable ,she is feel when she is around doing these things she can't be judged or told what to do. With her obsession with water it is a Her transcendalistic obsession with water and nature sooths her and releases the toxins from her life. With music being an interest of her, she plays it a lot throughout the book too, which is a symbol of something she does to escape from society. But all of these actions by Edna result in her suicide ,which is a way of freeing herself from everything that is constricting her in her life. Edna’s longing for freedom inspires many of her actions throughout The Awakening.