In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, relationships are central to how the numerous characters interact and change. One of the more prominent relationships in the novella is that of Robert Lebrun and Edna Pontellier. Not only does this relationship deepen the connection between the two characters, but also heightens Edna’s sense of self-awareness, contributing to her transformation. In fact, Chopin uses the relationship between Robert and Edna to illustrate how Edna changes throughout the story. From a basic literary viewpoint, it is made clear how Robert’s absence affects Edna. When he leaves for Mexico, Edna becomes depressed and lonely, her relationship with her husband lacking the same affection as that of Robert. Edna feels that “Robert’s …show more content…
In addition to this, Chopin uses repetition to suggest how Edna’s habits are tied to Robert. Things that brought Edna joy before his departure, such as painting and swimming, are no longer rewarding to her. Conversely, Edna is optimistic and excited upon learning that Robert will be returning. The outlook she has on her surroundings changes again, as “she was already glad and happy to be alive at the mere thought of his return. The murky, lowering sky, which had depressed her a few hours before, seemed bracing and invigorating” (Chopin 82). At this point in the story, the reader is shown that Edna is not independent, as her actions and happiness depend on Robert. However, as the reader learns, Robert leaves in the first place in an attempt to forget his love for Edna. He understands that …show more content…
It is seen as “wrong” when Edna expresses discontent with her marriage personally, and with marriage as a whole. She feels no desire to be a wife, as “the little glimpse of domestic harmony which had been offered her, gave her no regret, no longing. It was not a condition of life which fitted her, and she could see in it but an appalling and hopeless ennui” (Chopin 56). At this point, Edna begins to realize what she wants, which is to live for herself without the need to be tied to anyone. She states that “I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose” (Chopin 108). Unfortunately, this newly found desire wholly contradicts the desires of Robert, who thinks Edna wants to utilize this independence to marry him. He’s confused and troubled by Edna’s rejection, as he turns pale and questions her. From a historical viewpoint, Robert’s traditionalism and inability to understand Edna’s motives and the meaning of her awakening could reflect men of Chopin’s time, some of who claimed to support feminist movements but were unable to accept the effects of such change. Regardless, this conflict between Edna and Robert completes her awakening. Edna is no longer reliant upon Robert in order to feel confident or
In Kate Chopin's, The Awakening, Edna Pontellier came in contact with many different people during a summer at Grand Isle. Some had little influence on her life while others had everything to do with the way she lived the rest of her life. The influences and actions of Robert Lebrun on Edna led to her realization that she could never get what she wanted, which in turn caused her to take her own life.
In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna Pontellier’s suicide is an assertion of her independence and contributes to Chopin’s message that to be independent one must choose between personal desires and societal expectations. Chopin conveys this message through Edna’s reasons for committing suicide and how doing so leads her to total independence. Unlike the other women of Victorian society, Edna is unwilling to suppress her personal identity and desires for the benefit of her family. She begins “to realize her position in the universe as a human being and to recognize her relationship as an individual to the world within and about her” (35).
The relationship Edna has with Mademoiselle Reisz guides her transformation from a wife and mother to a single woman. Reisz acts as a role model for her, someone who does not conform to society’s expectations. Mademoiselle Reisz lives how she wants and accepts both positive and negative consequences of her lifestyle. From the first time Edna sees her play, she admires Mademoiselle Reisz. “The woman, by her divine art, seemed to reach Edna’s spirit and set it free” (623). The music she plays helps calm Edna’s spirit. Mademoiselle Reisz allows Edna to read the letters Robert wrote to her and she supports her in her decision to follow her heart and be with Robert. In doing so, she kindles the passionate flame Edna has for Robert. As Edna wishes t...
Edna Pontellier was on her way to an awakening. She realized during the book, she was not happy with her position in life. It is apparent that she had never really been fully unaware However, because her own summary of this was some sort of blissful ignorance. Especially in the years of life before her newly appearing independence, THE READER SEES HOW she has never been content with the way her life had turned out. For example she admits she married Mr. Pontellier out of convenience rather than love. EDNA knew he loved her, but she did not love him. It was not that she did not know what love was, for she had BEEN INFATUATED BEFORE, AND BELIEVED IT WAS love. She consciously chose to marry Mr. Pontellier even though she did not love him. When she falls in love with Robert she regrets her decision TO MARRY Mr. Pontellier. HOWEVER, readers should not sympathize, because she was the one who set her own trap. She did not love her husband when she married him, but SHE never once ADMITS that it was a bad decision. She attributes all the problems of her marriage to the way IN WHICH SOCIETY HAS defined the roles of men and women. She does not ACCEPT ANY OF THE BLAME, AS HER OWN. The only other example of married life, in the book, is Mr. and Mrs. Ratignolle, who portray the traditional role of married men and women of the time. Mr. Pontellier also seems to be a typical man of society. Edna, ON THE OTHER HAND, was not A TYPICAL WOMAN OF SOCIETY. Mr. Pontellier knew this but OBVIOUSLY HAD NOT ALWAYS. This shows IS APPARENT in the complete lack of constructive communication between the two. If she had been able to communicate with her husband they may have been able to work OUT THEIR PROBLEMS, WHICH MIGHT HAVE MADE Edna MORE SATISFIED WITH her life.
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
Her transformation and journey to self-discovery truly begins on the family’s annual summer stay at Grand Isle. “At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life- that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions. That summer at Grand Isle she began to loosen a little of the mantle of reserve that had always enveloped her” (Chopin 26). From that point onward, Edna gains a deeper sense of desire for self-awareness and the benefits that come from such an odyssey. She suddenly feels trapped in her marriage, without being in a passionately romantic relationship, but rather a contractual marriage. Edna questions her ongoing relationship with Leonce; she ponders what the underlying cause of her marriage was to begin with; a forbidden romance, an act of rebellion against her father, or a genuine attraction of love and not lust? While Edna internally questions, she begins to entertain thoughts of other men in her life, eventually leading to sensuous feelings and thoughts related to sexual fantasy imagined through a relationship with Robert Lebrun. Concurrently, Edna wavers the ideas so clearly expected by the society- she analyzes and examines; why must women assimilate to rigid societal standards while men have no such
Kate Chopin uses characterization to help you understand the character of Edna on how she empowers and improves the quality of life. Edna becomes an independent women as a whole and enjoys her new found freedom. For example, Chopin uses the following quote to show you how she begins enjoying her new found freedom.”The race horse was a friend and intimate association of her
She desperately wanted a voice and independence. Edna’s realization of her situation occurred progressively. It was a journey in which she slowly discovered what she was lacking emotionally. Edna’s first major disappointment in the novel was after her husband, Leonce Pontellier, lashed out at her and criticized her as a mother after she insisted her child was not sick. This sparked a realization in Edna that made here realize she was unhappy with her marriage. This was a triggering event in her self discovery. This event sparked a change in her behavior. She began disobeying her husband and she began interacting inappropriately with for a married woman. Edna increasingly flirted with Robert LeBrun and almost instantly became attracted to him. These feelings only grew with each interaction. Moreover, when it was revealed to Edna that Robert would be leaving for Mexico she was deeply hurt not only because he didn’t tell her, but she was also losing his company. Although Edna’s and Robert’s relationship may have only appeared as friendship to others, they both secretly desired a romantic relationship. Edna was not sure why she was feeling the way she was “She could only realize that she herself-her present self-was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored
In the novel, during many instances, intricate intimacies are illustrated. “No multitude of words could have been more significant than those moments of silences, or more pregnant with the first-felt throbbings of desire.” (30) Robert, in pursuit of Edna unlocks her sexual awakening alongside his social awakening. Robert becomes aware that he must step out of the boundaries and evolve as a man. Yet Robert still stumbles in his path. He and Edna have a common bond. They both attempt to defy the norms of society. Robert respects Edna’s yearning for individualism and only seeks to accompany her on that journey by form of marriage. However, he struggles to fight what societal ordainment. He lacks the key to break societies chains. He can’t simply let go of the expectation of marriage within this era. On the contrary his relationship with Edna gives him an optimistic view on his love life. “His search has always hitherto been fruitless, and he has sunk back, disheartened, into the sea. But to-night he found Mrs. Pontelllier.” (29) His passion for Edna, conveys his innocent hope for repressive love between himself and Edna. He and Edna
Another aspects of the story is that once Edna’s awakening begins to take place, she is on a roller coaster of emotions, from the manic exuberance of listening to music and the sounds of the water, her connection to robert--it’s as though all her senses are opened up. Between times, however, she is really depressed, as though all the color that Chopin imparts so beautifully in the descriptions of the other scenes, has become dull and uninteresting. Then, she is flung into an emotional upheaval when she reads Robert’s letter to Mlle Reisz, as the latter plays Wagner. Clearly, these kinds of emotions cannot be borne by a woman whose cultural structure does not admit the building of her own that it might sustain the weight and number. She is overwhelmed. She must escape, and she does, for her situation now is powerfully reminiscent of the “joy that kills” in “Hour.”
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.
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.
Edna’s first action that starts off her route to freedom from her relationship is when she fell in love with Robert. Edna had already married a man that she had not loved but he has not been treating her a...
She cleans, entertains, and takes care of the children. Her diversion from her usual routine as a mother woman is started by her own inward questioning when she goes down to the beach with Adele Ratignolle and she asks her what she is thinking. Edna expresses a want to know herself, even though Adele and many others tell her that it is a useless wish. Edna has no one who truly understands her; she is isolated from society by a barrier of self knowledge that they deem madness. The only person who might understand is Robert, who she loves. But even he turns pale when Edna speaks derisively of his want for her husband to give her to him, saying that she can give herself to whomever she chooses. There is no one in the novel who has the same mindset as Edna. The isolation and pressure from society and her husband adds to her madness, cumulating in an eventual breakdown where she smashes a vase and throws off her wedding ring. The casting away of her ring symbolizes Edna throwing off the shackles of society and a loveless marriage to be her own person. She stamps on the ring, showing her distaste for her path in life and her choices in the past. Edna’s madness, and break down, show her deteriorating patience with her life and the mothering façade she wears day to day. Society views her as mad when she moves out of her husband’s house to live on her own. She breaks away from her life to set herself
The sexual aspect of Edna’s awakening is formed through her relationship with a supporting character, Robert LeBrun. In the beginning of the novel, Robert assigns himself to become the helper of Mrs. Pontellier and his advances help to crack the barrier in which Edna is placed in due to her role as a woman of the Victorian era. Her feelings begin to manifest themselves as she intends to liberate herself from her husband and run away with Robert. He on the other hand has no intention of having a sexual affair because of the role placed upon him as a man of the Victorian era which is not to destroy families. Her quest for complete independence ultimately brings her to committing suicide at the end of the story. Her suicide does not represent a disappointment in how she cannot conform to the society around her but a final awakening and symbol for her liberation.