In any given society, people are expected to be well behaved, obedient, and orderly. But in each society, there will be individuals that go against the law because they realize their true identity do not conform to the rules. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the intertwined themes of self-discovery and the implications of self-expression can be found throughout the novel. Chopin uses events from her life to enhance the plot of the novel, influencing the thoughts and experiences of the main character, Edna Pontellier, with her own personal experiences and upbringing. Chopin based her novel The Awakening off of her own experiences as a woman during the Victorian Era, where women were only to be docile, respectful, and submissive to men. Chopin’s …show more content…
During this time period, women were expected to be obedient and listen to their male authoritative figures; neither the author or her character conform, as they rebel which leads to society’s disapproval . Edna does not idolize her children and worship her husband. Whenever her children would be away from her for a short period of time, “their absence was a sort of relief…” (Chopin 17). Edna does not feel as strongly about her motherly duties as the other women do, which makes her seem like a bad mother. In contrast to Edna’s disobedience to her husband and “disservice” to her children, Adele Ratignolle was the prime example of the ideal woman. When describing the mother-women, Chopin states, “many of them were delicious in the role; one of them was the embodiment to every womanly grace and charm” (Chopin 8). Adele is the woman every woman wants to be and every man would want. As a result, Edna looks up to Adele’s example, in order to try to conform to societal expectations. However, Edna is not as submissive to Mr. Pontellier as the other wives are to their husbands, which causes problems in their relationship. After coming back from the hotel, Mr. Pontellier finds one of his sons sick and Edna fast
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment” –Ralph Waldo Emerson. This timeless quote applies not only to the life from past generations for centuries but also is perfectly relevant for the today’s modern generation. The outward struggle of compliance to societal pressures against internal struggles for the pursuit of truth with integrity has been a persistent challenge within societies for many years. An example of such conflict from past centuries is distinctly demonstrated in The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Chopin exemplifies this strife through the protagonist of the novella: Edna Pontellier. Edna’s constant external conformity working against her internal questioning illustrates
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.
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
Individual will is a force that is significant, and yet can be manipulated by a more powerful source. In the Victorian Age setting within The Awakening by Kate Chopin, men have been manipulated by society. They are forced to reflect their norms on women. These norms have been caused repressive and manipulative behavior within men. Edna Pontellier, protagonist of the novel, confronts several men who confront her yearning for individualism. Each male plays a role ordained by society and as a result they develop characteristics that promote specific, yet conflicting images to the reader.
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 does not want to feel tied down to a husband and children. She gradually becomes more and more distanced from being a wife and mother. She begins spending time with Robert Lebrun which begins as just a friendship with no strings attached but continually escalates. Although Robert chooses a different woman to flirt with each year at Grand Isle, and it never escalates to a full on relationship, Robert and Edna do begin to have true feelings for each other. When the summer ends and the Pontellier family returns to their home in New Orleans, Edna gives up on the callers and often just leaves the home to explore without leaving an excuse. She changes so drastically that Leonce even asks Doctor Mandelet to check her out because he thinks she has lost her mind. Doctor Mandelet presumes she has joined a women’s movement but he also speculates she may be having an affair. He does not mention the affair because he feels a true Creole man would have a better, stronger hold on his woman. Eventually, when Leonce is absent on business, Edna becomes fed up with living in a lavish home that she did not provide for herself that she decides to move out. She no longer wants to remain dependent on Leonce’s money and wants to provide for herself. Upon moving out of her house and leaving her family, she begins to spend more time with Alcee Arobin and Robert Lebrun. She has always felt feelings for Robert, but even when
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.
Edna Pontellier is an “strong-willed” (67) woman, refuses to “obey” (34) her husband. Moreover, Edna is “unwilling” (5) and “inattentive” (6) towards her children, when her husband says they are “sick” (5). Throughout the novel, Edna “focuses” (66) her time on her “sketches” (68) rather than her house duties. Furthermore, Edna “abandon” (49) her “duties” (50) to “entertain [her] guests” (50) on Tuesdays. Edna decides to move into a “pigeon house” (85) as a sign of her newly found “independence” (86).
Similarly to Edna's relationship with her children is that with her husband, Leonce. The Grand Isle society defines the role of wife as full devotion and self-sacrifice for your husband. Edna never adhered to societies definitions. For example, the other ladies at Grand Isle "all declared that Mr.'Pontellier was the best husband in the world" (689). And "Mrs. Pontellier was forced to admit she knew of none better"(689). By using words like "forced" and "admit", Edna has to acknowledge her true feelings towards Leonce. Edna's leaving Leonce's mansion is another important detail when considering the process of her awakening. By moving to her own residence, Edna takes a big step towards her independence. Throughout The Awakening, Edna increasingly distances herself from the image of the mother-woman, until her suicide, which serves as the total opposite of the mother-woman image.
As the novel starts out Edna is a housewife to her husband, Mr. Pontellier, and is not necessarily unhappy or depressed but knows something is missing. Her husband does not treat her well. "...looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." She is nothing but a piece of property to him; he has no true feelings for her and wants her for the sole purpose of withholding his reputation. "He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" Mr. Pontellier constantly brings her down for his own satisfaction not caring at all how if affects Edna.
Edna’s relationship with Leonce and the children is challenged. According to the book, she is not a motherly figure. She is more of a carefree person and did not feel she had to be with her children all the time “if one of the little Pontellier boys took a tumble whilst at play, he was not apt to rush crying to his mother’s arm for comfort, he would more likely pick himself up” (Chopin 16). This is from her husband, Mr. Pontellier. He believes Edna does not do her job as a mother and she does not feel the need to care after her children.
The possibility of a life beyond the scope of motherhood, social custom, standards of femininity, and wifedom characterize Kate Chopin’s vision of her heroine’s awakening, but Edna’s personal growth remains stifled by her inability to reconcile the contradictory impulses pulling her in different directions. Edna clearly envisions herself somewhere between mother-goddess figure Adele Ratignolle and the artist-spinster Mademoiselle Reisz, yet can not seem to negotiate a space that affords the luxury of love unspoiled by self-sacrifice and obligation. Edna’s “soul” surfaces when she allows herself to act on impulse over duty, but as Chopin’s words reveal, Mrs. Pontellier blindly fol...
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
In the first passage, Edna is clearly set apart from what appears to be the status quo of female behavior in her society. She is not a mother-woman. The term, mother-woman is a reductive one which implies a singular purpose or value. The mother-woman is a mother; being one defines and regulates every aspect of her life. They “…esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” Chopin’s use of religious words and imagery is interesting; it certainly alludes to Victorian ideals of womanhood in which the woman is a vessel of purity and piousness. Viewing women as angels or pure, infallible beings elevates them, but also robs them somewhat of their humanity. In addition to this, it places restraining and unnecessary imperatives on their behavior, and encourages them to strive for the unattainable-a pursuit that will probably leave them feeling inadequate. The mother-women are described generally, however, in this passage, and seem entirely one-dimensional. Also, they possess an almost absurd and quality, “fluttering” about after their children, perceiving “imaginary” dangers everywhere. Chopin deals with the mother-women more complexly later through the character of Madame Ratignolle.
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...