Societal Expectations Of Women In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening women in the 19th century completely lack any role in society besides wives, mothers, and women actively searching men to marry and procreate with. Societal expectations dictate that women must marry a man and obey his every whim, bear children and shelter and protect them. If not married and or mothers, they must seek a man and remain chaste and pure until they do so. While at first Edna Pontellier complies with society’s standards, her enlightenment allows her to challenge and in a feministic finale, free herself from the overpowering patriarchal influence that controls her society. Edna completely contravenes the societal expectations forced upon her. She disregards her husband and their marriage, neglects her children, and in the end, refuses to accept society’s standards and commits suicide. Edna’s tragic end highlights the female struggle that accompanies an enlightened perspective on gender issues.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍
In 19th century society,

A woman must sacrifice their entire begins to care for her children and husband. While the children spend time at a grandparent’s house, the narrator comments “Their absence was a sort of relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her.” (pg 23) The specific diction of ‘blindly assumed’ enforces the idea that society forces women into certain cookie-cutter roles, even though not all women fit the mold. The contempt Edna feels towards her children persists throughout the entire novel. In her last moments she claims that her children tried to “ drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days.” (pg 120). Edna acknowledges that women’s societal expectations often force them to conform as wives and mothers. Unlike Adele Ratignolle, Edna fails to give up herself to care for her