The Awakening
In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is a selfish character. She wishes to live her life the way she wants without anyone interfering. She did not start selfish, but grew selfish as her hidden desires were awakened. Her selfishness comes from her complete disregard for anyone’s happiness besides her own. Edna refuses to attend her sister’s wedding, describing the event as lamentable. Even if Edna did not want to attend, a wedding is for the bride and groom’s happiness. She is unable to compromise any of her own desires for the happiness of others. Edna’s own marriage was an act of rebellion for marrying outside of what was expected, and came with the titles of wife and mother. Edna abandoned her relationship without trying to resolve any difficulties with her husband before satisfying her needs. She does not discuss with him her unhappiness or seek his approval before moving to the pigeon house. She develops her relationship with Arobin only to fulfill her own physical needs.
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...
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...powerful; therefore, everything is a result of God allowing it to happen. Yet, how could a loving father allow disease to harm his children. Satan views man as unintelligent to believe the way he does about God. “He equips the Creator with every trait that goes to the making of a fiend, and then arrives at the conclusion that a fiend and a father are the same thing” (347).
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 561-652. Print.
Twain, Mark. "Letters from the Earth." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 336-351. Print.
Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 24-67. Print.
Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself.” 1855 ed. Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Edwin Haviland Miller. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989. 9-11.
In The Awakening, the male characters attempt to exert control over the character of Edna. None of the men understand her need for independence. Edna thinks she will find true love with Robert but realizes that he will never understand her needs to be an independent woman. Edna's father and husband control her and they feel she has a specific duty as a woman. Alcee Arobin, also attempts to control Edna in his own way. Edna knows she wants freedom. She realizes this at the beginning of the book. "Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her (Pg. 642). Throughout The Awakening she is trying to gain that independence that she wants so bad.
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
Madam Reisz influenced the existence of Edna by acting as a form of sanctuary for her in which Edna would have to seek her when placed in a state of misfortune, or when being inundated with boredom. "It was during such a mood that Edna hunted up Mademoiselle Reisz." (58) When Edna returns to the city, she is dominated by the premonition to seek Mademoiselle Reisz, yet the purpose is indistinct. By seeking madam’s residence Edna is supplied with two factors of appeasement that are able to suppress her boredom: Robert’s letter’s, and Reisz’s music: ‘The shadows deepened in the little room. The music grew strange and fantastic, turbulent, insistent, plaintive, and soft with entreaty. The shadows grew deeper. The music filled the room. It floated out upon the night over the housetops, the crescent of the river, losing itself in the silence of the uppe...
Maybe one must contemplate how much his or her happiness is truly worth. Regardless, every person has internal conflict not easily solved. In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier struggles with two conflicting forces, expectations of her and her own desires, illuminating the meaning of the novella: defying societal expectations in order to seek individuality and independence is always just. Edna is a complex character driven by her need for independence and freedom.
In her novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin is an artist who paints a picture for the reader with every word:"The sun was low in the west, and the breeze was soft and languorous that came up from the south, charged with the seductive odor of the sea." (12) The inclusion of such alluring and dramatic images allows the reader to see, hear, feel, smell, and live in the scene which she creates. Chopin writes to awaken the senses, and her style is one of beauty and uniqueness. As if stroking a brush across a canvas, or playing a chord on the piano, Chopin’s use of expressive, descriptive, and poignant writing is evident throughout the novel, thus adding to its overall effect.
...they represent concerning women’s roles in society. Adele plays to entertain her husband and friends at parties, whereas Reisz plays for the art of the craft, always striving to be more proficient and more artistic. Mademoiselle Reisz easily sees past Edna's front, welcomes Edna into her life, and helps usher in the biggest change of Edna's life. Mademoiselle Reisz and her personality serve as the catalyst for the changes that Edna makes in her life. Edna strives to be Mademoiselle Reisz concerning her element of independence, while Leonce Pontellier, Edna’s husband, would like her to be more like Adele Ratignolle, and it is Edna who is striving to find the delicate balance in the middle.
Twain, Mark. "Letters to the Earth." Norton Anthology of American Literature.Vol C. Ed. Nina Baym.8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012. 347-51. Print.
Works Cited Franklin, R. F. "The Awakening and the Failure of the Psyche. " American Literature 56 (Summer 1984): 510-526. Platizky, R. "Chopin's Awakening. " Explicator 53 (Winter 1995): 99-102. Seyersted, P. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography.
Works Cited Chopin, Kate. A. The Awakening. New York: Avon, 1972. Print.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. A Norton Critical Edition: Kate Chopin: The Awakening. Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. 3-109.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Anthology of American Literature. Volume II: Realism to the Present. Ed. George McMichael. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 697-771.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1985.
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." 1899. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Ed. Per Seyersted. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969. 881-1000.