Themes and Fate in The Awakening and Madame Bovary
Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary are both tales of women indignant with their domestic situations; the distinct differences between the two books can be found in the authors' unique tones. Both authors weave similar themes into their writings such as, the escape from the monotony of domestic life, dissatisfaction with marital expectations and suicide. References to "fate" abound throughout both works. In The Awakening, Chopin uses fate to represent the expectations of Edna Pontellier's aristocratic society. Flaubert uses "fate" to portray his characters' compulsive methods of dealing with their guilt and rejecting of personal accountability. Both authors, however seem to believe that it is fate that oppresses these women; their creators view them subjectively, as if they were products of their respective environments.
Chopin portrays Edna as an object, and she receives only the same respect as a possession. Edna's husband sees her as and looks, "...at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." (P 2 : The Awakening) Chopin foils their marriage in that of the Ratignolles who, "...understood each other perfectly." She makes the classic mistake of comparing one's insides with others' outsides when she thinks, "If ever the fusion of two human begins into one has been accomplished on this sphere it was surely in their union." (P 56 : The Awakening) This sets the stage for her unhappiness, providing a point of contrast for her despondent marriage to Mr. Pontellier. She blames their marriage for their unhappiness declaring that, "...a wedding is one of the ...
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...ate UP, 1969. 881-1000.
Delbanco, Andrew. "The Half-Life of Edna Pontellier." New Essays on The Awakening. Ed. Wendy Martin. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. 89-106.
Gilmore, Michael T. "Revolt Against Nature: The Problematic Modernism of The Awakening." Martin 59-84.
Giorcelli, Cristina. "Edna's Wisdom: A Transitional and Numinous Merging." Martin 109-39.
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Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969.
Showalter, Elaine. "Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book." Martin 33-55.
Skaggs, Peggy. Kate Chopin. Boston: Twayne, 1985.
Blechner believes that if we change the metaphors, change the stereotypes, the reality can be changed. So, when Angel becomes an angry and vengeful vampire, it won’t be a comparison to men and their masculinity, but instead an expression of what happens to him when he gets too excited. And Buffy will understand that she does not need to dress a certain way to please her man. She should only be pleasing herself. Brown’s theory also reflects the same idea as Blechner’s theory. Brown believes that if the stereotypes of sexual orientation are dismissed, and looked into with a much less biased view, that a new reality will form in the study of human behavior. Buffy, The Vampire Slayer is a metaphor for the beliefs and views (on gender roles and identity) of our society and culture in today’s world. But it also presents a metaphor for what the future should bring into how we (as a society) see males and females, and their behaviors with each other and within themselves, without the wall of stereotypical beliefs that are preventing both sexes as a whole from “slaying the demons and the vampires”.
Showalter, Elaine. "Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book." Martin 33-55.
Critics of Kate Chopin's The Awakening tend to read the novel as the dramatization of a woman's struggle to achieve selfhood--a struggle doomed failure either because the patriarchal conventions of her society restrict freedom, or because the ideal of selfhood that she pursue is a masculine defined one that allows for none of the physical and undeniable claims which maternity makes upon women. Ultimately. in both views, Edna Pontellier ends her life because she cannot have it both ways: given her time, place, and notion of self, she cannot be a mother and have a self. (Simons)
the fire they moved the rope back and forth so that the wood would get hot and start to burn.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a story about a well to do young woman, Edna Pontellier, who lives with her family in Louisiana during the late 1890’s. Set in a variety of scenes, it follows Edna as she engages on a personal journey of increasing autonomy, continually seeking both greater happiness and greater personal independence in the hope of leading a more meaningful and fulfilling life. In so doing, the novel portrays societal expectations for women in the post-war South during the late 1800’s, and shows the difficulties they faced if they refused to conform. The place of women in society can be seen in the way that the women in the novel act and speak, particularly in regards to their husbands and children, but also to others in general.
The performance assessment and appraisal forms are crucial within the performance management system (Aguinis, 2014). However, the appraisal form within the case study provided is designed for the supervisor’s use thus missing one vital factor throughout the entire process, employee participation. Thus, questioning the validity and reliability of the process. This is especially concerning as the bottom 10 per cent of employees are being fired and the top 20 per cent are being rewarded with $5,000.00 based on what their supervisor records on the form without consultation with employees. Thus, supervisors may not provide accurate scores as they do not have to justify their responses (Aguinis,
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening should be seen as depicting the discontentment that comes from self-gratification rather than the glorification of delighting in one’s fantasies. Chopin describes the central idea of one who is seeking to please her personal needs and desires and, in the process, neglects to notice how her actions affect others. The protagonist, Edna, is not able to find peace or happiness in the accepted daily life that a woman of her era and social status should have. The fulfilling of her desires could essentially cause social ostracism for her, her husband, and her children, yet she is unable to find repose in living the typical social Victorian life. The final resolve of her “awakening” to her desires, her ultimate suicide, is not an honorable position that women should strive toward as a romantic ideal because her desires were hopeless in her situation. Through Edna’s striving for personal satisfaction, she loses the joys that daily life has to offer.
In The Awakening, Kate Chopin tells a story during the upbringing of the feminist movement, the movement was masked by the social attitudes entering into the 1900’s. She tells this story in the form of a novel, in which is told in a third person view, that is very sympathetic for Edna Pontellier, the protagonist. This is a review of the journey Edna takes in her awakening and evaluate the effectiveness this novel takes in introducing, continuing, and ending Edna’s awakening.
In The Awakening Chopin seems to tell her story through the main character Edna Pontellier. Her breaking away from the conventions of literary domesticity is shown through Edna breaking away from the conventional feminine roles of wife and mother (Showalter 170). Kate Chopin shows boldness by taking the main characters and having them completely change their views on life. Edna is a young woman who discovers that her pampered married life is not what she wants. ...
Finally, the timing of appraisals could be rectified by implementing quarterly performance appraisal instead of annual ones. Having managers meet with employees more frequently may enhance individual performance by giving employees the feedback they need to improve. Also, increased appraisal may result in more accurate evaluations because it is easier to recall specific performance indicators after 3 months versus after 12
Performance appraisal is perceived by most as a tool to reward or penalize employees for their good or bad work respectively by the end of a year. This notion is a challenge in itself to deal with. The whole exercise becomes dull for both supervisors and their subordinates and they tend to look at it as an additional responsibility which they have to finish. In the end, there is little or no value addition for either the employee or the organization. There are, however, better ways of looking at and conducting performance appraisals. It can give much needed feedback to both performers and laggards to improve upon and if done properly can even boost their motivation. More importantly, they provide a chance to employees to have a say in their goal setting and thus aligning it with the departmental and organizational goals. Also, the process itself has a value in team making.
Although performance is a major objective at top organizations, successfully addressing poor performance is also a key focus. Although many employees feel or dread performance appraisals they are directed to enforce clarity with individual employees day-to-day work-load, performance appraisals develops responsibility while making employees accountable for performance expectations, reinforces future career planning, helps the organization with determining training needs, and provides a stem of documentation for legality purposes. Performance management in detail is much broader than many employers, and employees assume and necessitates so much more. Proficient appraisals should represent a summary of on-going dialogue. Focusing only on an annual performance evaluation leads to misrepresentation of the performance management process in its
Grubb, T. (2007). "Performance Appraisal Reappraised: It's Not All Positive." Journal of Human Resource Education. Vol. 1, (No. 1,): 1-22.
In our world, people rely heavily on the power of technology every day. Kids are learning how to operate an iPad before they can even say their first word. School assignments have become virtual, making it possible to do anywhere in the world. We can receive information from across the world in less than a second with the touch of a button. Technology is a big part of our lives, and without it life just becomes a lot harder. Just like our phones have such an importance to us in our daily lives, database management systems are the same for businesses. Without this important software, it would be almost impossible for companies to complete simple daily tasks with such ease.
used firewood. I can recall putting wood in the heater and taking a poker to stir the