Edna’s will to break out of the confinement of her family vs. Mr. Pontellier’s determinedness to keep Edna In Edna’s quest for independence and control over herself, Mr. Pontellier and his family pose the immediate threat to Edna, who associates family with mental confinement. At first, Mr. Pontellier confines Edna’s will and asserts his dominance by reproaching his wife, that “if it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” (178). While Edna initially adheres to Mr. Pontellier’s oppressive demands, as Edna continues to explore herself, Edna grows more and more determined to break out of her family in many ways, one of which is separating herself physically from her family by moving out of the house. Because
Edna’s suicide not only signifies the final resolution of the Edna’s struggle to defy the social construct and become independent, but, comparing to the first time Edna swims, suggests important changes within Edna. Edna’s resolution is one of defiant submission. Edna’s suicide effectively clears up any of Edna’s problems, and makes sure that no one could “possess her, body and soul” (351). However, Edna acknowledges that suicide is a cowardly way to detach herself from the world, as she contemplates that Reisz would have laughed because Edna has called herself an artist, but does not possess “the courageous soul that dares and defies” (351). While the scene of the climax may mirror a previous scene of Edna swimming in the water, with some of the same quotes, small changes, such as the “million lights of the sun” in the suicide scene comparing to the soothing night in the previous one and the “bird with a broken wing” in the suicide scene circling down into the ocean, suggest that Edna submits to the world powered by man, and does not have the courage to truly break out of the society, just like the bird with a broken
Chopin describes the sea as “whispering, clamoring … inviting the soul to wander in the abysses of solitude” (350). “Whispering” and “clamoring” demonstrate the almost dream-like characteristics of the sea, demonstrating that Edna’s desire to swim into the sea is just mere an escape from reality, just like a dream. Edna, indeed, uses the sea as an ultimate escape from the social construct, which she will never truly break out of, when she commits suicide in the sea. “Abysses of solitude” foreshadows that Edna’s dream to become independent, though tempting like the sea, comes with inherent
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.
In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the romantic and lyrical nature of Frederick Chopin’s Impromptu, as well as its originality, are the vehicle by means of which Edna realizes her love for Robert and her desire to be free and self-determined.
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
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.
The irony of the story is the Edna learns how to swim ,yet she used the sea to take her own life. When the author states’ “But it was too late, the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone. She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant then sank again”(135). In this quote the author ,Chopin, chose to show irony to end Edna’s character because Edna had faced her fears,and learned to swim and not fear the water. However ,the climax is also shocking for the readers because the author had shown Edna’s character as a strong women who had faced her fears and learned how to swim. By Edna killing herself the author shows us that Edna never changed and she is still that weak broken women who is trapped in life that she was so desperate to get out
In The Awakening, Kate Chopin’s protagonist Edna Pontellier breaks the boundaries of female behavioral norms by using the sea as a metaphor to convey Edna’s strength and empowerment. Edna’s recklessness shows her passion to escape from the restrictive reality of her time. Edna first breaks boundaries when she steps into the water in chapter X, in a “daring and reckless way, overestimating her strength”(Chopin 27). Edna swims out to sea to escape the entrapment of a male dominated society. She does not know how to swim or survive in this male dominated society. Swimming illustrates the alienation Edna feels. She attempts to overcome her fears
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
“A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul” implies the tremendous joy that encourages her to shout, as well as underscores the significance of the experience in terms of the greater awakening, for the experience actually does provide Edna with the ability to control her own body and soul for the first time. Her “daring and reckless” behavior, her overestimation of strength, and the desire to “swim far out, where no woman had swum before” all suggest the tragic conclusion that awaits Edna. Whether her awakening leads her to want too much, or her desires are not fully compatible with the society in which she lives, she goes too far in her awakening. Amazed at the ease of her new power, she specifically does not join the other groups of people in the water, but rather goes off to swim alone. Indeed, her own awakening ultimately ends up being solitary, particularly in her refusals to join in social expectations. Here, the water presents her with space and solitude, with the “unlimited in which to lose herself.
When she visits Madame Reisz for consulting, she warns Edna of the strength it will take to metaphorically fly above her social roles. Ultimately, Edna decides she cannot sacrifice herself for anyone else, even her own children. She decides to move out of her husband’s house and into the pigeon house, taking only the possessions he did not buy for her. Soon, she realizes the pigeon house acts as a cage just as much as her old home did. In the end, her internal conflict tears her apart and, to escape the feeling of entrapment, she drowns
Like the current beneath its surface, it pulls and tugs at her soul, inviting her to its depths. Edna was attracted to the water, just the same as she was her changes. When she first begins to transition, she was chary and distant, hesitant of its mysterious qualities- she felt the same way towards the ocean. She was not sure why, but she could not resist the temptations of this new fantasy, and she could not stop herself from finding her way back to the water. In her eyes, “the voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation,” (Chopin 33). Edna felt connected to the water; in it, she reached self-actualization and encountered a side of her no one else knew existed...even herself. It was only once its potent seductions drew her in did Edna begin to see and feel the alterations swelling inside her. The true turning point and catalyst in her awakening was her ability to swim on her own. While Edna did attempt to swim before, she was never truly free- she depended on
The thoughts and actions of Edna Pontellier are solely determined by her manic depressive state, her apparent repressed abuse from her childhood, and her abandonment of Christianity. Throughout the novel, the reader gets a clear sense of Edna Pontellier's peculiar mind and her manic depressive state. She is continually plagued by the moment. Her mood shifts from highs to lows show the reader that sadness is perpetually within her. We are told there are days when she "was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with sunlight."
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 major conflict was her need for independence and personal fulfillment while still trying to conform to her traditional upbringing. Edna was expected to be a perfect wife and mother, both while vacationing on Grand Isle and living in New Orleans. She was to be the social hostess , wife and mother, all the while keeping house, maintaining order with the servants and children, and being the perfect hostess once a week. While she is living on Grand Isle and in the big house in New Orleans, Edna stays inside these conventional roles, does what is expected of her, and never looks further than her front door, so to speak.
The beautiful sound of the sea constantly calls out to Edna, as Chopin says, “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude.” When Edna commits suicide at the end of the book, she is finally giving in to the power and true depth of the ocean. Edna’s suicide was her one true way to escape society, as she is exhausting herself trying to get away from it all. Chopin, using the symbolism of the sea, is critiquing society’s overbearing rules and expectations, and how trying to escape those rules and expectations are near impossible to do. If one tries to escape society and the rules and expectations that come with it, if someone succeeds at doing it, then it is a triumphant accomplishment, but the attempt to escape is very difficult and may end just like Edna’s attempt to do so. The sea also serves as a reminder that her awakening was also a rebirth of sorts. In the sea’s infinite expanse, it serves as a symbol of the strength, power, and the supreme loneliness of independence. The sea represented exactly what Edna wants, the emptiness and vastness of the sea would mean total freedom for Edna, so it is only right for her to die there. In many ways, Edna’s death was not harsh or violent, it was peaceful, her death only marked a turning point for society. When more women think and act like Edna and break