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Think about your life like the ocean. Not knowing what is going to happen, just waiting for the next conflict to get bigger and crash into a million pieces. This digs a hole of problems with no way out and no resolutions to anything. Try and find little ways to stand up to these conflicts and find a way out the same way Edna Pontellier tries to. In the novella The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna has several experiences of resistance to her society. She has built herself a hole and cannot seem to find her way out. Despite Edna’s problems’, people believe she has succeeded in finding herself by rebelling successfully and separating herself from her society. Therefore, there are going to be illustrations of people thinking Edna fails to free herself …show more content…
from this hole she has put herself into. To conclude, in The Awakening there are several signs of Edna resisting going along with her community.
Edna fails and succeeds in some ways, but she cannot run away from the fact that her husband, Alcee and Robert all love her.
Since Edna digs herself a big hole of conflict, she finds a couple of ways for people to believe that she is disobedient. The first way that people think Edna is successful in her rebellious attitude is when she is stubborn and fights with her husband about silly stuff. One thing she fights with him about is coming inside from lying on the hammock and she refuses after he tells her to come in. Mr. Pontellier said Edna is crazy “I can’t permit you to stay out there all night” he commanded her to come inside (Chopin 53). In the Victorian era people were working on a movement towards women’s suffrage and social equality except there was still a rigid social structure that has a constricting effect on women. Mr. Pontellier can still tell Edna what to do but she was being insubordinate and tells him “no”. Dramatic characterization is shown here and is describing her as stubborn. Another way people think Edna is victorious with rebellion in her society is that she will do whatever she has to, to hold onto her own happiness. Edna will give up her children, husband and herself if
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it means keeping her contentment. Edna talks to Madame Ratignolle about the fact “[Edna] would never sacrifice herself for her children or for anyone” (Chopin 79). In Edna’s time period you would give up your happiness so that someone else will find happiness but she refuses to give it up for anyone. The theme of this is, give up what you love so other’s can do or have what they love. The last way people believe Edna rebels in The Awakening is when she breaks herself from the constraints her husband puts on her life. She has wanted to break free for a long time. She had swum further than she swum before and the “Exhaustion was pressing upon and overpowering her” (Chopin 190), then she heard her father and her sister Margaret’s voice, and old flames of terror came over her, then sank again. The mood here is fear; Edna shows fear right before she drowns herself. Her triumph with rebellion in this situation is huge. She swims so far out into the ocean that she drowns herself and she refuses to stand up to her husband. In conclusion, Edna has many attainments of uprisings, even though these successes result in her losing her life. People feel Edna is successful in being rebellious but they also feel she is unsuccessful.
One way they think Edna is not successful at rebelling is how she attaches herself to her children. She still feels like she needs to be connected to her children in some way, but she does not want to be devoted to her children. Edna sends her children to their grandparent’s house to live and she tells herself that she will not be involved with them anymore, but yet she gets sucked back into knowing what they are doing and sending them stuff and looking into their lives again. The conflict in this situation is man vs. self; Edna is fighting with herself about whether to let her children back into her life. Even the children had gone “Old Madame Pontellier had come herself and carried them off to Iberville” (Chopin 120), she was sad but then she was overcome with peacefulness. When you have children you are not to send them away and forget about them but Edna does that to try and separate her from them. Edna is unsuccessful because she lets the anxiousness and anti-peacefulness back into her life. A second way people believe Edna fails to rebel in her society is by not being able to engage in a meaningful relationship. This is mainly the exposition because I feel that this problem leads to other problems in the book. She is married to Mr. Pontellier except she does not love him anymore. She also is in love with Robert at the same time she has an intimate relationship with Alcee Arobin
except none of these relationships has long lasting love. She was sitting at her house with Alcee and “he leaned forward and kissed her” (Chopin 139), it was unlike anything she has experienced before. She is not committed to one man, she jumps around, in the beginning it is Mr. Pontellier then Robert then it is Alcee and she cannot choose. The last way I believe people think Edna fails to rebel is that she is cowardly, gives up and kills herself. She goes to the beach and essentially gives up on life, the exhaustion consumes her. She was swimming very far out from the shore “and recalled the terror that seized her at the fear of being unable to regain the shore” (Chopin 190). I put this into the perspective of her being a weakling. One of the motifs is the sea and this goes along with that motif because the water symbolizes her escape from life. She has many problems in her life but instead of dealing with them and facing them she gives up and runs into the ocean to drown. In this paragraph we see Edna trying many ways to rebel, except she is defeated by her own strength. In the end, Edna overestimates how strong she is. Edna is found in every situation either failing or succeeding to rebel, in the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier is faced with several challenges in life. People think that Edna has found herself by rebelling successfully and putting herself in different situations, which her society might not approve of. Consequently, people also find demonstrations of Edna failing at her goals of rebellion. Some people will put it into perspective of her prospering with her triumphs and others focus on her disappointments. All in all, Edna Pontellier reveals to its audience that she tries to get out of many situations she has put herself into. Ultimately, I believe Edna is a failure because clearly she has given up and does not find herself along the way.
Edna seems to disregard the fact that her changes were affecting others around her, but in chapter XIX, the author reveals how Edna’s awakening has been affecting her husband. Leonce, who bared witness to the whole transformation, was able to tolerate some resistance from his wife as long as she remained taking care of her duties as a mother and wife. Leonce realized Edna had changed, but could not see in what way, he could not see the way these changes were better his wife. He saw the change in her only from the outside, he could not see how it affected her heart, and how it turned her into her true self. Edna was selfish for not thinking about her loved ones before changing her life so drastically, but her husband was selfish for not realizing she needed this change to be who she
Edna’s Fall from Grace in The Awakening. In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin tells of Edna Pontellier's struggle with fate. Edna Pontellier awakens from a slumber only to find that her life is displeasing, but these displeasing thoughts are not new to Edna. The actions taken by Edna Pontellier in the novel The Awakening clearly determine that she is not stable.
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.
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.
Edna misunderstands the situation and claims that she is the victim of Robert removing himself from her life. Robert solely wants to salvage her reputation and be a good man. He does not wish to become the man that ruined Edna’s even if it meant he could be with the woman he loves. She wholly disregards the things Roberts cares about when deciding that he is selfish for not only thinking of her. When Robert leaves her near the end of the book to protect her reputation, Edna still believed that she was the victim: “‘Good-by--because I love you.’ He did not know; He did not understand … it was too late”(125). Edna is a woman who leaves her husband, her children, and her friends all because she only cares about herself, and when she does not get what she wants, Robert, she decides that there was no more reason to live.
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.
Could the actions of Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening ever be justified? This question could be argued from two different perspectives. The social view of The Awakening would accuse Edna Pontellier of being selfish and unjustified in her actions. Yet, in terms of the story's romanticism, Edna was in many ways an admirable character. She liberated herself from her restraints and achieved nearly all that she desired. Chopin could have written this novel to glorify a woman in revolt against conventions of the period. Yet, since the social standpoint is more factual and straightforward, it is the basis of this paper. Therefore, no, her affairs, treatment of her family and lovers, and suicide were completely unwarranted. She was not denied love or support by any of those close to her. Ultimately Edna Pontellier was simply selfish.
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.
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
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
Edna’s first action that starts off her route to freedom from her relationship is when she fell in love with Robert. Edna had already married a man that she had not loved but he has not been treating her a...
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...
She doesn't follow the rules. morals that all the women surrounding her succumb to in life. By defying these "laws" Edna makes clear the morals that all the other. women value the satisfaction of their husband, the acceptance of society, and the conformity to the stereotypical roles of a woman. In The Awakening, Edna is used as a tool to emphasize the surrounding.
Before then she was a spirited woman who was struggling against the traditional binary gender roles. Margaret and Edna parallel each other as they both exhibit masculine characteristics and do not fit in the mould of the 19th century. Edna is even described as a ‘’not a mother-woman’’ (19). She believes that she has no choice in her life. When Mademoiselle Reisz plays a piano piece, it stirs countless emotions inside of Edna. She imagines a man ‘’standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He was naked’’ (65). This is a symbol that Edna believes to be impossible for her. That symbol is of freedom. The man has shed all of his weight, his oppression and Edna wonders if this will ever be possible for her. As a woman, she might never be equal and will forever be oppressed and supressed. However, that very night, Edna stands up for herself and gains this awakening. Starting from this symbolic image that she imagines as she listens to the music, she starts to grow into the person she truly is. Chopin writes ‘’ 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’’ (70). Later that night she refused to go in with her husband, instead sleeping outside. She ‘’began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul’’. Edna was
Edna’s recognition of herself as an individual as opposed to a submissive housewife is controversial because it’s unorthodox. When she commits suicide, it’s because she cannot satisfy her desire to be an individual while society scorns her for not following the traditional expectations of women. Edna commits suicide because she has no other option. She wouldn’t be fulfilled by continuing to be a wife and a mother and returning to the lifestyle that she led before her self-discovery.