Freedom means to be able to do what one desires to do without being restricted from doing that action. In Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening, she displays how the protagonist, Edna, escapes from her relationship and society .She feels cornered by society and she is not satisfied with her relationship. Mr.Pontellier Edna’s husband does not treat her with respect, but as if she is a child. Edna is trying to get out of the relationship because she wants to be treated equally (Chopin). During the 1800s, oppression of women was beginning to happen more frequently with women not taking anymore of the unfair rights and actions toward women. Edna uses others distractions or hobbies to feel free away from everything else in her life. Throughout The Awakening, Edna’s obsession with water, playing music and just flat out leaving her family despite her children are her actions toward freedom. She finds these activities soothing and comfortable ,she is feel when she is around doing these things she can't be judged or told what to do. With her obsession with water it is a Her transcendalistic obsession with water and nature sooths her and releases the toxins from her life. With music being an interest of her, she plays it a lot throughout the book too, which is a symbol of something she does to escape from society. But all of these actions by Edna result in her suicide ,which is a way of freeing herself from everything that is constricting her in her life. Edna’s longing for freedom inspires many of her actions throughout The Awakening. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...American history and Edna even though that she is just a fictional character had stopped sitting around a just took the mental abuse from her relationship. The movement finally felt its impact when the nineteenth amendment finally was ratified. The nineteenth amendment states that anyone has the right to vote as long as they are of age and registered. Edna is showing that she wants to be treated normally and with respect just as Robert treats her, Robert not literally but in a way could be symbolized as the nineteenth amendment for Edna to get out of her marriage with Mr.Pontellier. Works Cited http://departments.knox.edu/engdept/commonroom/Volume_Three/number_one/mbird/print.html http://islamicvoice.com/islamicvoice/treat-your-spouse-the-way-you-would-like-to-be-treated/ “The Awakening” http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/additionalresources.html
Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a woman who throughout the novella tries to find herself. Edna begins the story in the role of the typical mother-woman distinctive of Creole society but as the novelette furthers so does the distance she puts between herself and society. Edna's search for independence and a way to stray from society's rules and ways of life is depicted through symbolism with birds, clothing, and Edna's process of learning to swim.
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 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.
In The Awakening, Chopin sets up two characters main characters and a subsidiary female character to serve as foils to Edna. The main characters are Adele Ratignolle, "the bygone heroine of romance" (888), and Mademoiselle Reisz, the musician who devoted her life to music, rather than a man. Edna falls somewhere in between the two, but distinctly recoils with disgust from the type of life her friend Adele leads: "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman." Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, the two important female principle characters, provide the two different identities Edna associates with. Adele serves as the perfect "mother-woman" in The Awakening, being both married and pregnant, but Edna does not follow Adele's footsteps. For Edna, Adele appears unable to perceive herself as an individual human being. She possesses no sense of herself beyond her role as wife and mother, and therefore Adele exists only in relation to her family, not in relation to herself or the world. Edna desires individuality, and the identity of a mother-woman does not provide that. In contrast to Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz offers Edna an alternative to the role of being yet another mother-woman. Mademoiselle Reisz has in abundance the autonomy that Adele completely lacks. However, Reisz's life lacks love, while Adele abounds in it. Mademoiselle Reisz's loneliness makes clear that an adequate life cannot build altogether upon autonomy. Although she has a secure sense of her own individuality and autonomy, her life lacks love, friendship, or warmth. Later in the novel we are introduced to another character, her name is Mariequita. Mariequita is described as an exotic black-eyed Spanish girl, whom Edna looks upon with affectionate curiosity. Unlike the finely polished heroine, Mariequita walks on "broad and coarse" bare feet, which she does not "strive to hide". This strikes Edna with a refreshing sense of admiration. To her, the girl's soiled feet symbolize naked freedom, unconstrained by the apparel of civilization. Thus, Edna finds her rather beautiful. Mariequita is more like an unrefined version of Edna, that is, her instinctual self. At times, Mariequita ventures to express the thoughts that are secretly buried in Edna's unconscious.
In the first passage, Edna is clearly set apart from what appears to be the status quo of female behavior in her society. She is not a mother-woman. The term, mother-woman is a reductive one which implies a singular purpose or value. The mother-woman is a mother; being one defines and regulates every aspect of her life. They “…esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” Chopin’s use of religious words and imagery is interesting; it certainly alludes to Victorian ideals of womanhood in which the woman is a vessel of purity and piousness. Viewing women as angels or pure, infallible beings elevates them, but also robs them somewhat of their humanity. In addition to this, it places restraining and unnecessary imperatives on their behavior, and encourages them to strive for the unattainable-a pursuit that will probably leave them feeling inadequate. The mother-women are described generally, however, in this passage, and seem entirely one-dimensional. Also, they possess an almost absurd and quality, “fluttering” about after their children, perceiving “imaginary” dangers everywhere. Chopin deals with the mother-women more complexly later through the character of Madame Ratignolle.
"How do you honor the deepest truth you know?" --Ram Das In order to honor one's deepest truth, one must first discover what that truth is and then apply that truth to everyday life. The life of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening signifies the search, discovery, and application of an individual's deepest truth. Edna, a wealthy New Orleans housewife, at first attempts to find the deepest truth about herself by conforming to society's norms. She marries a well-respected man, Leonce, and bears him children. However, Edna discovers that she wants more out of life; something about her marriage is not allowing her to achieve fulfillment. Through her relationships, confrontations, and conflicts with other characters, Edna discovers that her deepest truth is her need for independence from those that hold her back and she honors her deepest truth by exerting the power of her individuality. However, Edna's search for and exertion of independence drastically contrasts the expected role of a nineteenth century woman in Louisiana and this fact eventually causes the entrapment which leads to Edna's suicide. Edna cannot have the things she wants (independence and freedom), and she cannot want the things she has (respectability, children, and a good home) and she must find a way to escape this predicament. Chopin, by demonstrating Edna's awakening, attempts to wake her own society up to the beauty of an independent woman. However, Louisiana was not very receptive, just as Edna's culture does not accept Edna's change.
At first Edna only misses Robert greatly and wonders why he never writes her like he promised he would. She does get to read letters in which Robert has sent others instead of her.
In the novella The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the main character Edna Pontellier “becomes profoundly alienated from traditional roles required by family, country, church, or other social institutions and is unable to reconcile the desire for connection with others with the need for self-expression” (Bogard). The novella takes place in the South during the 1800’s when societal views and appearances meant everything. There were numerous rules and expectations that must be upheld by both men and women, and for independent, stubborn, and curious women such as Edna, this made life challenging. Edna expressed thoughts and goals far beyond her time that made her question her role in life and struggle to identify herself, which caused her to break societal conventions, damage her relationships, and ultimately lose everything.
In the novel, Mademoiselle Riesz states, “The artist must possess the courageous soul that dares and defies,” (Chopin). In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier exhibits the unconventional woman and possesses the artist’s rebellious soul. She sacrifices her position as being a wife and mother to her children, in pursuit of her happiness. With the overbearing burden of upholding society’s idealized image of women, Edna repels the illusions by being a free woman. By her being free, it allows her to discover the world around her and unleash her curiosity. Kate Chopin illustrates through Edna that limits are nonexistent. Chopin also makes clear that the only way freedom can be truly achieved is through death. Although there were limited opportunities for women to express themselves, it takes courage to sacrifice oneself for the sake of being true to who they are.
During the late nineteenth century, the time of protagonist Edna Pontellier, a woman's place in society was confined to worshipping her children and submitting to her husband. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, encompasses the frustrations and the triumphs in a woman's life as she attempts to cope with these strict cultural demands. Defying the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna battles the pressures of 1899 that command her to be a subdued and devoted housewife. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity.
Affairs and liaisons are not necessary parts of life, but for Edna Pontellier they help awaken her true sexual desires, passions, and needs. Her husband provides the needed cover for society and helps her to realize what she is lacking in life. Robert supplies the love, the passion, and the fairy tale romance. He shows her what love is and elicits her childish infatuation. Alcée brings out Edna's id, her want for sex. He allows her to show her animalism that craves sexual attention. Through her experiences with these three men, Edna fully awakens her sexuality.
Besides having unconventional views of motherhood, Edna shows her modernity as she diverges from societal standards especially that of marriage. Throughout the novel, Edna goes against the societal norm of being dependent upon her husband, Mr. Pontellier. One example of this, as discussed before was her defiance to become the mother her husband expected of her. In addition to this, once home in New Orleans, Edna also refused to answer her husbands calls from important investors claiming that she, “simply felt like going out”. In these ways, Edna demonstrates a disregard for the respect woman previously were obligated to present to their significant others. However, not only did Edna refuse to follow under her husband’s direction, she also
In this book, the audience follows a Victorian Era New Orleans resident, Edna. Nevertheless, throughout the story we see that Edna is struggling between two desires; the desire to be loved and the desire to be free and independent of men. This conflict of desires illuminates the meaning of the work to show that in that time period, a woman’s independence or love both come at a price, and that they were mutually exclusive.
Edna is a woman that has overcome many obstacles in her lifetime, but when she decides that she needs more than just her husband in her life, Edna’s life will
The sexual aspect of Edna’s awakening is formed through her relationship with a supporting character, Robert LeBrun. In the beginning of the novel, Robert assigns himself to become the helper of Mrs. Pontellier and his advances help to crack the barrier in which Edna is placed in due to her role as a woman of the Victorian era. Her feelings begin to manifest themselves as she intends to liberate herself from her husband and run away with Robert. He on the other hand has no intention of having a sexual affair because of the role placed upon him as a man of the Victorian era which is not to destroy families. Her quest for complete independence ultimately brings her to committing suicide at the end of the story. Her suicide does not represent a disappointment in how she cannot conform to the society around her but a final awakening and symbol for her liberation.