In many works of literature, an author highlights or exposes the values of a society or culture through the use of characters which are alienated from that same culture or society. These characters can be alienated through many means, whether it be by gender, race, or social class. In the case of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the main protagonist is isolated by her gender. In the Novel, Edna Pontellier’s alienation exposes the unjust moral values of a patriarchal society. Evidently, throughout the whole novel, Edna is conflicted by society as a result of her refusal to conform to it. Edna, living an unfulfilled life, yearns to find meaning and independence. Edna believes her family is holding her back from living a truly enriching life, even seeing her own …show more content…
She progresses to an ‘artist-woman’ role, which is more independent, and strays from the traditional roles of a woman. As an artist-woman, Edna has much more control of her life and has a strong sense of self. However, an artist-woman lacks a life of love and companionship, and tends to focus more on her art. Edna, finding herself unable to live a life without love, cannot settle for a life as an artist-woman and continues to pursue other roles. Then, she adopts the role of a ‘free-woman’ which is extremely oppositional to the traditional values of society at the time. As a free-woman, Edna is much more independent, chooses her own sexual partners, and does not answer to anyone. Though she is happy with her life as a free-woman, her strong interpellation as a mother cause her to recognize that she is unable to exist in a role that goes against society. Yet, due to her awakening as an individual, she cannot go back to her role as a mother-woman. As such, she decides upon herself that the only way to escape this oppressive ideology set up by the patriarchal society, is through
Though these two explanations provide equal merit, they are too different for the reader to come to any fully supported conclusion of the novel. On one hand the main character is a strong independent artist who refuses conformity. On the other, the main character is a basket case and the nature of her awakening is complete self absorbed. It seems likely that the author intended to create juxtaposition in the two different interpretations of Edna’s character
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.
Society, although undoubtedly necessary, perpetuates an unduly restrictive set of expectations that few can live up to. In her novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin explores the psychological rebirth of protagonist Edna Pontellier, who comes to realize her dissatisfaction with her domestic role in nineteenth-century society. She cares for her husband Leonce and their two children, but seeks greater independence, risking Leonce’s disapproval by moving out of the house to pursue painting. In contrast, Edna’s friend Adele Ratignolle thrives as a housewife and mother, finding enjoyment in piano playing to benefit her household. In her attempt to achieve freedom, Edna finds inspiration in the reclusive pianist Mademoiselle Reisz, who advises Edna to rescind her societal ties in favor of becoming a true artist.
Edna seeks occupational freedom in art, but lacks sufficient courage to become a true artist. As Edna awakens to her selfhood and sensuality, she also awakens to art. Originally, Edna “dabbled” with sketching “in an unprofessional way” (Chopin 543). She could only imitate, although poorly (Dyer 89). She attempts to sketch Adèle Ratignolle, but the picture “bore no resemblance” to its subject. After her awakening experience in Grand Isle, Edna begins to view her art as an occupation (Dyer 85). She tells Mademoiselle Reisz that she is “becoming an artist” (Chopin 584). Women traditionally viewed art as a hobby, but to Edna, it was much more important than that. Painting symbolizes Edna’s independence; through art, she breaks free from her society’s mold.
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 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.
The 19th and 20th centuries were a time period of change. The world saw many changes from gender roles to racial treatment. Many books written during these time periods reflect these changes. Some caused mass outrage while others helped to bring about change. In the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, gender roles can be seen throughout the novel. Some of the characters follow society’s “rules” on what a gender is suppose to do while others challenge it. Feminist Lens can be used to help infer and interpret the gender roles that the characters follow or rebel against. Madame Ratignolle and Leonce Pontellier follow eaches respective gender, while Alcee Arobin follows and rebels the male gender expectations during the time period.
When Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" was published at the end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they perceived to be the author's defiance of Victorian proprieties, but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is borne out by Chopin's own words throughout her Preface -- where she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment. (Chopin, Preface ) Edna takes her own life at the book's end, not because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a wife and mother. It is this very type of independent thinking which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny women any meaningful participation.
In the novel, The Awakening, before a realization of true misery, Edna Pontellier shaped her happiness around the ideals of money, family and responsibility. After acknowledging discontent, Edna abandons her stable life to fulfill her newly awakened character. Her epiphany leads her to have an impulsive attitude and selfish lifestyle in order to escape a world of responsibility. She reinvents herself and embraces her independence thus living sensuously in order to stop masking a happy life as a mother-woman. Edna Pontellier is trapped in a fruitless marriage and social requirements, but after finding her true self through an awakening, she decides to lead a reckless life based on desire in order to fulfill her new independent and liberated character.
The definition of the word awakening is :“a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something.”The term self realization means “fulfillment of one’s own potential.”
In the deep abyss of Kate Chopin’s mind, Edna Pontellier was created. In Chopin’s story, The Awakening, Edna is a married mother of the late 1800s who goes through a series of events that lead up to her final decision; she had a husband who cared for her but was vigilant of her actions, children that did as they pleased because she was carefree, and friends who supported her throughout the whole ordeal by being by her side and trying to understand her standpoint on life. She has a turbulence of emotions throughout the book; she struggles with who she is, what her purpose is, and why she is the way she is.“Self-Reliance” demonstrates the turbulence Enda has found herself on through Emerson’s transcendentalist points of nature. “Self-Reliance”
Edna Pontellier’s suicide is viewed as both a willful act to overcome society’s confining expectations, and as a weak resort to escape her fears of conforming to what a Creole woman is. At the same time Brother Odd from Good reads states that “drowning oneself and leaving one's children without the guidance of their mother is a tragedy”, I disagree and say it is a triumph. In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, a distant wife and mother, overcomes the oppressive nature of the Creole society through her heroic journey of self- transformation.
In the novel The Awakening, Edna Pontellier the main character is portrayed as a confused wife who was trying to break away from her domestic responsibilities. In the late nineteenth-century woman of these times had a course of life already outlined for them from the moment they are born: early childhood life, teenage life helping out in the home and learning the roles of a wife, to ultimately becoming a wife, and taking care of domestic household duties as well as raising the children. At the time when Kate Chopin wrote this novel, was not a common choice. Artwork by women was outside the norm and was often banned, as was her work for this time. Edna tried to purse
The “awakening” she experiences is simply a rebirth of what used to be her true self. Marriage is obviously a barrier in the novel from beginning to end. Edna starts out obeying her husband’s every need, but as the novel progresses, she finally gains confidence and begins to disobey him and make her own decisions. Kate Chopin uses The Awakening to “set off a firestorm of complaints from critics scandalized by its frank treatment of a woman’s frustration with her marriage, her emotional and sexual awakening and her eventual suicide” (3-4) to show how the character Edna is the backbone of this
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