“The Awakening” is a courageous piece of literature work that demonstrates how civilization forced tremendously elevated expectancies for females and their hypothetical roles. Kate Chopin uses this novel to bring those “expected roles” to light. Edith Wharton also shows how this epidemic has restricted and impaired two of the protagonist in her story “Roman Fever”. During the time period that this book was written, in the early nineteenth century, this epidemic of forcing roles on women was widespread, and this altered the lives of these women in an abysmal way incessantly. During the nineteenth century, Edna Pontellier lived in a society that imposed strict roles and had high expectations on women. Frequently referred to as the “women sphere” …show more content…
These roles comprised, but not limited to, being the faultless communal entertainer, prodigious wife and affectionate mother all at the same time. These expectations that were imposed on her confined Edna, and after refusing to follow the “rules” she packed up and moved to her own house. The “Pigeon House” was nicknamed by Edna because these roles that she was obligatory to abide by, and ultimately after moving numerous times and never feeling that she was “at home”. Edna ended up taking her own life, and that is the only place where she can find respite, ease and discretion. As New Orleans was the center of communal roles, Edith Wharton’s’ “Roman Fever” was based in Rome, but the characters are from Old New York’s muffled Victorian society, which has the uppermost values for appropriateness. The two characters, Grace Ansley and Alida Slade were raised up in Manhattan, New York and were childhood friends ever since they can recollect.
Even though the two girls are inordinate friends, there are plentiful personality traits that set them apart. Alida is outgoing, “Fuller and higher in color” and has a very optimistic and intense personality. Grace on the other hand, has a cloudy, grey nature, has no imagination, and is frequently referred to as a “museum specimen of Old New
When Edna felt dissatisfied with the life she is given, she pursues other ways in which to live more fully. She attempts painting and enters into an affair with another man. As her desire for freedom grows, she moves out of her husband’s house and tries to live life as she sees fit. She lives a life reflecting her new philosophies towards life, philosophies that are in conflict with that of society. The oppression by man caused Edna to have a social awakening, illuminating the meaning of the novel.
Throughout Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, the main protagonist, experiences multiple awakenings—the process in which Edna becomes aware of her life and the constraints place on it—through her struggles with interior emotional issues regarding her true identity: the confines of marriage vs. her yearning for intense passion and true love. As Edna begins to experience these awakenings she becomes enlightened of who she truly and of what she wants. As a result, Edna breaks away from what society deems acceptable and becomes awakened to the flaws of the many rules and expected behavior that are considered norms of the time. One could argue that Kate Chopin’s purpose in writing about Edna’s inner struggles and enlightenment was to
Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening. In Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening, the reader is introduced into. a society that is strictly male-dominated where women fill in the stereotypical role of watching the children, cooking, cleaning and keeping up with appearances. Writers often highlight the values of a certain society by introducing a character who is alienated from their culture by a trait such as gender, race, or creed.
In the book, The Awakening, Kate Chopin addresses a common struggles woman face in society through the main character Edna Pontellier during the 1800s. Edna Pontellier is an American woman infused with charm and grace. Edna’s charm could not escape her. She moved gracefully among the crowds and appeared self-contained. Edna learned to master her feeling by not showing outward and spoken feelings of affections, either in herself or in others. This type of behavior appears common in society and understood within Edna’s the marriage relationship with her husband. However, one summer while vacationing at the Grand Isle, the reserved manner Edna always enveloped began to loosen a little and her soul began to awaken.
Over the span of our short years we meet people who create a way for us to even better express ourselves, thoughts, and our character. These people are a catalyst to our personality and most often make us better as a person. On the other hand we also meet people whose personalities are stifling, repressing, and/or controlling of ours. These people are anchors, and are known to metaphorically put the real us in a cage. Throughout the course of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening we see that many of the male characters approach Edna and that they each tried to either repress, or control Edna in some way shape or form.
She cannot live a life of serving others and existing merely to entertain guests while simultaneously being an independent individual. 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
Nineteenth-century society was an era that was defined by one ideology: “separate spheres.” Resting on preconceived notions of male and female characteristics, men, being the strongest of the species, were expected to work, while the women-with well-credited rectitude over their male counterparts-were expected to care for the home and raise their army of children to lead their family tree into world domination and carry on the misogynistic line of male hierarchy. Edna’s life is parallel to this Victorian era philosophy of the “separate spheres,” and it is these exact demands that that finally push her to find herself. The main source of this awakening does not just come from her somewhat backward love connection to Robert Lebrun, but from the
Kate Chopin wrote in a period of time where women were standing up for there right. In other words, women’s curiosity grew more and more while she was taking away there liberties, the more they take away the more the curiosity grew. Kate Chopin was born in 1851 in Catherine O’Flaherty, she was a marry woman with six children and later widow. She stared writing novels, which was offensive to men, that’s why she never had a chance to publish them, after later she finally did. Chopin wrote a lot of fictional stories which help change the point or view of women in society. One of the novels called The Awakening written in 1899, a story of adultery and sexuality which was badly criticizes by other readers of how she portrayed women in the novels. No thought later in the time she was recognizing by the feminist scholar lecture. The next story called The Storm, probably publish at the same time as the novel The Awakening, which in reality she did not intended to publish. The novel The Storm talks about a woman that committed adultery which ones occur, no one got hurt at the end.
After these episodes, the images related to birds are absent form the narrative until the chapter 29. Following the summer on Grand Isle, where she had awakening experiences, she starts to express her desire for independence in New Orleans through her move to her own house, the pigeon house "because it's so small and looks like a pigeon house" (pp 84). The nickname of the pigeon house is very significant because a pigeon house is a place where pigeons, birds that have adapted to and benefited from the human society, are kept cooped up.
She didn't wait for his approval nor did she expect it or care, she didn't take anything from the old home that was his, and she paid for it on her own without taking any of his money for it. The "pigeon-house" represents Edna's freedom in acting as her own person.
Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, is followed by the audience through her voyage of self-realization. As Edna’s journey unfolds, Chopin incorporates a vast variety of symbols in order to express Edna’s relationship with society. One of the most present symbols that Chopin uses is the way she addresses Edna’s clothing or its absence. As Edna’s character develops and her desire to liberate herself swells, she removes clothing that she feels are not only constricting to her body physically but to her soul emotionally. While Edna removes her clothing throughout the novel, she is contravening the social norms and rules that the society she lives in has presented to her. This is one of many ways that Edna
Women have been fighting for gender equality and unbiased respect from society. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and many others advocated for women’s right to vote and the subsequent ability to hold a position in public office. If this is true, why do sexist individuals believe that it is so predictable that a female candidate receives votes primarily from women? When have women proven that they are not intelligent enough nor capable of a leadership role in this society? If one of those misogynists would look into history, he/she would see how much of an impact women have had on society. Although women have been granted the same rights as their male counterparts, including voting and labor rights, they are still oppressed in terms
Roman Fever" is an outstanding example of Edith Wharton's theme to express the subtle nuances of formal upper class society that cause change underneath the pretense of stability. Wharton studied what actually made their common society tick, paying attention to unspoken signals, the histories of relationships, and seemingly coincidental parallels. All of these factors contribute to the strength and validity of the story of Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley.
While the Narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper strove for independence from the mental suppression she was placed under, Edna Pontellier of Kate Chopin’s story The Awakening fought for physical autonomy from her husband and children. The belief that women of the late 1800s were expected to remain in the domestic sphere and care for their families first before themselves was expected. In doing so they were unable to think of their own wants or desires before that of their families’. The Awakening highlights the physical aspects of feminine roles in this patriarchal society.
When Kate Chopin develops the male characters in her novel, The Awakening, she portrays men in a very objectionable light. For the most part, her men are possessive, cowardly and self-serving. She seems a trifle unfair and biased in her portrayal of men, yet this view is necessary for Chopin to get her point across. She uses the characters of Mr. Pontellier, Robert, Alcee and a few other men to demonstrate her observations of the middle class man in the society of her day.