How Does Edna's Domesticated Role In The Society?

The Awakening by Kate Chopin was published during the turn of the century which heavily influenced the themes of the novel. The plot takes place in the late nineteenth century Southern American Society with a woman named Edna Pontellier as the main character. The novel narrates Edna’s struggles as she lives in this society. The ending is very controversial as Edna takes her own life by swimming out into the ocean. Though it may seem like Edna’s suicide is liberating herself from society, it is really the author criticizing the society that oppresses women into domesticated roles. To understand Edna’s reasons for her suicide, women’s domesticated role in the society must be analyzed by not only looking at Edna’s relationship with other characters,

She compares herself to two different women on Grand Isle who are under the same conditions. By these comparisons, Edna becomes aware of her own individual identity separate from society. The first line foreshadows her relationship with society as the narrator describes, “A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: “Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That’s all right!” He could speak a little Spanish, and a language which nobody understood, unless it was the mocking-bird that hung on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence” (1). The image of a caged bird represents Edna as she cannot break free from her domesticated role in society. The bird cannot be understood by anyone which ultimately describes Edna later in the novel as she is alone in her awakening because people around her don’t realize how oppressing their society is. The mockingbird is the only one who understands the parrot, as Mademoiselle Reisz, who happens to be unmarried, understands Edna’s struggle. Mademoiselle Reiz is distant and reserved from society because she does not fulfil the domesticated role of a women. She lives alone without a husband or children while devoting her life to music. Edna struggles with being an artist as she sees how Mademoiselle Reisz’s independence from marriage and motherhood makes her a lonely outsider. However, it is her isolation from society that allows her to understand Edna. Edna recalls a strange conversation with Mademoiselle Reisz, “She put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong, she said. 'The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering