Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening

869 Words2 Pages

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 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 Chopin's

Awakening, the reader meets Edna Pontellier, a married woman who

attempts to overcome her "fate", to avoid the stereotypical role of a

woman in her era, and in doing so she reveals the surrounding

society's assumption and moral values about women of Edna's time.

Edna helps to reveal the assumptions of her society. The people

surrounding her each day, particularly women, assume their roles as

"housewives"; while the men are free to leave the house, go out at

night, gamble, drink and work. Edna surprises her associates when she

takes up painting, which represents a working job and independence for

Edna. Leonce does not appreciate this. The reader sees how he assumes

what she should be doing from this quote on page 57: "Mr.Pontellier

had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit

submissiveness in his wife. But her new and unexpected line of conduct

completely bewildered him. ... Then her absolute disregard for her

duties as a wife angered him." Leonce says himself, "It seems to me

the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the

mother of children, to spend in an atelier [meaning a studio for

painting] days which would be better employed contriving for the

comfort of her family." This quote is rather symbolic as it uses the

word "emplo...

... middle of paper ...

...men 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 stereotypical roles of a woman.

In The Awakening, Edna is used as a tool to emphasize the surrounding

society's assumptions of a woman and the morals that they value.

Often, a character is set apart from their culture for this sole

purpose, to stress a point the author wants to make. In this case,

Chopin wants to show the reader how male dominated society has been,

how quickly women succumb to their "roles", and how easily people can

be shaped to consider a different and all too meaningless set of

morals. Edna is strategically alienated in the novella so as the

reader can discover society's assumptions and moral values of the era

and up until today.

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