The novel, The Awakening, and the short story, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” both stories have women that are not respected by their husbands. Both of the women, Edna Pontellier and Sarah Penn, have husbands who do not respect them, but they fight back in different ways. Their battles shows the differences between these two women from an earlier and less accepting time.
They are both strong willed characters. They both believe strongly enough in themselves that they will go to the extremes. Sarah moves out of her house. As does Edna, and they both do so against their husband’s wills. Neither of their husbands wants to have their wives move out of their houses, but they both do so and even go as far as to move their stuff with them. Edna only brings some of her things with while Sarah moves everything. She empties her and her families home and moves into the barn. The barn shows the wildness of her action because she did not just move her stuff out into another house she moved it to the barn, the barn where animals are supposed to be held. As it is in Sarah’s point of view, “ We’ve got jest as good a tight here as new horses an’ cows.”(Wilkins) This is quite the staement, still Edna’s move could be considered more devastating because when she moved out she moved out into another house with no intention of living with her husband. Whereas Sarah was going to continue living with her husband. Living with him in the barn, but never the less living with him.
Maybe it was their class differences that lead them to their final doings. Edna was of a high class. She had many workers who did her chores for her. The reader would think that she is lazy and thus lacking willpower because she does very little work for herself. She does not even ca...
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...y none the less because Edna was trying to get separation from Leonce. Unlike Sarah moving out was just the start for Edna. Once she had that she wanted more, and she ended up with the most she could possibly obtain.
In the end there were very many similarities between Sarah Penn and Edna Pontellier which lead them both to their goals. However their differences lead them to different goals. Goals that they fight their disrespecting husbands for. But was it the end was it each person’s character that lead them to their actions or was it there husbands?
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Stories. 1899. Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert. New York: Penguin Books, 1984.
Wilkins, Mary. “The Revolt of Mother.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. Sept. 1890: 553-561. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. 10 Oct. 2008. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu
Edna seems to disregard the fact that her changes were affecting others around her, but in chapter XIX, the author reveals how Edna’s awakening has been affecting her husband. Leonce, who bared witness to the whole transformation, was able to tolerate some resistance from his wife as long as she remained taking care of her duties as a mother and wife. Leonce realized Edna had changed, but could not see in what way, he could not see the way these changes were better his wife. He saw the change in her only from the outside, he could not see how it affected her heart, and how it turned her into her true self. Edna was selfish for not thinking about her loved ones before changing her life so drastically, but her husband was selfish for not realizing she needed this change to be who she
In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is a selfish character. She wishes to live her life the way she wants without anyone interfering. She did not start selfish, but grew selfish as her hidden desires were awakened. Her selfishness comes from her complete disregard for anyone’s happiness besides her own. Edna refuses to attend her sister’s wedding, describing the event as lamentable. Even if Edna did not want to attend, a wedding is for the bride and groom’s happiness. She is unable to compromise any of her own desires for the happiness of others. Edna’s own marriage was an act of rebellion for marrying outside of what was expected, and came with the titles of wife and mother. Edna abandoned her relationship without trying to resolve any difficulties with her husband before satisfying her needs. She does not discuss with him her unhappiness or seek his approval before moving to the pigeon house. She develops her relationship with Arobin only to fulfill her own physical needs.
Edna Pontellier was on her way to an awakening. She realized during the book, she was not happy with her position in life. It is apparent that she had never really been fully unaware However, because her own summary of this was some sort of blissful ignorance. Especially in the years of life before her newly appearing independence, THE READER SEES HOW she has never been content with the way her life had turned out. For example she admits she married Mr. Pontellier out of convenience rather than love. EDNA knew he loved her, but she did not love him. It was not that she did not know what love was, for she had BEEN INFATUATED BEFORE, AND BELIEVED IT WAS love. She consciously chose to marry Mr. Pontellier even though she did not love him. When she falls in love with Robert she regrets her decision TO MARRY Mr. Pontellier. HOWEVER, readers should not sympathize, because she was the one who set her own trap. She did not love her husband when she married him, but SHE never once ADMITS that it was a bad decision. She attributes all the problems of her marriage to the way IN WHICH SOCIETY HAS defined the roles of men and women. She does not ACCEPT ANY OF THE BLAME, AS HER OWN. The only other example of married life, in the book, is Mr. and Mrs. Ratignolle, who portray the traditional role of married men and women of the time. Mr. Pontellier also seems to be a typical man of society. Edna, ON THE OTHER HAND, was not A TYPICAL WOMAN OF SOCIETY. Mr. Pontellier knew this but OBVIOUSLY HAD NOT ALWAYS. This shows IS APPARENT in the complete lack of constructive communication between the two. If she had been able to communicate with her husband they may have been able to work OUT THEIR PROBLEMS, WHICH MIGHT HAVE MADE Edna MORE SATISFIED WITH her life.
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.
Edna and Blanche are two characters that are very free spirited and youthful. They are spirits that are not to be tamed and do what they please regardless of what people think about them. Edna’s example of her most free spirited moment is when
Often in novels, a character faces conflicting directions of ambitions, desires, and influences. In such a novel, like “The Awakening,'; the main character, Edna Pontellier, faces these types of conflicting ideas. In a controversial era for women, Edna faces the conflict of living in oppression but desiring freedom. The patriarchal time period has influenced women to live only under the husband’s thumb but at the same time, break away from such repression. These opposing conflicts illuminated the meaning of “social awakening'; in the novel.
Mary Wilkins Freeman's, "The Revolt of Mother" first appeared in Harper's Bazaar in 1890, as a short story. The story is laden with conflict throughout. Sarah Penn's (Mother's) conflict is driven by her strong conviction for fair treatment by her husband. She is in conflict with her husband, the community and the gender role defined by the social conventions of that era.
She desperately wanted a voice and independence. Edna’s realization of her situation occurred progressively. It was a journey in which she slowly discovered what she was lacking emotionally. Edna’s first major disappointment in the novel was after her husband, Leonce Pontellier, lashed out at her and criticized her as a mother after she insisted her child was not sick. This sparked a realization in Edna that made here realize she was unhappy with her marriage. This was a triggering event in her self discovery. This event sparked a change in her behavior. She began disobeying her husband and she began interacting inappropriately with for a married woman. Edna increasingly flirted with Robert LeBrun and almost instantly became attracted to him. These feelings only grew with each interaction. Moreover, when it was revealed to Edna that Robert would be leaving for Mexico she was deeply hurt not only because he didn’t tell her, but she was also losing his company. Although Edna’s and Robert’s relationship may have only appeared as friendship to others, they both secretly desired a romantic relationship. Edna was not sure why she was feeling the way she was “She could only realize that she herself-her present self-was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored
As the novel starts out Edna is a housewife to her husband, Mr. Pontellier, and is not necessarily unhappy or depressed but knows something is missing. Her husband does not treat her well. "...looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." She is nothing but a piece of property to him; he has no true feelings for her and wants her for the sole purpose of withholding his reputation. "He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" Mr. Pontellier constantly brings her down for his own satisfaction not caring at all how if affects Edna.
...tionship she had until she was left with literally no reason to live. Throughout the novella, she breaks social conventions, which damages her reputation and her relationships with her friends, husband, and children. Through Edna’s thoughts and actions, numerous gender issues and expectations are displayed within The Awakening because she serves as a direct representation of feminist ideals, social changes, and a revolution to come.
Edna needed to be in control of her life. As long as she was married and a mother she would never have total control.
The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin in 1899, tells the story of Edna Pontellier. Throughout the story, Edna questions her marriage and the quality of her marriage. Edna's husband, Leonce, is a successful business man, but this also has consequences, which affect the marriage with negative outcomes. First of all, Edna married when she was young, but Leonce didn’t become a successful husband, or at minimum, didn’t meet Edna’s expectations. Second of all, the marriage is odd and unstable because of Leonce’s lack of interest in Edna, and Edna’s lack of interest in Leonce, as well as the marriage as a whole. To conclude, Edna committed to marriage too early, Leonce and Edna have an unstable marriage, and Edna is not pleased with Leonce as a husband.
In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening women in the 19th century completely lack any role in society besides wives, mothers, and women actively searching men to marry and procreate with. Societal expectations dictate that women must marry a man and obey his every whim, bear children and shelter and protect them. If not married and or mothers, they must seek a man and remain chaste and pure until they do so. While at first Edna Pontellier complies with society’s standards, her enlightenment allows her to challenge and in a feministic finale, free herself from the overpowering patriarchal influence that controls her society. Edna completely contravenes the societal expectations forced upon her. She disregards her husband and their marriage, neglects her children, and in the end, refuses to accept society’s standards and commits suicide. Edna’s tragic end highlights the female struggle that accompanies an enlightened perspective on gender issues.
In Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening, a young mother, Edna Pontellier, breaks from her mundane life of obligations and begins to experience life with a new perspective. In doing this, Edna neglects her family. Adele Ratignolle, a friend of Edna’s, is perfectly content with her married lifestyle, acting as the perfect “Motherwoman”(Chopin 12). By displaying Adele as a foil of Edna, Chopin is able to emphasize the importance of love in a marriage.
Edna throughout the story was very difficult in many parts on she wants to be loved the other part she