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Critical Analysis of The Awakening Essay
Critical Analysis of The Awakening Essay
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In the book the Awakening, the protagonist Edna Pontellier sacrificed her life for her own happiness. At first, Edna let others manage her life. Her husband, Leonce would constantly command her to do things she wouldn’t want to do. Not having enough self confidence to stand up for herself, Edna did what she was told. Starting to stick up for herself, Edna realized that her only escape from a life she no longer wanted to live was her own death. Edna valued her own contentment and originality over the path others wanted her to pursue, consequently she sacrificed her own life, which connects to the overarching theme of the novel. When Edna sacrifices her own life I believe that it was an act of triumph and that it was her way of finally being free. In the beginning of the book, Edna lets her husband push her around and her own originality is not able to shine through. However, one night things changed. Leonce was going in the house to go to bed and he invites Edna to join him. To his confusion, she says no. This may be the first time Edna stood up for herself and did something she …show more content…
wanted to do. Satisfied from how it felt to be who she actually is she maintained her pursuit toward her true self. Edna’s triumphant surrender shows that she values her own happiness over what other people want.
When she was making her way farther and deeper in the water, minutes away from committing suicide, she did not pause to consider how her husband and children would suffer from her no longer existing in their life. Rather Edna was recalling how she was never able to be who she really was or who she wanted to be. She desired to be a painter, it was something that she valued, but because of her family, she was not able to carry out her dreams. The only time Edna had a taste of what true happiness felt like was when she was with Robert, not her actual family. As a result, she sacrificed her life. She might as well be dead, not living a false life, if she could not be with Robert and live life as an artist. When Edna killed herself it was a release from her failure as an artist and as a
mother. Edna’s values connect to the overall theme of the novel, which is being true to yourself and to not let other people decide your life. Edna’s entire life she was not able to be who she was, she let her husband direct her life while she was with him. Also, when one of Edna’s friends said to think of her children, Edna did think of them, but she valued her life more than theirs. Edna Pontellier sacrificed the most valuable element that exists.She killed herself because she regarded no life at all better than a life without peace of mind. Her values connect to the deeper meaning of the book which is to be who you are and to live your life how you want not how others want.
The irony of the story is the Edna learns how to swim ,yet she used the sea to take her own life. When the author states’ “But it was too late, the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone. She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant then sank again”(135). In this quote the author ,Chopin, chose to show irony to end Edna’s character because Edna had faced her fears,and learned to swim and not fear the water. However ,the climax is also shocking for the readers because the author had shown Edna’s character as a strong women who had faced her fears and learned how to swim. By Edna killing herself the author shows us that Edna never changed and she is still that weak broken women who is trapped in life that she was so desperate to get out
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 novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin tells of Edna Pontellier's struggle with fate. Edna Pontellier awakens from a slumber only to find that her life is displeasing, but these displeasing thoughts are not new to Edna. The actions taken by Edna Pontellier in the novel The Awakening clearly determine that she is not stable. The neglect of her duties as a wife and mother and as a woman of society are all affected by her mental state. Her choices to have affairs and disregard her vow of marriage represent her impaired judgment. The change in her attitude and interests becomes quite irresponsible, and that change along with her final decision to commit suicide tell the reader that Edna Pontellier is not capable of making valid judgments. Had Edna Pontellier been of sound mind and body, she would not have ended her young life by suicide. The fact that she can clearly and easily turn to such an alternative suggests that she is depressed and obviously in opposition to the church. The thoughts and actions of Edna Pontellier are solely determined by her manic depressive state, her apparent repressed abuse from her childhood, and her abandonment of Christianity.
The Awakening is a novel about the growth of a woman becoming her own person; in spite of the expectations society has for her. The book follows Edna Pontellier as she struggles to find her identity. Edna knows that she cannot be happy filling the role that society has created for her. She did not believe that she could break from this pattern because of the pressures of society. As a result she ends up taking her own life. However, readers should not sympathize with her for taking her own life.
Is Edna’s suicide an artistic statement? Many readers come to this conclusion based on Mademoiselle Reisz’ influence on Edna’s life. Edna aspires to be like Mademoiselle Reisz because she lacks a characteristic that Mademoiselle Reisz possesses, control over her own life. To gain control over herself, Edna chooses
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.
“A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul” implies the tremendous joy that encourages her to shout, as well as underscores the significance of the experience in terms of the greater awakening, for the experience actually does provide Edna with the ability to control her own body and soul for the first time. Her “daring and reckless” behavior, her overestimation of strength, and the desire to “swim far out, where no woman had swum before” all suggest the tragic conclusion that awaits Edna. Whether her awakening leads her to want too much, or her desires are not fully compatible with the society in which she lives, she goes too far in her awakening. Amazed at the ease of her new power, she specifically does not join the other groups of people in the water, but rather goes off to swim alone. Indeed, her own awakening ultimately ends up being solitary, particularly in her refusals to join in social expectations. Here, the water presents her with space and solitude, with the “unlimited in which to lose herself.
Essentially, Edna is not able to fulfill any of the roles that are presented by Chopin in the novel: mother, sister, daughter, wife, friend, artist, lover to either man, and finally the traditional role of a woman in society. She does not quite fit into any niche, and thus her suicide at the end of the novel is the only way for Edna’s story to end. Chopin must have Edna die, as she cannot survive in this restrained society in which she does not belong to. The idea of giving yourself completely to serve another, Edna declares “that she would never sacrifice herself for her children, or for any one” (47). However, her awakening is also a realization of her underprivileged position in a male dominated society. The first sign that Edna is becoming comfortable with herself, and beginning to loosen the constrictions of not being an individual is when she asks Robert, her husband, to retrieve her shawl: "When he returned with the shawl she took it and kept it in her hand. She did not put it around her" (30). Edna is trying to establish herself as an artist in a society where there is no tradition of women as creative beings. For any woman to suggest a desire for a role outside the domestic sphere, as more than a mother or housewife, was perceived as
...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.
We are told that she walks down to the beach “rather mechanically,” (Chopin 108) and that she doesn’t think about much, other than the heat of the sun. This doesn’t seem terribly interesting until we read that the reason she isn’t thinking is because she had, “done all the thinking which was necessary after Robert went away, when she lay awake upon the sofa till morning.” (Chopin 108) This means that she has already planned exactly what she will do on this trip to the beach; indeed, she has been thinking about it all night. This is especially significant with Edna, who normally does not think in advance about the things she will do or say. It is safe to conclude that this was a highly premeditated trip to the beach, regardless of whether or not she committed suicide.
There are many ways of looking at Edna's Suicide in The Awakening, and each offers a different perspective. It is not necessary for the reader to like the ending of the novel, but the reader should come to understand it in relation to the story it ends. The fact that readers do not like the ending, that they struggle to make sense of it, is reflected in the body of criticism on the novel: almost all scholars attempt to explain the suicide. Some of the explanations make more sense than others. By reading them the reader will come to a fuller understanding of the end of the novel (and in the process the entire novel) and hopefully make the ending less disappointing.
Besides, the reason why men committed suicide was mostly due to money, they were obsessed with the idea of earning money and they lived mainly for that reason. We can see portrayed here Edna's husband, Léonce Pontellier as he has always business trips. In our opinion, we think that related to Edna, it is possible that the suicide would be the right decision due to the fact that it is too late to be the perfect wife and the perfect mother that the Creole society has in mind. She does not imagine herself being an artist as Mademoiselle Reisz and also, she could ask for help to the doctor but she is conscious that it was too late to go. Therefore, the society of the nineteenth century was not accustomed to see an independent woman who wants to live apart from the rules of the nature and the society.
After moving on into her own place and seeing whomever she likes, whenever she wants. She discovered she may be able to be with the one she loves. Realizing Robert, her love isn’t coming back. Edna sets off to swim in the sea. She swims so far out and becomes so exhausted she dies at sea.
Edna explains to Adele she does not want to give herself up for her children or her husband. She tells Adele “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn't give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it’s only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me ”,(Chopin 53). Edna is telling Adele she would give up all her material things for her children, but not the parts that make her who she is. She is becoming aware of how she does not want to lose her personality or morals to become the perfect mother-wife.
...t Lant’s, “The Siren of the Grand Isle: Adele’s Role in The Awakening” explains that, “… she has learned to swim, and master the waves and moves away from the shore to freedom.” Edna’s death was a way for her to become free. She no longer needed to face the harsh reality that women faced daily, and was in charge of her own self. Also, for the first time Edna was able to make a decision for herself.