The Theme of Self-discovery in The Awakening and A Doll House
In Chopin's The Awakening and Ibsen's A Doll House, the main characters each experience an awakening. Although they lead different lives, Nora Helmer and Edna Pontellier's respective awakenings are caused by similar factors. From the beginning, neither character fits the standard stereotype of women in the society in which they lived. Another factor that influences Nora and Edna's awakenings is their marital relationship. Neither Nora nor Edna are treated as an equal by their husband. When each woman realizes that she is unhappy, she understands that she must leave her position and role in life in order to fully find herself.
Nora and Edna are not perfect models of the late nineteenth century woman. Women in this time period were under the control of either a father or a husband. Each woman was expected to become a wife and mother. Both Edna and Nora have nurses to care for their children, taking over the role of mother. In The Awakening, Edna is described as a woman who is "not a mother-woman" (Chopin 10). During the summer at Grand Isle, the other mother-women watch their children carefully, clothe them, bathe them, and take care of them. Unlike the others, Edna walks the beach while her children are being protected by their nurse. Edna's sentiments toward her children are best described in Chopin's narrative: "She was fond of her children in an uneven impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them" (24).
In A Doll House, Anne-Marie is the nurse who watches over Nora and Torvald's three children. Anne-Marie is more of a mother to the children than Nora is. For example, when the...
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...ad to their respective awakenings. Edna and Nora are not typical nineteenth century women in respect to their roles as mother and wife. They both have marriages in which true love does not exist. Later, each must leave her life to discover the woman who lies hidden inside.
Works Cited and Consulted:
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1985.
Durbach, Errol. A Doll's House: Ibsen's Myth of Transformation. Boston: Twayne, 1991.
Ewell, Barbara C. Kate Chopin. New York: Ungar, 1986
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House. Dover Thrift Edition, 1992
Martin, Wendy, ed. "Introduction." New Essays on The (Awakening. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Templeton, Joan. "The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen." PMLA (January 1989): 28-40.
Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a woman who throughout the novella tries to find herself. Edna begins the story in the role of the typical mother-woman distinctive of Creole society but as the novelette furthers so does the distance she puts between herself and society. Edna's search for independence and a way to stray from society's rules and ways of life is depicted through symbolism with birds, clothing, and Edna's process of learning to swim.
Works Cited Franklin, R. F. "The Awakening and the Failure of the Psyche. " American Literature 56 (Summer 1984): 510-526. Platizky, R. "Chopin's Awakening. " Explicator 53 (Winter 1995): 99-102. Seyersted, P. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography.
In The Awakening, Kate Chopin depicts the varying definitions of women and their role through her three major female characters, Edna Pontellier, Madamoiselle Reisz and Madame Ratignolle. In the late 1800s, the role of women was strictly being caretakers for both their children and husbands. Edna Pontellier attempts to fit into society’s expectations by marrying Léonce Pontellier and raising two children, yet she struggles with feelings of oppression as she suffers through her unwanted role. Mademoiselle Reisz, a talented musician, is unmarried and childless, rejecting all of society’s ideals. Edna’s friend, Madame Ratignolle, greatly contrasts the two as she represents the model Louisiana women. However, while Edna, Madamoiselle Reisz and Madame Ratignolle each depict a different idea of woman’s role in society, none of these three women reach their full individual potential.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. A Norton Critical Edition: Kate Chopin: The Awakening. Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. 3-109.
Bogard, Carley Rees. “The Awakening: A Refusal to Compromise.” University of Michigan Papers in Women’s Studies 2.3 (1977): 15-31. Gale Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 January 2014.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
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 assumptions 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.
In “A Defense of Abortion” Judith Thomson does a good job of poking holes in the extreme conservative argument, she is a moderate liberal. Even though she is defending abortion she states there are still times when it is impermissible. . Her first analogy she compares a growing fetus to a famous violinist who has unknowingly been attached to a person’s circulatory system. Is the person morally responsible to remained attached to the violinist? Thomson says no, because the person was kidnapped and they didn’t volunteer for the violinist to be attached. Thomson states “it would be very nice of you if you did, a great kindness”. I agree with Thompson here no one should be forced to have a stranger plugged into them unknowingly for nine months. A growing fetus inside a woman is hardly a stranger to her it is her own flesh and blood. Secondly, a fetus is not unknowingly plugged into a woman Except for in the cases of rape no one was kidnapped or forced to have sex. When people have sex there is always a risk that the woman might get pregnant. I agree a woman has a right to her body but, I disagree with Thompson’s analogy of a violinist to a fetus.
...e right to use the mother’s body has not been extended to the fetus, abortion does not violate the fetuses right to life. Abortion is permissible in many cases, but this does not mean that we have the right to secure the death of the fetus. I agree with Thomson’s view that the death of a fetus is a necessary side-effect of abortion, but is not the goal. Were it possible to remove a fetus without killing it, then it must not be killed. The potential harm or life depreciation of the mother outweighs the fetuses’ potential right to life, whether it may have a future or not. Killing in self-defense is permissible and the possible death or harm that comes from having a baby is enough right for a mother to have an abortion. I support Thomson’s view on abortion and believe that the mother should have a choice whether to abort her baby or not at an early stage of pregnancy.
During the Clinton administration the Partial-Birth Abortion Act, a bill that would make it illegal in all of the United States for a partial-birth abortion to be performed, caused major debate throughout the House of Representatives and the Senate; recently different versions of the bill had been passed through the both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In prior years Clinton had vetoed similar bills to ban partial-birth abortions.
Abortion is not a particularly new issue or practice and is not exclusively concentrated on American culture. The first record of abortion dates back to 2600 BC, where the first abortion-causing drug was produced. Sometime after this recipe was created the Egyptians used it for contraceptive pessaries. This abortion recipe was neither healthy, nor effective; one of the main ingrediance in this very unscientific recipe was crocodile dung. After some time the Egyptians and many other cultures perfected the process of abortion, and in the 4th century AD St. Augustine laid down catholic rights allowing abortion up to 80 days for female fetuses, and up to 40 days for male fetuses. St. Augustine’s decree is very significant in the history of abortion because it is the first time that the church has gotten involved with the issue of abortion and actually gave their own opinion. In 1564, the Italian anatomist Fallopius, founder of the fallopian tube, publicized condoms as a disease-avoiding device. In 1564, Pope sixtus forbad all forms of abortion. Directly after the decree of Pope sixtus Pope Gregory XIV withdraws Pope sixtus’s decree and allows abortions to be performed freely. In 1803 Some time after the Catholic Church’s rain, Great Britain decreed that abortion would now be charged as a misdemeanor.
Perhaps one of the most controversial issues debated between lawmakers and legislatures is abortion. Disputes concerning abortion began during the 1820s. By 1965, with a few exceptions, abortion had been made illegal in all states. Abortions were only permitted when the fetus was deformed, or if birth of the baby would harm the mother’s life. All of this changed however in 1973 during the landmark Supreme Court Case of Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion. The Supreme Court recognized that it is solely a mother’s choice whether to become a parent. The court also recognized that an issue as significant as child bearing warrants the highest level of constitutional protection. According to the Court, a state’s interest in potential life is not “compelling” until there is a status of viability—the point in pregnancy at which there is a reasonable possibility for the sustained survival of the fetus outside of the womb. The Court also affirmed that the right to privacy is not absolute and that a state does have a valid interest in safeguarding maternal health, maintaining medical standards, and protecting potential health. Under the Court’s decision, a state may, but is not required to prohibit abortion after viability, except when it is necessary to protect a women’s life or health.
Abortion has been an issue since 1820. In the beginning the problem was more about protecting doctors who have licenses. “Regular doctors thus had an incentive to ban abortion as part of an effort to drive irregular doctors many of whom were women out of business” (Straggenborg, p.211). The AMA (American Medical Association), which was the group that the regular doctors made, started a campaign that made the people believe that the white population was getting smaller and the population of the immigrants was rising. Abortions were made illegal to insure the stability of the population of American citizens. It seems odd that the only reason that abortions were made illegal at one point was because of money issues and a lust for white supremecy. It seemed to have nothing to do with the rights of a child or a woman. One of the reasons why abortion came into question in the beginning of the 1950s was due to the fact that a lot of doctors and lawyers were seeing many cases of illegal abortions and it was becoming a large social problem. Since there was a lack of competition for legal abortions, doctors found no problem making them legal again -- “They felt that abortions were justified under certain circumstances, and they begun to see the laws against abortion as an infringement on their own medical discretion” (Straggenborg, p.212). And so the issue arose again with many pro- choice groups speaking up. Then with court cases like Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade, abortion again became legal in the United States.
A man can withdraw from a relationship as soon as he finds out about pregnancy. There is no question of his involvement after that; he has made his choice. It is only fair to say that women should be given the same choice. If one does not want to hold the responsibilities of a child then she should be able to have the choice of abortion in her options. Because contraceptives fail, and because they are ...
Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in America today. Abortion is the ending of pregnancy before birth. There are approximately 1.5 million abortions every year in this country. Abortion was made legal in the 1970s. However, pro-life activists argue that it is murder. Should the government have the legal power to take away a woman's right to make decisions regarding her own body?