growaw Edna Pontellier’s Rebirth in Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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Rebirth in The Awakening

Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening, focused a spotlight on some very dark corners of our society. As a woman, I want to have a voice in my marriage, and I want to make decisions along with my husband, if I decide to marry. In The Awakening, Edna is a married woman who does not want to be a wife or a mother. She is bound to her home and her husband who makes every important decision in their marriage.

Mr. Pontellier was a very demanding, know it all, kind of man. He expected his wife Edna to come to him at every beck and call. He never let Edna make any decisions of her own. For example, Edna couldn’t sleep one night, so she grabbed a shawl and sat at on her porch for a few early morning hours while her husband slept. He awoke, without her beside him, and demanded that she come in and go to bed. Why couldn’t she stay out on that porch and dream of good thoughts? She was a very unhappy woman, and many nights, she would cry for hours about her unhappiness.

In the third chapter she really expresses her true unhappiness with her husband and her children. She really has no interest in her children and caring for them as a mother. I can blame Edna, because she knew what she was in for when she married Leonce. But, I also feel sorry for her because reality hit her too late, and she’s miserable. I felt like she thought maybe giving it a chance with this man and bearing children, that she may learn to enjoy this life. WRONG!!

Leonce is a big pretender, especially in front of people. He sends chocolates and gifts to Edna, in which other women see and wish for that kind of husband. They don’t know the true kind of person he his. He is really not an ideal husband or father. He attends to his business and gambling with his friends while his wife is demanded to care for the children. If he was a true, loving husband, then he would take out some time to spend with his wife and help her out with the children.

Robert is a fun, caring man to women and he especially desires Edna. He sees her unhappiness and of course tries to comfort her.

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