Edna's Search for Independence in The Awakening "How do you honor the deepest truth you know?" --Ram Das In order to honor one's deepest truth, one must first discover what that truth is and then apply that truth to everyday life. The life of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening signifies the search, discovery, and application of an individual's deepest truth. Edna, a wealthy New Orleans housewife, at first attempts to find the deepest truth about herself by conforming to society's norms
Kate Chopin's The Awakening takes place during the late 1800's in New Orleans, Louisiana. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, fights to obtain independence, which places her in opposition to society. Her society believed that a married woman needed to make both her husband's and children's needs her first priority. Her duty included chores around the house and obeying her husband's demands. Chopin focuses triumph as the theme in The Awakening, as Edna unleashes her true identity in her society
Feminism and Emotional Liberation in The Awakening In our time, the idea of feminism is often portrayed as a modern one, dating back no further than the famous bra-burnings of the 1960s. Perhaps this is due to some unconscious tendency to assume that one's own time is the most enlightened in history. But this tendency is unfortunate, because it does not allow readers to see the precursors of modern ideas in older works. A prime example of this is Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening, which explores
Independence and Freedom in The Awakening The novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin demonstrates the themes of independence and freedom. It is set back in a time when women were supposed to grow up being protected and controlled by their fathers, then move to the same role with their husbands. The main character, Edna Pontieller, defies the social norms as she does not assume the title of a good mother, good wife, and good daughter. Instead she has her own ideas and is a reoccurring symbol of freedom