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In her late 19th century novel, “The Awakening”, author Kate Chopin asserts that traditionalist attitudes about motherhood and “The Cult of Domesticity” ideology restricted the lives of then modern women, prohibiting their freedom of expression and self-actualization. She reinforces this claim by chronicling the life of Edna Pontellier, a typical Victorian housewife, whose views of her position in society begin to transform when she falls in love with the handsome Robert LeBrun while vacationing in Grand Isle. As Robert departs for Mexico, she begins to question her loyalty to her husband and children, and eventually moves into her own house, begins drawing and painting, and commences a purely physical affair with local wife-seducer Alcée Arobin. …show more content…
Each character’s role can be broken down into a basic archetype: Edna Pontellier represents the standard “every(wo)man” housewife whereas Adèle Ratignolle represents the innocent and immaculate facsimile of a Victorian woman, wife, mother, and caretaker of all. Mademoiselle Reisz represents Edna’s mentor and an image of what Edna might have become had she remained unbridled and independent, while Robert Lebrun represents temptation and the lover she could have had, both characters serving to catalyse Edna’s awakening. As Edna’s attitudes towards each character metamorphose throughout the novel, her perspectives towards, society, her desires, and herself as an individual transform accordingly: Edna begins as a close friend to Madame Ratignolle and adheres to societal standards regarding fidelity and loyalty to her husband and family. As she begins to develop feeling for Robert Lebrun, she starts to value her desires more than that which society expects from her, regularly visiting Robert even whilst society dictates that this is unacceptable for a married lady. When Robert departs for Mexico, she begins calling upon Mademoiselle Reisz; these visits catalyze the formation of a more independent self, as Edna takes up residence in a home separate from her husband’s and begins …show more content…
She must debate herself internally in order to ultimately decide whether the prosperity of her social status and security or well-being of her mind and body should triumph (this struggle eventually leads to her demise). She must constantly battle the “ennui” of her everyday life, and sometimes crippling depression that accompanied it, or relinquish her self restraint to be shunned by neighbors and even friends. Thus her environment certainly propels her internal conflict, though she, herself, is the driving force. Chopin clearly illustrates the effects of this struggle, characterizing Edna’s habits and moods in stark contrast to each other, almost affecting a bipolar tendency: First it is said that “there were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why —when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation. She could not work on such a day.” (Page 49), and then soon after remarks that she “seemed palpitant with the forces of life. Her speech was warm and energetic. There was no repression in her glance or gesture...some beautiful, sleek animal waking up in the sun.” (Page 59). This detailing of changes in mood emphasizes and illustrates the effect that the limits of society were having on Edna’s emotional and mental
Throughout Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, the main protagonist Edna Pontellier, ventures through a journey of self-discovery and reinvention. Mrs.Pontellier is a mother and wife who begins to crave more from life, than her assigned societal roles. She encounters two opposite versions of herself, that leads her to question who she is and who she aims to be. Mrs. Pontellier’s journey depicts the struggle of overcoming the scrutiny women face, when denying the ideals set for them to abide. Most importantly the end of the novel depicts Mrs.Pontellier as committing suicide, as a result of her ongoing internal
Her transformation and journey to self-discovery truly begins on the family’s annual summer stay at Grand Isle. “At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life- that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions. That summer at Grand Isle she began to loosen a little of the mantle of reserve that had always enveloped her” (Chopin 26). From that point onward, Edna gains a deeper sense of desire for self-awareness and the benefits that come from such an odyssey. She suddenly feels trapped in her marriage, without being in a passionately romantic relationship, but rather a contractual marriage. Edna questions her ongoing relationship with Leonce; she ponders what the underlying cause of her marriage was to begin with; a forbidden romance, an act of rebellion against her father, or a genuine attraction of love and not lust? While Edna internally questions, she begins to entertain thoughts of other men in her life, eventually leading to sensuous feelings and thoughts related to sexual fantasy imagined through a relationship with Robert Lebrun. Concurrently, Edna wavers the ideas so clearly expected by the society- she analyzes and examines; why must women assimilate to rigid societal standards while men have no such
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening takes place in the late 19th century, in Grande Isle off the coast of Louisiana. The author writes about the main character, Edna Pontellier, to express her empowering quality of life. Edna is a working housewife,and yearns for social freedom. On a quest of self discovery, Edna meets Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, falls in and out of love,and eventually ends up taking her own life. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening shows how the main character Edna Pontellier has been trapped for so many years and has no freedom, yet Edna finally “awakens” after so long to her own power and her ability to be free.
When Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" was published at the end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they perceived to be the author's defiance of Victorian proprieties, but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is borne out by Chopin's own words throughout her Preface -- where she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment. (Chopin, Preface ) Edna takes her own life at the book's end, not because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a wife and mother. It is this very type of independent thinking which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny women any meaningful participation.
Her awakening begins because of her friend Adéle, who teaches her that it is okay to be open and say what is on her mind, contrary to what Edna previously believed. Adéle also introduces Edna to Robert, who triggers her emotional awakening, as the two fall in love. Edna goes from a woman who settled down in order to ground herself with realistic expectations, to a free, confident women striving for a life outside of her love for Robert. Mademoiselle Reisz, who plays a crucial part in aiding Edna and Robert’s growing love by reading her letters Robert wrote about Edna, kickstarts Edna’s artistic awakening. The music Madame Reisz plays for Edna on the piano moves her and leads to real, raw emotions she has never felt before; the first time she hears Madame Reisz play, she is brought to tears. From then on, Reisz acts as a mentor to Edna, offering her courage and strength, as well as providing a successful example of the type of woman she strives to embody. As Edna grows as a person and begins feeling so many new emotions, she also has a sexual awakening with Alcée, a man with whom she has an affair. This realization differs from her more emotional awakenings, because it is based purely on lust, not feelings. The affair is something she decides to do simply because it satisfies
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.
Robert Lebrun was Edna’s lover. He was the one who played the most crucial role in having Edna realize that she in fact did not love her husband and she was willing to do anything and everything to be with Robert. Robert pursued to be with anyone before Edna. He was emotionally mature and childish though charming and caring. Edna did admit that she loved Robert but she was not allowed to do anything about it besides have an affair. During the early 1900s there was no such thing as a divorce meaning the affairs in that time period occurred frequently and happened often. Not being able to divorce Mr. Pontellier did not matter to her because she did have an affair with Robert, both emotionally and sexually. Robert leaves for Mexico because he understands that he does love Edna but there is nothing he can do about it. People in their society resented the idea of divorcing someone and marrying someone else. Once Robert left for Mexico and her husband was in New York, Edna met Arobin who opened up and let Edna develop sexual needs and lust. Women were talked about if they were not loyal to their husbands but men always had the excuse that they had needs therefore it was okay for them to cheat and have affairs. These sections of The Awakening made Edna the character that despises the role of women. She deemed it unfair. Chopin does this to explain to her readers that these
The definition of the word awakening is :“a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something.”The term self realization means “fulfillment of one’s own potential.”
During the late nineteenth century, the time of protagonist Edna Pontellier, a woman's place in society was confined to worshipping her children and submitting to her husband. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, encompasses the frustrations and the triumphs in a woman's life as she attempts to cope with these strict cultural demands. Defying the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna battles the pressures of 1899 that command her to be a subdued and devoted housewife. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity.
In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, we are taken on a journey into the life of, Edna Pontellier, a nineteenth century middle aged woman who consistently struggles with an identity crisis, her feministic ways, and suicidal tendencies. This novel takes place in two Louisiana locales: Grand Isle and New Orleans. Edna and her husband are made to have a “traditional marriage”, one where Edna is expected to solely take care of her two children and husband, instead of following any possible pursuits of happiness. This causes Edna to feel dissatisfied with her marriage, then leading to her unintentional love for a young and handsome man named Robert. Robert seems to make Edna feel more alive and independent, but before any form of an affair can
Edna shatters even simple gender standards for the time: her roles as mother, wife, and woman. Swiftly introduced is her distaste for her children, as Mr. Pontellier confronts Edna about their children, mentioning “her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children,” (Chopin 9). Her lack of care was maintained until the very last section of the book, where she references her children as “little antagonists who...sought to drag her into the soul’s slavery for the rest of her days,” (Chopin 125). Mr. Pontellier’s use of the term “neglect” implies that she had a concrete duty to take care of them, yet her use of the the inherently villainous terms of “antagonists” and “slavery” characterizes a deep resentment for her children. This contrast between the common, societal expectation of a caring mother and her role as a hateful bystander to her children shows a deviation from standards for mothers to be nurturing. She doesn’t act conventionally; in fact, she resides on the complete opposite side of the behavioral spectrum, demonstrating a blatant disobedience of convention in favor of female choice, a cornerstone of feminism. Meanwhile, her relationship with Robert Lebrun is a clear instance of her choosing to defy society. An extramarital affair would be astoundingly taboo, yet Edna spends great lengths of time with Robert, eventually disclosing to Mademoiselle
Could the actions of Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening ever be justified? This question could be argued from two different perspectives. The social view of The Awakening would accuse Edna Pontellier of being selfish and unjustified in her actions. Yet, in terms of the story's romanticism, Edna was in many ways an admirable character. She liberated herself from her restraints and achieved nearly all that she desired. Chopin could have written this novel to glorify a woman in revolt against conventions of the period. Yet, since the social standpoint is more factual and straightforward, it is the basis of this paper. Therefore, no, her affairs, treatment of her family and lovers, and suicide were completely unwarranted. She was not denied love or support by any of those close to her. Ultimately Edna Pontellier was simply selfish.
We first meet Edna on her way back from a swim with Robert Lebrun, as Chopin begins to establish Edna’s burgeoning transformation in the context of her relationship with Robert and to the sea. While Robert and Edna’s relationship develops, Edna becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her marriage to Léonce Pontellier and her traditional roles as wife and mother to her two children, Rauol and Etienne. Edna learns to swim, takes up painting, befriends Madame Reisz, an eccentric old woman that plays the piano, and moves into her own house. After Robert leaves for Mexico, she engages in an affair with Alceé Arobin, until Robert returns and they affirm their love for one another. However, Robert, afraid of the social repercussions of their affair, leaves town. As a result of losing Robert, failing to find fulfillment in her life without a man, and failing to reconcile her roles as a good and faithful wife and mother while becoming an artist and falling in love, Edna commits suicide by drowning herself in the sea.
Kate Chopin's The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother living in the upper crust of New Orleans in the 1890s. It depicts her journey as her standing shifts from one of entrapment to one of empowerment. As the story begins, Edna is blessed with wealth and the pleasure of an affluent lifestyle. She is a woman of leisure, excepting only in social obligations. This endowment, however, is hindered greatly by her gender.
While Madame Ratignolle, Madamoiselle Reisz and Edna are very different characters, all of them are unable to reach their potentials. Madame Ratignolle is too busy being the perfect Louisiana woman that she no identity of her own; her only purpose in life is to care for her husband and children. Madamoiselle Reisz is so defiant and stubborn that she has isolated herself from society and anyone she could share her art with. Edna has the opportunity to rise above society’s expectations of females, but she is too weak to fight this battle and ultimately gives up. While these three characters depict different ideas of what it truly means to be a woman and what women’s role in society should be, none of them can reach their full individual potential.