Chloe White
Mrs. Schroder
AP Literature and Composition
3 January 2017
The Awakening of Edna
Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, had different obligations and desires pulling her in different directions throughout the novella. Society pushed her to behave like the ideal mother who kept up social appearances but Edna realized that she valued her own happiness more than how others viewed her as a mother and wife. These ideals pulled her mind in two separate directions, societal expectations against the desires of her heart, and filled the novella to evoke sympathy from readers and show others how Edna truly awoke in the end.
At the time of the novella in New Orleans, society viewed women as less than their male counterparts
With Léonce, she faced a relationship based on revenge and full of pride and resentment. Léonce filled with resentment when Edna did not do her jobs as a housewife and mother well and pride over how he did everything to support the family. This relationship repressed Edna and tried to force her into society’s expected role. However, her relationships with Robert and Alcée allowed Edna to explore her freedom and gave her an opportunity for others to see her as something other than a housewife and mother. She could spend her time painting. She could bet on horse races. She could move into her own little pigeon house. She could go listen to Mademoiselle Reisz play the piano. All of this, she could do freely and without reprimand or her husbands permission when she listened to the desires of her heart. While she married Léonce, she never married him. The man she found she truly loved was Robert and he was the new desire of her heart. Although he left for Mexico, she still pined after him and based her new quest for self-actualization on the emotions she felt with
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 which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me." (p. 48). Once she realized that she needed to be her own person and stop worrying what others think, she began to enjoy her life and the spontaneity of the freedom she experienced. Rather than confining herself to her unhappiness within her marriage that would have benefited the children, she stopped giving up herself and began following her heart. In lieu of following societal expectation, Edna gave into what pulled her in the other direction: her
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
...ike almost everyone else, Leonce also did not think that anything would come out of Robert's flirting with Edna. Leonce did not realize that Edna was not brought up in the Creole culture and would not know how to deal with the way that Robert acted. He allowed Robert and Edna to go out together without even thinking twice. He did not see anything wrong with the two of them doing everything together. Even though it was common in the Creole culture for people to openly show their feelings, Leonce should
The relationship Edna has with Mademoiselle Reisz guides her transformation from a wife and mother to a single woman. Reisz acts as a role model for her, someone who does not conform to society’s expectations. Mademoiselle Reisz lives how she wants and accepts both positive and negative consequences of her lifestyle. From the first time Edna sees her play, she admires Mademoiselle Reisz. “The woman, by her divine art, seemed to reach Edna’s spirit and set it free” (623). The music she plays helps calm Edna’s spirit. Mademoiselle Reisz allows Edna to read the letters Robert wrote to her and she supports her in her decision to follow her heart and be with Robert. In doing so, she kindles the passionate flame Edna has for Robert. As Edna wishes t...
This can be shown when Leone says, “ ‘You are burnt beyond recognition’, he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of property which has suffered some damage” (Chopin 2). Throughout the book, we also see that Leonce does not really pay enough attention to Edna. We mostly see him reading newspapers and being busy with his work. “Edna marries a man she does not love, “closing the portals forever behind her upon the realm of romance and dreams” (Wolkenfeld 245). As a result, she realizes that Leonce was not the man for her, and that she must find another way in order free herself from such
...oroform, a sensation-deadening stupor, the ecstasy of pain, and an awakening—mark Edna’s self-discovery throughout The Awakening. Still, in the end, Edna follows through with what she told Madame Ratignolle she would and would not be willing to do: “I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (69). She gives up her life because she is unwilling to give up her self—her desires, her cravings, and her passions to do what she wants selfishly and without regard for any other being’s wishes. She cannot escape motherhood, nor can she ever hope to find her idealized lover. Thus, she leaves these dissatisfactions behind her as she enjoys her final moments of empowerment and solitude wrapped in the folds of the sea, the hum of bees, and the smell of pinks’ musk.
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.
She desperately wanted a voice and independence. Edna’s realization of her situation occurred progressively. It was a journey in which she slowly discovered what she was lacking emotionally. Edna’s first major disappointment in the novel was after her husband, Leonce Pontellier, lashed out at her and criticized her as a mother after she insisted her child was not sick. This sparked a realization in Edna that made here realize she was unhappy with her marriage. This was a triggering event in her self discovery. This event sparked a change in her behavior. She began disobeying her husband and she began interacting inappropriately with for a married woman. Edna increasingly flirted with Robert LeBrun and almost instantly became attracted to him. These feelings only grew with each interaction. Moreover, when it was revealed to Edna that Robert would be leaving for Mexico she was deeply hurt not only because he didn’t tell her, but she was also losing his company. Although Edna’s and Robert’s relationship may have only appeared as friendship to others, they both secretly desired a romantic relationship. Edna was not sure why she was feeling the way she was “She could only realize that she herself-her present self-was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored
Additionally, Edna’s sacrifice helped her established an identity for herself. “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 which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me” (Chopin 57). She realizes how much she valued herself and how she would handle herself. As well as, this emphasizes on the meaning of The Awakening, of how women are able to define themselves as something more than a
Edna Pontellier is a child discovering her very sense of self. Her attitude toward her own children emphasizes the she is not the typical “mother-woman” (p. 29). This is one of the key elements in identifying Edna’s “awakening.” Unlike the other women, such as Madame Ratignolle, she has not accepted her role unquestionably. This passage is an insightful window into the beginnings of Edna’s new thoughts.
Chopin carefully establishes that Edna does not neglect her children, but only her mother-woman image. Chopin illustrates the idea by telling the reader, "...Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman" (689). Edna tries to explain to Adele how she feels about her children and how she feels about herself, which greatly differs from the mother-woman image. She says, "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" (720).
As the novel starts out Edna is a housewife to her husband, Mr. Pontellier, and is not necessarily unhappy or depressed but knows something is missing. Her husband does not treat her well. "...looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." She is nothing but a piece of property to him; he has no true feelings for her and wants her for the sole purpose of withholding his reputation. "He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" Mr. Pontellier constantly brings her down for his own satisfaction not caring at all how if affects Edna.
Chopin’s The Awakening exposes Edna’s internal and external conflict involving identity, individuality, and romance, which ultimately cause her tragic downfall. Most literary critics have primarily defined the novel’s ending as either a triumph or defeat, depending upon their relationship to Edna Pontellier. From one perspective, audiences who sympathize with Edna may believe her choice is one of triumphant, final rebellion against societies limiting constructs. From the other perspective, audiences who see Edna as a troubled, adulterous, immature young woman might argue her actions as weak, distressed, and an ultimate defeat. Throughout the story, Edna’s characterization becomes more and more evident through her thoughts and actions; however, Edna’s death is not “merely the inevitable consequence of her own actions” (Malzahl 37). To thoroughly assess the ending of The Awakening,
In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the setting is in the late 1800s on Grand Isle in Louisiana. The main character of the story is Edna Pontellier who is not a Creole. Other important characters are Adele Ratignolle, Mr. Ratgnolle, Robert Lebrun, and Leonce Pontellier who are all Creole's. In the Creole society the men are dominant. Seldom do the Creole's accept outsiders to their social circle, and women are expected to provide well-kept homes and have many children. Edna and Adele are friends who are very different because of their the way they were brought up and they way they treat their husbands. Adele is a loyal wife who always obeys her husband's commands. Edna is a woman who strays from her husband and does not obey her husband's commands. Kate Chopin uses Adele to emphasize the differences between her and Edna.
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.
Edna’s first action that starts off her route to freedom from her relationship is when she fell in love with Robert. Edna had already married a man that she had not loved but he has not been treating her a...