Edna and Conformity in Chopin’s The Awakening
The passage of The Awakening which truly marks Edna Pontellier’s new manner of thought regarding her life revolves around her remembrance of a day of her childhood in Kentucky. She describes the scene to Madame Ratigonelle as the two women sit on the beach one summer day. The passage opens with a description of the sea and the sky on that particular day. This day and its components are expressed in lethargic terms such as “idly” and “motionless” and suggested a scene of calm sleep. Such a depiction establishes an image of serenity and tranquility, in other words the calm before the storm which derives from Edna’s “awakening.”
As the passage continues Madame Ratigonelle asks Edna “of whom- of what are you thinking?” It is of interest to point out that she initially inquires “of whom” as if to impose her knowledge on Edna that she believes Edna may be thinking of a particular person such as Robert. Edna answers “Nothing,” but then catches herself in an answer that comes from simple habit and decides to retrace her thoughts. She rememb...
The reader meets Elie as a Jew living in a little town in Transylvania, where he is intently studying his faith under the direction of a poor homeless man. As a foreshadowing of the role that God will play in the rest of Elie’s journey through the Holocaust, the story opens with Elie’s teacher telling him: “Man questions God and God answers. But we don’t understand his answers” (2). This is a concept that Elie struggles with throughout the book, from when his life is still happy and peaceful until it has been left in disarray.
Throughout the Nobel Peace Prize award winner Night, a common theme is established around dehumanization. Elie Wiesel, the author, writes of his self-account within the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Being notoriously famed for its unethical methods of punishment, and the concept of laboring Jews in order to follow a regime, was disgusting for the wide public due to the psychotic ideology behind the concept. In the Autobiography we are introduced to Wiesel who is a twelve year old child who formerly lived in the small village of Sighet, Romania. Wiesel and his family are taken by the Nazi aggressors to the Concentration camp Auschwitz were they are treated like dogs by the guards. Throughout the Autobiography the guards use their authoritative
Leonce Pontellier, the husband of Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, becomes very perturbed when his wife, in the period of a few months, suddenly drops all of her responsibilities. After she admits that she has "let things go," he angrily asks, "on account of what?" Edna is unable to provide a definite answer, and says, "Oh! I don't know. Let me along; you bother me" (108). The uncertainty she expresses springs out of the ambiguous nature of the transformation she has undergone. It is easy to read Edna's transformation in strictly negative terms‹as a move away from the repressive expectations of her husband and society‹or in strictly positive terms‹as a move toward the love and sensuality she finds at the summer beach resort of Grand Isle. While both of these moves exist in Edna's story, to focus on one aspect closes the reader off to the ambiguity that seems at the very center of Edna's awakening. Edna cannot define the nature of her awakening to her husband because it is not a single edged discovery; she comes to understand both what is not in her current situation and what is another situation. Furthermore, the sensuality that she has been awakened to is itself not merely the male or female sexuality she has been accustomed to before, but rather the sensuality that comes in the fusion of male and female. The most prominent symbol of the book‹the ocean that she finally gives herself up to‹embodies not one aspect of her awakening, but rather the multitude of contradictory meanings that she discovers. Only once the ambiguity of this central symbol is understood can we read the ending of the novel as a culmination and extension of the themes in the novel, and the novel regains a...
People may say that the people who survived the Holocaust were lucky, but in reality they weren’t. They faced horrors that are unimaginable, they changed and they have to live with the monstrosity that the faced. This essay is about how Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and winner of Nobel peace prize, changed during the Holocaust. The book Night is a novel about how Elie Wiesel survived the Holocaust and how he changed during the Holocaust. The book shows how a Elie changed in the concentration camp In the novel, “Night” by Elie Wiesel, the main character, Elie was affected by the events in the book because he, was poignant shifted, losing/lost faith, and his life in the camps.
“I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name” (42). This is one of the very first acts of dehumanization. The symbolic number A-7713 is now his only kind of identification that Elie had. Every prisoner in the camp, has an identification number, no other name, or source of identity. They treated the prisoners like cattle. Kept in tight, dirty places,
The book Night, written by Elie Wiesel, is a horrifying, historic account of Wiesel’s time in multiple German concentration camps. His work gained him a Nobel Peace Prize. His acceptance speech and further lectures enlightened many other readers. Elie Wiesel’s eye-opening Night is very relevant for real life. This stunning book is applicable because of its education about World War II for the Jewish, inspiration to the human race in their day-to-day lives, and because genocide still goes on today in places such as Darfur.
Dr. Mandelet, speaking more as a wise, older man than as a medical authority, seems to understand Edna's predicament. When Mr. Pontellier asks for his advice concerning the strange behaviour of his wife, the doctor immediately wonders, "Is there any man in the case?" (950). While Edna thinks she is expressing her independent rights, Dr. Mandelet knows her heart is still tied to the need for a man in her life, and to an uncontrolled submission to sexual passion. After her self-proclaimed release from her husband's narrow world of prescribed gender roles, Edna begins to act spontaneously, without considering, as Leonce would wish, "what people would say" (977). During a visit to Mademoiselle Reisz, she boldly displays her new attitude, refusing the more modest hot chocolate in favor of a "man's drink":
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
“A traumatic experience robs you of your identity,” says Doctor Bill, an author and business entrepreneur. In the book “Night” written by Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, Elie describes his life during the traumatic event. Elie was taken from his home in Sighet, Transylvania in 1944 to be put into a concentration camp. He was only 15 at this time. Throughout the book, you can clearly see how Elie’s identity is altered in many ways, for worse as well as better, as more and more terrible things occur to him as well as others.
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.
In The Awakening, Chopin sets up two characters main characters and a subsidiary female character to serve as foils to Edna. The main characters are Adele Ratignolle, "the bygone heroine of romance" (888), and Mademoiselle Reisz, the musician who devoted her life to music, rather than a man. Edna falls somewhere in between the two, but distinctly recoils with disgust from the type of life her friend Adele leads: "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman." Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, the two important female principle characters, provide the two different identities Edna associates with. Adele serves as the perfect "mother-woman" in The Awakening, being both married and pregnant, but Edna does not follow Adele's footsteps. For Edna, Adele appears unable to perceive herself as an individual human being. She possesses no sense of herself beyond her role as wife and mother, and therefore Adele exists only in relation to her family, not in relation to herself or the world. Edna desires individuality, and the identity of a mother-woman does not provide that. In contrast to Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz offers Edna an alternative to the role of being yet another mother-woman. Mademoiselle Reisz has in abundance the autonomy that Adele completely lacks. However, Reisz's life lacks love, while Adele abounds in it. Mademoiselle Reisz's loneliness makes clear that an adequate life cannot build altogether upon autonomy. Although she has a secure sense of her own individuality and autonomy, her life lacks love, friendship, or warmth. Later in the novel we are introduced to another character, her name is Mariequita. Mariequita is described as an exotic black-eyed Spanish girl, whom Edna looks upon with affectionate curiosity. Unlike the finely polished heroine, Mariequita walks on "broad and coarse" bare feet, which she does not "strive to hide". This strikes Edna with a refreshing sense of admiration. To her, the girl's soiled feet symbolize naked freedom, unconstrained by the apparel of civilization. Thus, Edna finds her rather beautiful. Mariequita is more like an unrefined version of Edna, that is, her instinctual self. At times, Mariequita ventures to express the thoughts that are secretly buried in Edna's unconscious.
The Awakening is primarily about Edna Pontillier’s psychological journey and her titular awakening to the social climate and confines that she resides in. Kate Chopin makes a statement about these confines by showing how that society influences Edna and her journey. For this purpose the sea is effectively used as a symbol in many different ways throughout the novel. But never does the sea’s symbolism reveal more about Edna than in chapter six, in which the sea symbolizes her subconscious, and in turn reveals the nature of Edna’s awakening and its implications throughout the book.
Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, transcends societal structures and expectations. It deals with the day-to-day realities that a woman must face if she is to progress to full maturation and become at peace with herself and the world. Set in turn-of-the-century Creole New Orleans, it addresses the relentless strength and courage required for a woman to remain true to her convictions. Most studies of The Awakening focus on Edna Pontellier's newly emerged awareness and struggle against the societal forces that repress her. However, they ignore the weaknesses in Edna that prevented her from achieving the personal autonomy that she glimpsed during her periods of "awakening." The character of Edna Pontellier, therefore, is also an insightful study of the weaknesses that prevent a woman of any era from progressing toward self actualization.
Knowledge has a preliminary definition which is that it is justified true belief. Due to its dynamic nature, knowledge is subject to review and revision over time. Although, we may believe we have objective facts from various perceptions over time, such facts become re-interpreted in light of improved evidence, findings or technology and instigates new knowledge. This raises the questions, To what extent is knowledge provisional? and In what ways does the rise of new evidence give us a good reason to discard our old knowledge? This new knowledge can be gained in any of the different areas of knowledge, by considering the two areas of knowledge; History and Natural Sciences, I will be able to tackle these knowledge issues since they both offer more objective, yet regularly updated knowledge, which is crucial in order to explore this statement. I believe that rather than discarding knowledge we build upon it and in doing so access better knowledge, as well as getting closer to the truth.
All types of alcohol go through a fermentation process, when looking sthe production beer, the fermentation process contains a series of distinct stages. Beer includes four main ingredients; some sort of grain (wheat, corn, barley), hops, water, and yeast. The beer process begins with the malting process, the stage where the grain is soaked in water for days to allow adequate germination time. This process is important because allowing the grain to germinate produces enzymes that are need to break down starch in succeeding steps. At times, the conversion of starch to sugar can begin during malting due to enzymes present within the grain, but the majority of the conversions begin in the next step (Michaels, 2010). Following the malting process, the grains go through a process called mashing, defined as the stage where the grain is hydrated causing the enzymes to activate and begin converting the starches into sugars. In the mashing stage enzymes are activated and begin to convert starch into sugars that will eventually go through the fermentation process.