Light Was Strong Enough To Be Free By Edna Chopin Analysis

1621 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: the use of irony in kate chopin the story of an hour

free? By Edna dying Chopin may have been trying to show her reader what happen when a person is not ready or strong enough to be free. Before a person can fight society they have to be mentally, emotionally, and physically ready.

Before a person can be free they first have to realize they are trapped. Chopin often uses light as a symbol in her novel. The light represents enlightenment. Throughout the whole book Edna is be awakening. She is not being psychically awakened, but she is becoming mentally awaken. Awakened means that she is finally starting to realize things she never thought about before. “A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her,—the light which, showing the way, forbids it.” Edna became enlightened, and she saw the …show more content…

Chopin uses her main character Edna to represent all woman A woman must first realize that she is a caged bird that is supposed to be free. Edna is often referred to as a cage bird because society and her marriage is what has her bounded, so she can’t be free. Chopin uses the light as a symbol of enlightenment. The light is what awakens Edna. It what helps her find her way to the new Edna. That is what the light must do for all women. It light must help them find their way out of the cage to freedom. Lastly. In order for Edna to became a new person she must be born again, and birth takes pain. In order for women to find their selves they must be born and again, and as they are going through that birth they will go through trials and …show more content…

Chopin use irony in her novel to really emphasize the lesson she is trying to teach her readers. It’s ironic that Chopin chose for Edna to die “She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again.”(XXXIXpg 121). Chopin allows her readers to get emotionally attached to Edna and even she dies at the end of the novel. It is ironic because her readers thought that everything was going good with Edna. They thought Edna was going to finally be free and live a happy life the way she wants to live it not the way society told her to live it, but she didn’t. Before Edna died she was thinking about her old life “She thought of Leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul.”(XXXIX pg 121). Edna’s husband and children are the people part of the old Edna. They are what society wanted her to be, but the old Edna died so society no longer has control over her. Now that Edna is dead she is truly free. She wants her readers to know that they are only truly free when their old self dies. Then that is when society cannot control them because they are new people. The irony of this novel taught Chopin’s readers a lesson and left an impacted on them

Show More
Related

  • Gender Roles In The Awakening, By Edna And Leonce

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Awakening, Edna is constrained culturally by the gender roles of 1890’s New Orleans, and throughout the book, she makes advances towards becoming free of these gender roles, and consequently, her constraints. Chopin writes, “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions” (Chopin 18). The excerpt above is a direct example of Edna’s dual life. The duality of Edna’s life is extremely constraining because the gender roles of being a woman in southern society in 1890 force her into submission: she has to carry herself a certain way on the outside, or risk being excluded from “polite society”. Edna is aware of this, and in result, her inner personality is much more stifled in relative to her outward personality. Throughout the book, the way people view her changes greatly, as her deviant inward personality starts to triumph over

    Read More

  • What Is Edna Pontellier's Sacrifice In The Awakening

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Awakening by Edna Pontellier

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main question Chopin ponders in this novel is can a woman have both a marriage and children while fulfilling an independent life. Although the ending is not a very happy one, it shows the process of a woman struggling for self-survival. The Awakening shows Edna at the mercy of a devoted husband, a hot climate, a Creole lifestyle, and the restricted expectations of a particular class of Louisiana women.

    Read More

  • Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a woman who throughout the novella tries to find herself. Edna begins the story in the role of the typical mother-woman distinctive of Creole society but as the novelette furthers so does the distance she puts between herself and society. Edna's search for independence and a way to stray from society's rules and ways of life is depicted through symbolism with birds, clothing, and Edna's process of learning to swim.

    Read More

  • Edna, the Anti-Mother-Woman in Chopin’s The Awakening

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first passage, Edna is clearly set apart from what appears to be the status quo of female behavior in her society. She is not a mother-woman. The term, mother-woman is a reductive one which implies a singular purpose or value. The mother-woman is a mother; being one defines and regulates every aspect of her life. They “…esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” Chopin’s use of religious words and imagery is interesting; it certainly alludes to Victorian ideals of womanhood in which the woman is a vessel of purity and piousness. Viewing women as angels or pure, infallible beings elevates them, but also robs them somewhat of their humanity. In addition to this, it places restraining and unnecessary imperatives on their behavior, and encourages them to strive for the unattainable-a pursuit that will probably leave them feeling inadequate. The mother-women are described generally, however, in this passage, and seem entirely one-dimensional. Also, they possess an almost absurd and quality, “fluttering” about after their children, perceiving “imaginary” dangers everywhere. Chopin deals with the mother-women more complexly later through the character of Madame Ratignolle.

    Read More

  • The True Identity In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, the main protagonist, experiences multiple awakenings—the process in which Edna becomes aware of her life and the constraints place on it—through her struggles with interior emotional issues regarding her true identity: the confines of marriage vs. her yearning for intense passion and true love. As Edna begins to experience these awakenings she becomes enlightened of who she truly and of what she wants. As a result, Edna breaks away from what society deems acceptable and becomes awakened to the flaws of the many rules and expected behavior that are considered norms of the time. One could argue that Kate Chopin’s purpose in writing about Edna’s inner struggles and enlightenment was to

    Read More

  • Society's Restrictive Roles for Women Exposed in The Awakening

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...lso, Chopin shows the effect that society can have on a woman. While some may be able to handle the pressure, others, such as Edna, cannot. This was evident by her suicide. "Consequently, this ending diminishes Edna's stature and perforce reduces the significance of her rebellion" (Conn 165). Although her suicide defeated the purpose of her awakening, which was to be free, Edna was still successful in showing that women do not want to be restricted by the roles that society has placed on them.

    Read More

  • Identity Themes In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chopin’s novel is filled with different themes. Her themes are what really gets her message to her readers. one of her themes is identity because becoming the person that you want to be is what The Awakening is all about. Knowing who you are is a big component in becoming free. That is why Chopin created an identity theme in her novel. Edna is constantly trying to find out who is wants to be. Edna knows that she is not the perfect mother and wife like Madame Ratignolle, and she also knows that she would never want to live alone like Mademoiselle Reisz. Who is the true Edna P? That is what Edna is find out, and that is the question most women should ask themselves. Who is the true me? Chopin has another theme that pushes her message even more.

    Read More

  • Edna's Freedom in The Awakening by Kate Chopin

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    Freedom means to be able to do what one desires to do without being restricted from doing that action. In Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening, she displays how the protagonist, Edna, escapes from her relationship and society .She feels cornered by society and she is not satisfied with her relationship. Mr.Pontellier Edna’s husband does not treat her with respect, but as if she is a child. Edna is trying to get out of the relationship because she wants to be treated equally (Chopin). During the 1800s, oppression of women was beginning to happen more frequently with women not taking anymore of the unfair rights and actions toward women. Edna uses others distractions or hobbies to feel free away from everything else in her life. Throughout The Awakening, Edna’s obsession with water, playing music and just flat out leaving her family despite her children are her actions toward freedom. She finds these activities soothing and comfortable ,she is feel when she is around doing these things she can't be judged or told what to do. With her obsession with water it is a Her transcendalistic obsession with water and nature sooths her and releases the toxins from her life. With music being an interest of her, she plays it a lot throughout the book too, which is a symbol of something she does to escape from society. But all of these actions by Edna result in her suicide ,which is a way of freeing herself from everything that is constricting her in her life. Edna’s longing for freedom inspires many of her actions throughout The Awakening.

    Read More

  • Edna's Struggles With Depression

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 2nd. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994. Print.

    Read More

  • Characterism And Symbolism In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, is followed by the audience through her voyage of self-realization. As Edna’s journey unfolds, Chopin incorporates a vast variety of symbols in order to express Edna’s relationship with society. One of the most present symbols that Chopin uses is the way she addresses Edna’s clothing or its absence. As Edna’s character develops and her desire to liberate herself swells, she removes clothing that she feels are not only constricting to her body physically but to her soul emotionally. While Edna removes her clothing throughout the novel, she is contravening the social norms and rules that the society she lives in has presented to her. This is one of many ways that Edna

    Read More

  • Naked and Free in The Awakening

    491 Words  | 1 Pages

    Another obvious example of the symbolism of clothing is seen at the end of the novel when Edna removes all of her clothing before committing suicide.  Chopin writes that when Edna was "there beside the sea, absolutely alone, she cast the unpleasant, prickling garments from her, and for the first time in her life stood naked in the open air" (558).  Edna seems to be removing her final restrictions before finding her freedom in death.  This last rebellion against society seems to give Edna her final "awakening".  This awakening can be seen when Chopin writes, "She felt like some new born creature opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known" (558).

    Read More

  • Awakening

    2436 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Does Kate Chopin Use Characterization In The Awakening

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin uses characterization to help you understand the character of Edna on how she empowers and improves the quality of life. Edna becomes an independent women as a whole and enjoys her new found freedom. For example, Chopin uses the following quote to show you how she begins enjoying her new found freedom.”The race horse was a friend and intimate association of her

    Read More

  • Theme Of Freedom In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mallard sat in her room the approach of freedom would overwhelm her. She would begin to gain personal liberty, which would lead to her constant repeating of the word “free” Though she was alone, she was able to speak and she began to realize she was finally free. The text adds “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free!” (Chopin 477.) Once she was alone and able to let her true feelings reflect how felt she was no longer confined or defined by her husband Mr. Mallard. She became overrun by the thought of freedom it began possessing her leaving her with no authority she was free but still confined, she can’t be set from detainment due to her conception of

    Read More

More about Light Was Strong Enough To Be Free By Edna Chopin Analysis

Open Document