Analysis on The Awakening by Kate Chopin

At times, we come to find a place in our lives where we struggle to find ourselves, to become who we are as individuals. What hinders this discover is different for all of us, and what we do to overcome what hold us back is up to us. This conflict is clearly identifiable through the character of Edna Pontellier in The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Throughout the text, we watch as Edna first oblivious to the possibility beyond the life she currently has, and as events or people in her life begin to trigger this “awakening” inside her, we see her grow into the person she wants to be, instead of the person she has to be. The obstacle’s Edna faces are many, in different shapes and sizes, but in the end she truly does find herself, and is at peace with what she knows is past a life on earth. Through the use of the characters in the novel, along with the situations that arise through it, Chopin demonstrates how the struggle in the journey to find oneself is truly worthwhile, but not many dare to take it, and once found, not many are strong enough to continue down the same path.

When Edna is first introduced in she appears content with herself, with two children, a husband with financial security. The time setting for the story seems to be around the same as the one in which it was published (1899), so for the stabdards of what a women’s happiness is supposed to be (married with kids in a stable home), Edna is living a good life. This feeling of being content later turns out being a veil Edna, a veil that isn’t pulled back until she begins to grow fond of Robert Lebrun, a younger man who tends to hang around all the married women in Grand Isle. All of the married women in this Isle know their place, and respect and truly seem to love their h...

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...and defies” (Chopin 156).

The character of Edna is given her own challenges and obstacles to face throughout the entire novel. The obstacles were the people around her, but were also what led her to a place of enlightenment where she was free to be as she was. The author places the supporting characters either as a guide or as a contrast, what makes it difficult for Edna to “fly”. Edna however doesn’t come “fluttering back down to earth”. She see’s her opportunity to continue soar, and courageously takes it. Through Edna, Chopin is able to show her audience to find one’s true self, we at times need to take risks, but not everyone is willing to go s far as it is required to truly be free.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate, and Marilynne Robinson. The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories, Introduction by Marilynne Robinson. New York: Benediction Classics, 1988. Print.