The Confinement Of Women In Society In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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Sophia Corriere
Ms. Corporan
English 11 HH
19 December, 2014
The Confinement of Women in Society in The Awakening Throughout history there have been strict guidelines placed on women. Women are supposed to remain in their domestic sphere, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children.
In The Awakening, Edna marries her husband Léonce out of practicality, she has come to the point in her life where a women is to get married. The strict guidelines placed on her by society push her into a loveless, idle marriage. Edna must now continue with this marriage forever, “idly, aimlessly, unthinking, and unguided”(Chopin 16). Kate Chopin’s The Awakening explores the oppression of women in a patriarchal society where women are constantly defeated. Throughout The Awakening, Edna faces oppression from her husband, children, and society. It is her duty, as a women, to get married and have children with her husband. Edna’s …show more content…

While this stereotype might have once been true, it has now placed bounds on women which are difficult to escape. Male-dominated society has constantly abused and defeated women, which is shown in the works; The Awakening, Women in Economics, A Room of One’s Own, and Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper. Women in Economics focuses on the vicious cycle of tradition which women are unable to escape. A Room of One’s Own states that women, who are of equal caliber to men, cannot compete against them in society and are consistently shut down. Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper explains that male-dominated society purposely tries to stop women from succeeding. The Awakening connects to all three of these pieces in that Edna’s constant confinement from society and her husband, Léonce, results in her death. A women can not compete against patriarchy, all four sources exemplify that patriarchy always

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