Edna Pontellier is a woman of great needs. Although she has a husband who cares for her and two children, she is very unhappy. She plays her roles as a mother and wife often, but still keeps doing things unmarried, barren women should do: enjoy the company of other men, ignore her children's cries, dress unladylike for the times. The story is set in the late 1800's, when women were to be in the kitchen preparing a meal for their family, giving birth to more children to help with daily chores, or sitting quietly at home, teaching the children while the husband was at work. Edna Pontellier was a woman not of her time. At only 28, she would have rather been out gallivanting with different men, traveling with them, and painting whenever she got the urge. She could never have traveled with Robert, however bad she wanted to, because she was married. Divorce was unheard of. No one would want to marry a woman who had been married and divorced because she was spoiled or ruined. Not only would the men have shunned a divorced woman, many of the other women would have thought that the divorced woman was not filling her God-given role of a mother or wife. When Madame Ratignolle hears of Edna living alone and leaving her husband, she tells her that she "seems to [her] like a child" (Chopin, 127).
Two ways she does escape while still with her husband are her painting and her friendship with Madame Adele Ratignolle. Her friendship is refreshing and Edna learns a great deal from Madame Ratignolle. The madame is very expressive in her thoughts. It is suggested that this is because she is Creole. For Edna, being around Madame Ratignolle and her brash ways helps her to find out her true feelings. The strong friendship gives E...
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...nto a complicated character. In the beginning she seems to be just a woman who is displeased by her husband and feels trapped by her children. Through her many friendships and affairs, she develops into an uncaring woman. When she learns how to swim, it is like a birth for her. Even though her suicide is in the ocean, her life actually ended with her awakening. She began to push people away who loved her and get close to people who did not make any difference. Edna Pontellier was not of the 1800's, but of a more current time; a time when affairs, divorces, and suicides are more common. She may have ended up killing herself whether or not she was married, had children, or committed adultery, but the men in her life contributed greatly.
Work Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Bantam, 1899.
Edna Pontellier: she is the protagonist of the novel. With twenty eight years, she is housewife married with Léonce Pontellier and mother of two boys, Etienne and Raoul. At the beginning of the novel she is comfortable in her marriage, where she sees the end of passion and the beginning of a responsible life. Through a series of experiences, she evolves into an amazing independent woman, who lives apart from her husband and her children, the only ones of whom she was in charge and is just responsible for her own acts. In a way, the only responsibilities she has during this period are art and having fun with friends. As we have said, she is the main
Forms of physical self expression like clothing are utilized by Kate Chopin throughout the text of “The Awakening” to symbolize the driving purpose of Edna Pontellier’s regression. While both the author, Kate Chopin and the critic, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, agree that Edna shows progression and regression throughout the entire story; the reasoning behind the regression is dependent on fate and not personal choosing. Fox-Genovese wrote that Edna Pontellier led from a progression to a regression due to her individualism, however, I believe that Edna’s progression is due to her individualism but the regression is fate destined for her. Edna regresses from a state of individualism to fate catching up with her and the rejection of herself as life
Edna Pontellier in the Awakening represents a woman who stands out from her comfort zone and awakes to realize she is not happy with what everybody else believed was correct or acceptable for society . In this journey of discovering her individualism and independency two important persons helped her to shape this new concept about life; Adele Ratignolle and mademoiselle Reisz. The close relationship that Edna formed with these two women is the key to her awakening. The nineteen century’s women considered friendship as a very important aspect of their lives. The Smith-Rosenberg describe in her article how important was the bond that women created between them and how intimated they were. We can say that Edna and her friends shared
Pontellier does not doubt nor desire for something beyond society’s standard for women. Leonce Pontellier, Edna’s husband, is about fifteen years older than Edna; this age divide causes a drift in what principles Leonce feels that Edna must adhere to. He maintains his belief that Edna should follow a pattern of behavior that is in conformity with what society expects of a mother-woman. A mother-woman, was defined to be one “who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals…” (Chopin 16). This principle definition of a ‘mother-woman’ was expected to be followed by the women of the late 18th century; and was viewed as an ‘unwritten law’, or simply a regulation known to obey but not question. At first, Edna does not object to this expected behavior as Leonce’s wife. She fulfills her domestic duties without complaining and she stays loyal to her husband. Mrs. Pontellier never protests or confronts any inward doubt or apprehensions she may have imagined. Instead, Edna conforms by being quiet, reserved and calm; she suppresses her own feelings to try and please society and its strict standards. Yet, all this external conformity and compliance forces Edna to question her role in the society. Is this all she can expect in
It tells the story of a woman named Edna Pontellier, who of which, goes on a journey to try to find her identity in the world. In doing so, Mrs. Pontellier has to deal with a “...marriage…” with a demanding husband and a hectic agenda of trying to keep watch of her two young “...children…” (“Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening””). Outside of balancing these stressful everyday occurrences, Edna tries to calm herself by trying to take advice from her friends Adele Ratignolle and Robert Lebrun. Thereupon, in talking with Ratignolle, Edna is told to give in to “...life’s delirium…” of doing of what is expected of her as a wife and a mother (94). Unlike that of Mrs. Pontellier’s predicament, Adele has given into that of their civilization’s ideal outlook of being a woman who has completely immersed herself in that of the wellbeing of her family and of nothing else. Appalled by this response, Edna labels it as being a “...colorless [and]...blind contentment…” and then goes on to describe Adele as being brainwashed (93). Moreover, when she talks to Robert she also does not get the guidance she so desperately needs, and/or seeks. While Robert is less affected by that of their society's social normality of only caring about family, he still does not comprehend of why Mrs. Pontellier would want to be “...independent...” when she has a high standing by being that of a “...married woman with children…” (“Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening””/36). Upset by the fact that neither Mrs. Ratignolle or Mr. Lebrun could comprehend her desire of wanting to find herself, and of not following the typical lifestyle women adopted, Edna becomes confused and frustrated. Consequently, because of these two emotions that she now bares, they become her downfall at the end of the
Reading through The Awakening for the first time, a passage in chapter X intrigued me: Edna’s first successful swim. I begin my close reading halfway through page 49, “But that night she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with over-confidence.” Her success is sudden and in spite of assistance from “the men and women; in some instances from the children” throughout the summer. Robert himself had devised a system of lessons. But her triumph does not result from any such assistance, but from her own abilities. By comparing the experience to a child’s first steps, it conjures imagery she herself must have experienced with her own children, which is emphasized by referring to “the” child rather than “a” child. Before her triumph, she totters, stumbles, and literally clutches at any “hand nearby that might reach out and reassure her,” always requiring the assistance or reassurance of others. But on this night, her powers, which by virtue of the strength of such a word choice suggests its relevance to far more than swimming, overtake her. It is significant she does it alone, and her over-confidence possibly foreshadows the conclusion.
In Chopin's Awakening, the reader meets Edna Pontellier, a married woman who attempts to overcome her "fate", to avoid the stereotypical role of a woman in her era, and in doing so she reveals the surrounding. society's assumptions and moral values about women of Edna's time. Edna helps to reveal the assumptions of her society. The people surrounding her each day, particularly women, assume their roles as "housewives"; while the men are free to leave the house, go out at night, gamble, drink and work. Edna surprises her associates when she takes up painting, which represents a working job and independence for Edna.
As the novel The Awakening opens, the reader sees Edna Pontellier as one who might seem to be a happy married woman living a secure, fulfilled life. It is quickly revealed, though, that she is deeply oppressed by a male dominated society, evident through her marriage to Leonce. Edna lives a controlled life in which there is no outlet for her to develop herself as the individual who she is. Her marriage to Leonce was more an act of rebellion from her parents than an act of love for Leonce. She cares for him and is fond of him, but had no real love for him. Edna’s inability to awaken the person inside her is also shown through her role as a “mother-woman”. She loves and cares for her children a great deal, but does not fit into the Creole mother-society in which other women baby and over protect their children.
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.
Edna Pontellier is not a Creole, so her relationship with her husband is difficult. In her husband's eyes she has failed in her duties as a wife and as a mother to her own children. What Enda's husband expects from her is never what she does. Leonce comes home in the middle of the night and talks to Edna while she is sleeping. Then he tells her that Raoul one of their sons is sick and tells her to get up and check on him. Edna had never really had the desire to have children but she did anyway. She was not a "mother-woman" because she would rather be alone sometimes; she did not feel she had to be with her children twenty-four hours a day. If one Edna's boys "....took a tumble whilst at play, he would not apt rush crying to his mother's arms for comfort; he would more likely pick himself up"(16). Enda never felt that she fit in with Creole society because she "...most forcibly was their entire absence of prudery"(19). The Creoles' would talk about things such as childbirth and would flirt with others and not mean anything. Yet Edna would never dream of talking about her childbirth's with anyone or flirting unless she meant it. Creole women devoted their whole lives to their husbands where Enda was carefree and did as she pleased. She was carefree because she would go out onto the beach with only a sundress and a little hat on when she was suppose to be all covered up so she would not become sun burnt.
...pport of Mr. Pontellier, her children, Madame Ratignolle, Robert, Madame Reisz, and her father. While Edna sees support for herself in these roles the way the other characters see them, she does not believe that she has their support for herself as an individual, apart from these roles, or as a person defining these roles for herself. As she takes her final walk down to the beach, the sea continues to call to her soul: “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude” (654). The sea has helped Edna see into her innermost being and the transformational journey has helped her realize that she wants to fulfill her roles in life as an autonomous individual. But because Edna feels that she cannot achieve her goals, she succumbs to that which is closest to her innermost being, the sea.
Being a woman, she is completely at the mercy of her husband. He provides for her a lifestyle she could not obtain on her own and fixes her place in society. This vulnerability stops Edna from being truly empowered. To gain independence as a woman, and as a person, Edna must relinquish the stability and comfort she finds in the relationship with her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier's marriage comprises a series of power plays and responds well to Marxist and Feminist Theory. Leonce Pontellier looks "…at his wife as one who looks at a valuable piece of property…". He views her as an accessory that completes the ideal life for him. Edna, however, begins to desire autonomy and independence from Leonce, so true to the feminist point of view.
The most prevalent and obvious gender issue present in the novella was that Edna challenged cultural norms and broke societal expectations in an attempt to define herself. Editors agree, “Edna Pontellier flouts social convention on almost every page…Edna consistently disregards her ‘duties’ to her husband, her children, and her ‘station’ in life” (Culley 120). Due to this, she did not uphold what was expected of her because she was trying to be superior, and women were expected to be subordinate to men. During that time, the women were viewed as possessions that men controlled. It was the woman’s job to clean the house, cook the meals, and take care of the children, yet Edna did none of these things. Her lifestyle was much different. She refused to listen to her husband as time progressed and continually pushed the boundaries of her role. For example, during that time period “the wife was bound to live with her husban...
Her memory of running away from her Father and church when she was a young girl living in Kentucky shows how desperate she is to be free. However, Edna gives up her hopes of freedom for marriage in the hopes that all will fall into place afterwards. Edna’s expectation that marriage and children is proven false when she still is not happy with her life afterwards. She feels that life is worthless and that there should be more to what she is. Edna is not like the other creole mothers; she holds an affection for her children, but it comes and goes. Occasionally she will hold them fiercely to her chest and yet others she will forget them. Her husband disapproves of her lack of maternal instinct and rebukes her when he discovers one of their children, Raoul, sick in his bed. Edna is not alarmed by it, but his harsh words make her burst into tears on the front porch, after he has fallen asleep. Mr. Pontellier does not care about his wife much as a person, only as something he owns. He views everything this way, new lace curtains, glassware, furniture. He is disappointed in his wife because, in his view, she does not function well as a mother. Edna’s lack of
Edna Pontellier was a woman who was forced to comply with the rules of Creole society, but, in being reluctant to do so, found herself in a world where she felt trapped. She saw how women were supposed to behave but did not have that behavior instilled in herself. She felt confined by her husband's expectations, and did not want to live out the typical role of wife and mother.