In Kate Chopin, “The Awakening”, longing for passion and freedom Edna Pontellier leaves the safety of her gilded cage, only to find that death is her only salvation. In the 1800’s the main role in society for a female was to be a wife and mother, women at this time were the property of their husbands and had little say in anything. Which for Edna was the opposite of what she wanted, she wanted to be free from these responsibilities and to live her own life. Although Edna is not a victim in the role society has chosen for her, she freely walked into her gilded cage and into the role of wife to Leonce Pontellier and mother to their children. The longer she stayed in her marriage, the more she realizes that the passion she needed was not there with her husband, nor was the motherly affection she should have felt for her children.
Her love for her children is flighty at best. It’s as if she’s been locked in a cage m... ... middle of paper ... ...is tragic to me that Edna had to choose suicide however, I don’t see Edna as a failure for what she did. I think that Edna was a woman who was ahead of her time, just as some have said Kate Chopin was ahead of hers. The ocean in this story also symbolized life for Edna. Tragically, Edna was not ever afforded the tools necessary to deal with her awakening.
Happiness is something that Daisy has been chasing her entire life; however, marrying Tom changed her outlook on life. You learn throughout the novel that Tom and Daisy 's relationship is not the most ideal, happy relationship. Tom is abusive towards her, and doesn 't seem to care for her much. Daisy thinks she has everything, wealth, love and happiness which all tie into the American dream; until she discovers that she has nothing and that she has been corrupted by this specific dream. She thought she had all she desired for, but truly realized she had nothing.
Every character exposes different marital standards expected in the time period. In a biography about Jane Austen, edited by Jack Lynch, Rosemary Reisman explains that while neither Jane Austen nor her sister, Cassandra never married, both were engaged at one point. Jane’s engagement was not long lived, in fact it only lasted one night, and she rejected the suitor in the morning (8). Austen’s marital status and limited interaction outside her family led her to develop a keen sense of human interactions. Through her experiences “grieving and rejoicing with family members and friends, mothering nieces and nephews, worrying about the effects of her unstable times on those she loved” she is able to portray the time through her characters (9).
It was not that she did not know what love was, for she had BEEN INFATUATED BEFORE, AND BELIEVED IT WAS love. She consciously chose to marry Mr. Pontellier even though she did not love him. When she falls in love with Robert she regrets her decision TO MARRY Mr. Pontellier. HOWEVER, readers should not sympathize, because she was the one who set her own trap. She did not love her husband when she married him, but SHE never once ADMITS that it was a bad decision.
Sandra Cisneros (a recognized writer) thinks that she "will be no body's mother and no body's wife." Kate Chopin got married when she was very young and she did not have enough time to enjoy her life, especially with six kids. She felt like she was tired, and also experienced that there were no equal rights for men and women. The fact that women had to be dependent from their husbands bothered Kate. Even though she died in 1899, her writing still teach woman that they could be independent.
Charlotte eventually deteriorates as a result of feeling repressed and trapped. Charlotte will never be anything but a wife and mother with no room to become a writer. Dependent on her husband for emotional support as well as financial support, Charlotte did not outwardly disagree with John's diagnosis. Without much protest, Charlotte stays in one room for fear of being sent to Dr. Mitchell's for the Rest Cure. (4) Trapped in a room with no aesthetic pleasure, she was left to her own thoughts.
Buddy Willard was a person who was part of Esther’s life who had let her down and inflicted damage to her mentally and physically. Her college plans were ruined when they had failed her and she was not accepted into what she wanted to work as. Her mother did not make an attempt to comfort or support her when she was going through her crisis. Another man shortly in her life, Marco the woman hater, had set her up for her big fall as she was leaving New York. Esther encountered many obstacles in her life that were set and eventually forced a harsh depression, while the help she had vanished and did not support her throughout her depression, causing a near fatal outcome.
(Lawrence, 363) "But Mabel did not take any notice of him. They had talked at her and round her for so many years, that she hardly heard them at all." (Lawrence, 361) She does not see the point in living when she has no one to identify with in her famil... ... middle of paper ... ...8) Again, reinforcing the notion that Mabel does not know how to live a life on her own with death being the only option for being unloved. D.H Lawrence's short story, The Horse Dealer's Daughter, shows how strong an emotion love is, and how influential it can be in the lives of those with depression. Plotting of key events in Mabel's life contributes to the melancholic effect of the story.
For example, while her father sexually abused her, he told Precious that he loved her and even that he would marry her. This was an especially confusing message at a time when no one else was showing Precious any interest or