Broken Wings in The Awakening
Between the caged parrot with a huge cage “outside the door” that repeated “Get away! Get away! Damnation!” and Mr. Pontellier ‘s rebuke to his wife that she was “burnt beyond recognition,” and the description of him looking at his wife as “a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.” the antenna went up. There is not a welcoming beckon in the very beginning and we are alerted to the dysfunction of a marriage all with a page or two. It is a sad beginning. The introduction of Robert Lebrun along with Edna sets up the triangle. We are told that “Robert talked a good deal about himself. He was very young, and did not know any better. Mrs. Pontellier talked a little more about herself for the same reason. Each was interested in what the other said.” Robert from the onset has “plans” although he and Edna talk she has none.
When Mr. Pontellier returns from Klein's hotel and awakens Edna, with criticism about her care of the children , after a night out with the boys. We begin to see him as thoughtless and as eligible as Edna for the same criticism. She goes into the adjoining bedroom and cries. This indifference on the part of her husband triggers, “An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish.” At this point the antenna were up and the story began to accelerate.
We are told that Mrs. Pontellier was not a “mother woman”. The mother women in the story are easy to know “they (were) fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood.” They grew wings as “ministering angels”.
I noticed along with the caged birds in the opening of the story the number of bird images throughout. It is Mademoiselle Reisz that tells Edna, “The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.’”Edna refers to her new home as “the pigeon-house”. It pleased her. “It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with charm which it reflected like a warm glow.
Rosaura was a smart yet naive girl. Heker tells us that, "she was barely nine, and one of the best in her class" (1133). But as her mother, Herminia, says, "Get away with you believing any nonsense you’re told" (Heker 1133). Rosaura felt like she was equal to Lucinda, but to Senora Ines she is nothing but the maid’s daughter, another pair of hands. Rosaura wanted a better life than her mother’s, and she thought that this might be the first step in that direction.
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.
Dr. Mandelet, speaking more as a wise, older man than as a medical authority, seems to understand Edna's predicament. When Mr. Pontellier asks for his advice concerning the strange behaviour of his wife, the doctor immediately wonders, "Is there any man in the case?" (950). While Edna thinks she is expressing her independent rights, Dr. Mandelet knows her heart is still tied to the need for a man in her life, and to an uncontrolled submission to sexual passion. After her self-proclaimed release from her husband's narrow world of prescribed gender roles, Edna begins to act spontaneously, without considering, as Leonce would wish, "what people would say" (977). During a visit to Mademoiselle Reisz, she boldly displays her new attitude, refusing the more modest hot chocolate in favor of a "man's drink":
When Rosaura’s mother can tell her starry-eyed daughter who is full of hope and innocence that, "The problem with you, young lady, is that you like to fart higher than your ass" (Heker 1133), it creates a bitterness between them and damages the idea of Rosaura improving herself. The mother does not want Rosaura to go "the rich people’s party," perhaps due to fear that her daughter might experience the cold shoulder from the upper class, or perhaps out of fear that Rosaura might truly make it and leave the mother behind.
In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, the main character, Edna leaves her husband to find place in the world. Edna believes her new sexually independent power will make her master of her own life. But, as Martin points out, she has overestimated her strength and is still hampered by her "limited ability to direct her energy and to master her emotions" (22). Unfortunately, Edna has been educated too much in the traditions of society and not enough in reason and independent survival, admitting to Robert that "we women learn so little of life on the whole" (990). She has internalized society's conception of woman as guided by her emotions and not her mind and, therefore, in the search for another man to fill the void of love in her life, lets her goal become clouded instead of learning to depend on herself alone. Edna wants to overcome gender stereotypes, and is already using behaviours such as assertiveness and independence to question them, but the struggle is new to her and she fails to discover a method that would allow her to successfully leave behind society's preconceptions. Martin writes,
...nfortunately, instead, she is handed money and is thanked for her help. This is the self-discovery for Rosaura, as she is shocked and her innocence is stolen. She is completely heart-broken to find out that her mother was right. In the beginning, her mother said, “You know what you are to them? The maid’s daughter, that’s what.” Rosaura discovers her economic status and how it actually matters to other people. She also discovers her adult self as she is rushed into this harsh realization.
John Donne uses poetry to explore his own identity, express his feelings, and most of all, he uses it to deal with the personal experiences occurring in his life. Donne's poetry is a confrontation or struggle to find a place in this world, or rather, a role to play in a society from which he often finds himself detached or withdrawn. This essay will discuss Donne's states of mind, his views on love, women, religion, his relationship with God; and finally how the use of poetic form plays a part in his exploration for an identity and salvation.
Many researchers have examined compassion fatigue in regards to individuals who work closely with children in child welfare. As more research has developed there have been several prominent themes that have emerged. Compassion satisfaction, a stable support network, compassion fatigue measurement scales, self care, and trainings have been found to support foster parents and promote strengths that reduce the risk of compassion fatigue and burnout. These themes have allowed professionals and foster parents alike become more effective in their carer roles.
Could the actions of Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's novella The Awakening ever be justified? This question could be argued from two different perspectives. The social view of The Awakening would accuse Edna Pontellier of being selfish and unjustified in her actions. Yet, in terms of the story's romanticism, Edna was in many ways an admirable character. She liberated herself from her restraints and achieved nearly all that she desired. Chopin could have written this novel to glorify a woman in revolt against conventions of the period. Yet, since the social standpoint is more factual and straightforward, it is the basis of this paper. Therefore, no, her affairs, treatment of her family and lovers, and suicide were completely unwarranted. She was not denied love or support by any of those close to her. Ultimately Edna Pontellier was simply selfish.
Her heart is a battlefield. Liliana Hecker writes about a story entitled “The Stolen Party” which shows how a girl learns about herself in society. The birthday party changes her perspective of other people. Rosaura, an innocent little girl, does not realize that people think of her differently because she is not as wealthy as they. This lowers her self esteem. Rosaura learns that her place in society defines her.
In The Awakening, Chopin sets up two characters main characters and a subsidiary female character to serve as foils to Edna. The main characters are Adele Ratignolle, "the bygone heroine of romance" (888), and Mademoiselle Reisz, the musician who devoted her life to music, rather than a man. Edna falls somewhere in between the two, but distinctly recoils with disgust from the type of life her friend Adele leads: "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman." Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, the two important female principle characters, provide the two different identities Edna associates with. Adele serves as the perfect "mother-woman" in The Awakening, being both married and pregnant, but Edna does not follow Adele's footsteps. For Edna, Adele appears unable to perceive herself as an individual human being. She possesses no sense of herself beyond her role as wife and mother, and therefore Adele exists only in relation to her family, not in relation to herself or the world. Edna desires individuality, and the identity of a mother-woman does not provide that. In contrast to Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz offers Edna an alternative to the role of being yet another mother-woman. Mademoiselle Reisz has in abundance the autonomy that Adele completely lacks. However, Reisz's life lacks love, while Adele abounds in it. Mademoiselle Reisz's loneliness makes clear that an adequate life cannot build altogether upon autonomy. Although she has a secure sense of her own individuality and autonomy, her life lacks love, friendship, or warmth. Later in the novel we are introduced to another character, her name is Mariequita. Mariequita is described as an exotic black-eyed Spanish girl, whom Edna looks upon with affectionate curiosity. Unlike the finely polished heroine, Mariequita walks on "broad and coarse" bare feet, which she does not "strive to hide". This strikes Edna with a refreshing sense of admiration. To her, the girl's soiled feet symbolize naked freedom, unconstrained by the apparel of civilization. Thus, Edna finds her rather beautiful. Mariequita is more like an unrefined version of Edna, that is, her instinctual self. At times, Mariequita ventures to express the thoughts that are secretly buried in Edna's unconscious.
The first taste of this newfound freedom is the satisfaction that Edna feels in being able to provide for herself with her own money. The fact that she no longer has to rely on her husband’s money breaks the last tie that she had with him: "I know I shall like it, like the feeling of freedom and independence."(80) In her mind now, her marriage is dead, and Mr. Pontellier has no control over her. Financial freedom is not the only thing the pigeon house gives to Edna; it also allows her both physical and spiritual freedom. When Edna kisses Arobin in her husband’s house, she feels "reproach looking at her from the external things around her which he had provided for her external existence."(84) Yet, her first night at the pigeon house she spends with Arobin, and this time feels no reproach or regret. As for the spiritual ramifications provided by her new home, Chopin writes, "There was a feeling of descending in the social scale, with the corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual.., she began to look with her own eyes... no longer was she content to feed upon opinion."(94) The pigeon house provides a way for Edna to escape from the society that she hates. She has the freedom to make the decisions in her life now; and she decides that she is going to live life by her own rules, not the rules that society has laid out for her. When she is within her home, she is free from the pressures of being the "mother women" which society forces her to be. The pigeon house nourishes this newfound freedom, allowing it to grow and gain strength.
At the beginning of the book, her mother doesn't want her to go to the party, but she gives one reason why “it’s a rich people's party.” Rosaura is befuddled and cannot comprehend why she shouldn't go to the party, not knowing what her mother means. Being stubborn, like any young child would be, Rosaura doesn't care what her mother thinks, and she goes to the party oblivious as to what she is there for. Her mother is trying to prevent the pure cruelty of understanding that she isn't equal to higher social classes. Her understanding of life changes immensely throughout the party, and little by little she realizes what she is there for. Not as a friend, but as a
...ush you and your children and your children's children" (Raymond 198)! Already strained by the demands of making money, Rockefeller now staggered under the new pressures of giving it away. "I investigated and worked myself almost to a nervous breakdown," he said, "in groping my way through the ever-widening field of philanthropic endeavor" (Raymond 199).
iv[iv] Helen Gandner, ed., John Donne: A Collection of Critical Essays. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1962) 47.