An Analysis Of Kate Chopin's Feminist At Home In The Awakening

“Adele Ratignolle: Kate Chopin’s Feminist at Home in the Awakening” was written by Kathleen M. Streater and featured in the famous “The Midwest Quarterly”, a famous peer reviewed periodical. Kathleen Streater has not written many articles, which is suggested by doing a thorough research on her background; however, this paricular article is highly quoated. Furthermore, she does not seem to possess in-depth knowledge on Chopin but the arguments made by her in the article are quite convincing and unique. There are many encouraging quotes used by Kathleen, for instance she once argued that Chopin is only concentrating on the radical feminism of Edna which has limited her assessment of feminism to a great extent. This is a unique argument presented

The scholars and the reader have been engaged in discussing the themes of the novel for hundreds of years. However, this novel has been criticized for some of its themes and the way it has catered the subjects like adultery. The article written by Kathleen M. Streater presents awakening as a bold piece of fiction that was way ahead of its time. It presents Edna, the protagonist of the novel, as a controversial character who always overshadows the feminist qualities of other characters such as that of Adele. This novel presents the contrast between the two characters namely Edna and Adele, where the prior one is in complete denial of her role as a wife and mother, where the later is someone whose life revolves around her

Even though she is seen over doing her role as a mother and as a wife but there have been times when she has revealed her true self as powerful and confident. The author criticizes the fact that it is not always the case that motherhood demands the suppression of feminism and the sexuality of women. This can easily be defined by deriving the examples of everyday life. The women today are scattered in all the professions in spite of the fact that they have a family to look after. Women are pilots and soldiers, and their sexuality does not restrict them to play their responsibilities as mother and wife. These women most of the time prove to be better mothers than house wives. Similarly, there are so many married actresses including ones with children who work in the film industry and are still considered to be sex symbol. Marriage or having babies only alters their reputation and image for the better. This hence proves the point that the writer is trying to make throughout the article that creating its own individuality is based on the will of the women and not on the