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Conflict In The Awakening

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“No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” Laurence Sterne’s quote of mental conflict relates to Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening”, where Chopin’s main character faces contrasting influences concerning her life. The two influences which direct the actions of Chopin’s main character, Edna, are the novel’s contemporary views concerning a woman’s position in society, and Edna’s unorthodox personal opinions. Both opposing impacts form the mental contrast which directs Edna’s inner conflict throughout Chopin’s novel, and Edna’s conflicting influences prove to illuminate the meaning …show more content…

Chopin uses time period to her advantage and employs a constraining mentality as a means of shaping Edna’s conflict throughout the story. This is well displayed as Chopin writes that, “...her [Edna’s] new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him. It shocked him. Then her absolute disregard for her duties as a wife angered him” (61-62). As Edna begins to disregard society’s expectations of her as a wife, her husband describes his opinion which is primarily formed by the social expectations of women. The time period’s expectations prove to serve as the first influencing factor which strains Edna’s mentality concerning her freedom. Additionally, this use of societal expectation by Chopin proves to illuminate the overall meaning of her novel. By providing social impact as the driving force of her character’s conflict, Chopin provides commentary on the overbearing social expectations attached to women in both past and present times. The use of society’s influence as a primary conflict serves as a means of providing social commentary and questioning to both the modern and contemporary social standings of women and people as a whole. Chopin uses the struggles and opinions of her main character as a means of illustrating society’s forceful impact in a negative

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Kate Chopin develops Edna’s character so rigorously, she creates a whole new character by the end of the novel. Edna’s feat of overcoming her fears reveals the powerful message of being brave and finding

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It is common for people in everyday society to conform to society’s expectations while also questioning their true desires. In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the main protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In other words, Edna outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Kate Chopin, uses this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning to build the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period. Edna outwardly conforms to society’s expectations by marriage.

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In addition, the search for self-identity is viewed as important in today’s society. Thus, these confliction attributes lead the reader to identify Edna as morally ambiguous. Categorizing complex characters as purely good or purely evil is not one of the easiest of tasks. As a result, it is best to characterize them as morally ambiguous. In Edna’s case, she is morally ambiguous due to her romantic affiliations and role-defying actions, but both are immensely vital to Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” as a complete whole.

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“They were women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals to grow wings as ministering angels” (Chopin 8). Mr. Pontellier did not want her to recognize herself as a person, he wanted her to live only for him and his children as a devoted mother-woman should. Returning back home to New Orleans was met with constant fighting because of Edna’s new determination to become her own person. “Mr. Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tact submissiveness in his life. But her

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Chopin describes Edna “taking off her wedding ring” and “[stamping] her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the little glittering circlet.(103), displaying that she does not possess the tools as society has only given her a “small boot heel” or the strength of character to break from the confines of her identity as a woman in society. Additionally, through highlighting the image of the undiminished ring“glittering” ring, Chopin visually illustrates the unbroken circle of her personal

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In Kate Chopin’ s novel, The Awakening, there are three identities inside of the female leading role, Edna Pontellier, being a wife, mother and own self. Edna was born in 19th century at the Vitoria period, a patriarchy society, women have low freedom to achieve personal goal. She married with Léonce Pontellier, a wealthy man with Creole descent. After having a child, her life is still unchangeable and as bored as before. Until she encountered Robert Leburn, Mademoiselle Reisz, and Alcée Arobin, her value of self-cognition has changed.

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Her frequent vacations to the island, like her frequent dips into the ocean, begin to spark a personal change within the woman. A Creole man, Robert, shows Edna a new dimension of feelings she never knew she lived without, and she begins to look through life through a new lens. Having been awakened for the first time, she sees injustice and mistreatment where she saw none before. Chopin uses Edna’s new observations and reactions to the culture around her to illustrate the myriad ways women were marginalized. In an ironic twist, the white woman from Kentucky proves to be more liberated than her more traditional husband, who grew up

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Societal norms are unwritten rules and expectations that govern our behavior in a society. While these norms serve as a foundation for social cohesion and stability, they are also limiting, oppressive, and unjust. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, explores the limitations placed on women in the patriarchal society of the time and faced controversy due to its depiction of Edna, the protagonist, and her sexual and emotional awakening, along with her fate. George M. Spangler was an author who analyzed The Awakening in his essay, The Ending of the Novel. In his text, Spangler argues that Edna’s fate was not only fundamentally evasive and surprising, but also inconsistent with her character’s perseverance in finding her new self through the breaking

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Standing before the Polish Academy of Sciences is a bronze statue of astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus. In his hand, he holds a compass and armillary sphere, symbols of his Innovation, Experimentation, and ability to change the way we see the world. Having defended Poland from the Teutonic Knights, invented the quantity theory of money (MV=PY), and inventing the revolutionising Heliocentric theory of the universe (before telescopes were invented, there is no doubt that Copernicus’ work and method demonstrates the Spirit of the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a time of discovery, art, and science.

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In the 1800’s, the societal niche of married women was clearly defined: they were meant to devote every aspect of their lives to their husbands and children. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, struggles to adhere to these standards, and eventually rebels against them. The harsh standards placed on Edna and other women in the novel are like the cages around the metaphorical birds Chopin uses to represent them. Edna's unhappiness in her societal role is realized in the ocean, which symbolizes this awakening and her attempt to escape the gender roles of the nineteenth century.

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Edna lives in a very male dominated society. Any orders given by the husband wouldn’t dare to be challenged by the wife. Edna has given Leonce that same sort of respect until “her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant” (Chopin 31). She reaches a point where her influences are pulling her to resist Leonce and follow her own inhibition. Edna’s emotions stir in response to Leonce and she “wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command” (Chopin 31).

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This realization causes her to start making changes within herself. One of these changes included finding a new sense of confidence that allows her to take a stand against her husband. ‘”Are you coming in Léonce?” she asked turning her face toward her husband.’ (Chopin, 35) Although she made such a change, Edna did not realize she was not strong enough to completely go against society and her husband.

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1210 Words | 5 Pages

This socially constructed identity is the first of the many that Edna grapples with in the text. It is the identity of women within the time period of the text. In the words of Dix, Edna’s identity is meant to be that of a typical American wife who will control the home, children and entertain socially yet remain obedient to her working husband (146). ‘Looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property’ (Chopin 4). The

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Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was written at the end of the nineteenth century, where many roles for women began to change; therefore, the it appears to have been a turning point for females (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). These changes in female roles were mostly due to the actions of women themselves, motivated by their desires to break away from the limits imposed on their gender The nineteenth century was a critical point in time for women, in regards to their roles in society (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). In The Awakening, Edna goes through noteworthy changes in the course of the novel, which reconstructs her into a woman who goes against societal ideals regarding motherhood and marriage . In the 1890s, motherhood was viewed

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To start, Chopin presents Edna as a woman aspiring for independence. When she stays out on the hammock she is standing up for herself because she wants to be her own woman. Edna then, is presented as a woman who does not complete her domestic duties, but instead decides to become an artist. While Edna is becoming more confident because of Mademoiselle’s impact she is able to become an artist and take control of her life. Edna’s final portrayal is through her choices to follow through with her sexual desires.

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