The ocean – a constant symbol in The Awakening – started Edna’s rebirth. When she relaxed on the beach on Grand Isle, the water constantly seduced the main character. Her liberating thoughts originated when Edna first visited the beach with Robert Lebrun, and she began to “realize her position in the universe… and recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” (Chopin, 13). Along with Edna’s thoughts, a significant scene was Edna’s first swim in the ocean.
Terrell P. McIntyre Jr. Dr. Rose Gubele American Lit 9:50-10:40 T, Th 16 March 2017 Breaking Social Boundaries: A Journey of Self-Discovery Throughout the 1800s, gender roles were very strict and rarely questioned. Along with holding their families and homes as their highest priorities, women were also expected to be submissive to their husbands and continuously look presentable. It was quite strange for women to step outside of the harsh boundaries that were deemed as socially acceptable for them. Throughout Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” Edna Pontellier pushes against the perimeters set for her as a woman and works to establish herself as an individual rather than a cog in a social machine.
Edna fully understands that society would brand her as a terrible woman, but she does not view herself as a bad person. There is an external and internal difference that Edna hopes to one day reconcile. Chopin, instead of creating tension within Edna, created tension within the society and Edna with her newfound independence does not mind how society classifies her. Decisively, it can be concluded that the tension between outward conformity and inward questioning builds the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period.
“Mrs. Pontellier was not a woman given to confidences, a characteristic hitherto contrary to her nature. Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself.” (Chopin pg.14). But while speaking to Adele Ratignolle about her youth, Edna begins to reveal her desire for romance and freedom. She continues to explain how marrying Mr. Pontellier killed her desire for romance and true love, and how her marriage basically ended her ability to fulfill her want for romance.
The layers of Mrs. Pontellier’s character are infinite and the analyzation of her character could be a whole other novel in itself, however by using symbols Kate Chopin helps the reader to uncover the very first
“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
Edna experiences the hardships of striving to break as a “ [feeling] like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul … the exuberance which had sustained and exalted her spirit left her helpless and yielding to the conditions which crowded her in … clutching feebly at the post before passing into the house.” (79). Through the imagery of a weight on her mind and feeble body, Chopin conveys her inability to find the strength to break the chains of the archetypal female identity. Extremely fleeting, her momentary empowerment clearly validates her circular growth rather than a building of personal development.
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.
Edna Pontellier in the novel, The Awakening, is a self-driven woman determined to become independent and free whilst undergoing a significant change in behavior throughout the novel. She attempts to withstand societal expectations by doing certain things that were not socially acceptable during this time period. While doing so, she experiences many different struggles during her awakening. These struggles that Edna undergoes may be described as internal as well as external. In the awakening, there is a constant conflict between inner and outer Edna.
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
The images of birds and the ocean are used to show the harsh standards placed on Edna and other women in the nineteenth century. As illustrated in The Awakening, the ocean is a symbol of rebirth and revival. While at Grand Isle, Edna is one of the only vacationers who can not swim. The water is as unfamiliar to Edna as her neighbors’ culture and way of openly expressing themselves.
The Awakening is a novel written by Kate Chopin that follows a woman named Edna Pontellier on her journey to self-awareness. Edna lived a comfortable lifestyle with her husband and two children in Louisiana during the 19th century. Despite obtaining all aspects to a perfect life, Edna became dissatisfied after meeting Robert Lebrun in Grand Isle. Robert sparked a desire for unlawful lust as well as a yearning for independence in a society full of conformed standards. Edna was unable to handle the pressures associated with achieving personal freedom which ultimately led to her death.
Edna Pontellier was only seen as a “valuable piece of property which [had] suffered some damaged” to her husband Mr. Pontellier (BOOK). One can also see that “The Awakening” also focused on the sexual desires of women, identity, and self-discovery Edna, a character in “The Awakening” experienced her awakening by discovering her identity in her own self. “The Awakening” attempts to tell the story a woman who wants to find herself while lusting. Later, at the end of the story, one discovers that since Edna Pontellier could not fully find her peace, and freedom she ultimately decides to commit suicide. Through this “The Awakening” shows that although women were oppressed, they also had empowerment.
She wrote a short story The Awakening, which took place in New Orleans and told the struggle of Edna, a housewife and a mother, whether she should follow her heart or respect the tradition. She made the choice of rebelling the past and she started to seek for herself. It was an extreme role, once she realized what she is then she abandoned everything she had in the past; and she wanted to be set free from her family role and motherhood. “The years that are gone seem like dreams—if one might go on sleeping and dreaming—but to wake up and find—oh! Well!
In Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” shows a controversial protagonist, Edna Pontellier. The character in the novel showed different expectations for women and their supposed roles. One literary critic, Megan Kaplon showed how this novel can be viewed as a struggle of the world or society around her. Edna in the story is trying to find freedom and individuality Kaplon mentions that “one of her most shocking actions was her denial of her role as a mother and wife.”
