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Culture In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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There are many definitions that pertain to the word Culture. In Stephen Greenblatt’s work Culture he makes an analysis on the subject of culture as a whole. Greenblatt describes culture as “...a pervasive technology of control, a set of limits which social behavior must be contained,” “...models to which individuals must conform.” He also states that “Literature… has been one of the great institutions for the enforcement of cultural boundaries through praise and blame.” (Greenblatt) The main purpose of Greenblatt’s piece is to portray his belief on the fact that culture is something which allows us to analyze literature better as well as vice versa. Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening generates the question on whether the book is a novel which …show more content…

Edna is not happy in her marriage to Leonce and although she loves her children she does not see herself giving up who she is for them. She reveals this in a conversation with her friend Madame Ratignolle. Edna states “ I would give up the unessential; I would give up money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself.”(Chopin) Edna reveals that she cares more about her identity than she does her own children. She is willing to give up material objects as well as her life. However she is unwilling to give up her identity. Edna feels hollow and empty in her marriage to Leonce,she feels as if she is being controlled and she so desperately wants to be free. One of the many cultural boundaries that Edna struggles with is adhering to the expectations set in place for her set by her marriage. Edna has an affair with Robert Lebrun. This is one of the points of the novel which would have been considered quite controversial at the time. Edna falls in love with Robert and her love for him truly reveals to her how miserable her life with Leonce was. Edna felt as if she had finally found who she was. Edna becomes more independent and she begins to feel somewhat free again. When Robert leaves Edna, she becomes quite depressed, she sits in the room where she found Roberts note and stares blankly and does not sleep for the entire night. The next morning she decides to go out for a swim. During her swim Edna gives up and allows herself to drown. Edna would much rather die than be without

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Edna is married to Leoncé Pontellier, who she married to get away from her family and be free. She states, at one point in the novel, that she likes how Leoncé is obsessed with her but that she doesn't really love him the way she should and the way Leoncé loves her. Furthermore, Leoncé cares about his

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In the novel, Edna often feels like her marriage was a misfortune. For example, Edna believes,

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Edna even says herself, “I would give up the unessential…my money…my life for my children, but not myself.” For her life, Edna realized that means her marriage and physical life. As far as her marriage, Edna was never truly happy with her marriage with Leonce. Furthermore, Edna states she truly cares for her children, but sometimes her search for herself may conflict with this. This then further discourages readers even more due to the fact that this gives insight to her actions, and somewhat justifies them.

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Moreover, when her children tumbled, she will not pick them up just let them get up on their own. In contrast to Adele, Edna is not contributing herself to her family as well as Adele. Edna tries to fit in as the role to be a good mother, but, she cannot definitely, to be a mother-woman cannot fulfill her eagerness to be a special, independent and egocentric person. In Chapter XVI, Edna said to Adele, she would give her money and her life to children, but never herself. And that is what she is trying to understand and recognize.

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He, unlike Edna, cannot escape the confines of society as Edna is still married to Leonce, a fact that he is well aware of. Edna has embraced her awakening and has rejected societal norms; however, Roberts’s unreciprocated love serves as a sign to Edna that she is truly alone in her awakening. The relationship between Edna and Robert serves as a constant reminder that Edna is still confined by social

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The only way to elude herself of the responsibilities of her life was to embrace death and drown herself in the ocean. In her death, Edna rejects the social belief that a woman’s duty are found in motherhood. At the last moment, she thinks of Leonce and the children, she admits they were a part of her life, “but they need not have thought they could possess her, body and soul” (190). This also reflects societal notion telling her to be submissive, to tend to the house, and adore her

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Edna constantly struggles to realize her true desires and to understand her inner emotions and personal preferences. Part of her is always trying to establish a new outer persona while also trying to determine what she wants on the inside. She has an inner conflict between loving her family and showing compassion for them, or facing her honest yearning for a different lifestyle, breaking away from the expectations and standards of society. In the end, this internal argument causes her to fully realize that in her time period, what she truly wants is unattainable, especially after dealing with rejection from Robert and disappointment in her marriage. Overall, Mrs. Pontellier is trying to be herself in a world where a pre-existing set of rules already determine who she

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When she comes back from the island, this new outlook on life clashes with her husband’s old world values, and he endeavors to stop what he sees as utter madness. At one point, a family doctor recommends to Léonce that Edna spend time at her ancestral home, far away from the water, to return her behavior to what he knows as normal. Edna expresses a dislike of and actively avoids certain parts of society, but cannot fully separate herself from the motherly duties forced onto her by traditional gender roles, unlike her muse Mademoiselle Reisz. These duties, ultimately, prove to be the fetters that cause Edna to sink downward, and lead her to end her life in the same ocean where it truly

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Edna is struggling to choose a identity between a mother, wife, lover etc. She seems to not want to be subject as the possession of anybody. She focuses on independence even denying Robert of her love towards him which if she chose to stay with him, she would be associated with him and therefore labeled. She looks up to Madame Reisz as an independent woman, pursuing her passions and doing as she pleases. "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn 't give

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All these changes Edna made were so meaningful and represents her actual personality. Before her awakening she didn’t show anything of her true personality along with millions of women. Many people judged and mistreated her, but no matter what the obstacles were in Edna’s way she tried overcoming them the best way she can. Not only society was countering her ways of thinking, but also her husband, Leonce

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She wasn’t wife nor mother material, and as she became conscious of it through the development of the novel, Edna isolated herself so she could be awaken. “I could only see the stretch of grass before me, and I feel as if I must walk on forever, without coming to the end of it” (Chopin 19). Edna is beginning to see her role as a wife and mother as eternal and inescapable. So, at the birth of Adele’s child, she starts to find it quite frightening because at this point Edna is reminded to stay dedicated and devoted to her children. Etienne and Raoul imprisoned her body, they were preventing her from taking her own path and also chained misery to her life.

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Edna’s inner identity reaches the breakpoint where it is necessary for her well-being that it is expressed. At this point, nothing else matters besides her intuitions and desires. This brings difficulty to her familiar relationships and friendships due to her rejection of living according to her role as a mother and a wife. Even though this conflict is addressed, it does not make an impact on her decision to remain a bit selfish through this time that she is finding herself. As a way of explaining her state of mind, Edna states that she "would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself.

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If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,’ I should laugh at the both of you” (108). Throughout the story Edna’s feelings for Robert grow stronger and deeper, so that by the end of the novel she simply longs to be with him. Yet parallel to that growth Edna has discovered her self and developed her own identity. The idea of a transfer of ownership of her person from one man to another is abhorrent to her, so much so that it would cause her to abandon her dream of being with Robert. Though she wants that very much, she is unwilling to lose her own identity in the process as she did when she was with Mr. Pontellier.

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Richard Moreno Ms. Ahonen English 1301, 4th period 4 December 2016 Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: Struggle against society's view Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a fantastic and controversial novel published in 1899.

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Ever since Edna’s awakening, her life has become more black and white on melancholy days and more colorful and vibrant on bright, jolly days; there was no in between. For example, when Robert left for Mexico, Edna realized that he had “taken the brightness, the color, the meaning out of everything.” (Chapter 16) She was distraught by the fact that the man she was infatuated with for the past couple of weeks who stayed by her side for most of the hours in each day just left without any excusable explanation while her marriage to her husband was completely accidental and on the brim of falling apart. There was a big difference in how Edna accepted her marriage with Léonce in the beginning compared to the end.

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