Edna Pontellier's Dissatisfaction

Often in situations of discomfort and fear, the first resort is to find comfort and safety from a different source. In many cases in the novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the main character, Edna Pontillellier runs away from what she knows due to her sense of discomfort in her current life. Edna feels extremely dissatisfied with her husband and children resulting in her feeling the need to search for a sense of freedom and rebellion. Although Edna is fully aware of the circumstances, she feels that it is in her best interest to find love in other men to comfort and relieve herself. Edna is aware that she will never be a good enough mother-woman or wife and feels the guilt of not being the idealistic woman she should be; therefore, driving

She runs to other people to lean on for emotional support and stability. While looking up to and trying to be as good as or better than others, Edna finds herself in deep feelings of depression and wants a better life and freedom from her current one. Edna throws away big parts of her life, like her home and her family, to try and fix the issues she feels she has in her current one; “‘Mademoiselle, I am going to move away from the house on Esplanade Street’” she expresses feelings of abandonment to try and escape her life. (Chopin 106). By choosing to leave her house, she is also making the decision to leave her family and give herself the freedom to find different sources of comfort and happiness. Kate Chopin describes Edna as a “bird that would soar above the level of plain” to depict and characterize Edna as strong for leaving her old life behind rather than weak for giving up (Chopin 88). Chopin represents Edna as this bird because after she leaves her old life behind, she has to see herself as “soaring above levels of tradition” rather than being selfish and not a good enough mother-woman (Chopin 88). The author makes these connections to show how by making these decisions Edna was freeing herself and allowing herself to fly away from her unhappiness as if she were a