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Edna's death in the awakening
Edna's death in the awakening
Edna's death in the awakening
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Edna's death in the awakening
Edna's death in the awakening
Edna's death in the awakening
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Edna's death in the awakening
The Death of Edna Pontellier The struggles of Edna Pontellier throughout her everyday life in a society that she feels she doesn’t belong in, is developed through the writing of Kate Chopin. As her character develops, Edna’s final decision of suicide illustrates her defeat in the face of society. In, The Awakening, Kate Chopin employs poetic diction and anaphora to emphasize and illuminate Edna’s awakening and how her death positively affected her character development.
Every situation has it own point of view. In the novel, Edna attempted to convinved herself that whateer dishonesty she was doing was not wrong. She seems to be drowning herself in her own issues. throughout the novel, she commits moral crimes such as maintaining a false marriage.
Right before Edna goes to kill herself, she had many thoughts about people who have meant a lot to her in her past life. She thinks this about her children: Edna declares her children to be a representation of her own “slavery” of being a mother. Edna uses the word “antagonists” to describe the images of her children in her head. She believes that her kids are a wall standing between the standards of being a mother, which Edna is trying to escape, and her becoming an individual woman. She then uses the verbs “overcome” and “overpowered” to describe the action of what her children have done to her.
Women during Edna’s time were supposed to be dedicated to their husbands and children, however, Edna yearned for her own independence, and as a result of wanting her own independence Edna knew that she was seen as a terrible person. For instance Edna wanted to “…try to determine what character of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don't know. By all the codes which I am acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked specimen of the sex. But some way I can't convince myself that I am. I must think about it" (27.4).
A struggle between Edna and her independence is showing in The Awakening. The Creole culture in which she lives in has an expectation for women. The expectation is the women have to adore their kids and take care of their husbands.edna does not want to abide by these guidelines. When edna figures out that she does not want to follow these standards she starts thinking more independent and about her needs and what she wants out of life. Edna’s family which consist of leonce and her two children are vacationing in La Grande Isle for the summer.
Edna’s characterization throughout The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, describes Edna as someone with burning passion who desires to improve not only her life, but the lives of future generations. However Edna’s actions make her often seem weak to the oppressive people around her; sometimes, and in this case unfortunately, good ideas and beliefs are stopped cold by one’s surrounding influences. Edna’s feminist attitude, though formidable, is no match for the individuals who accept the current society’s customs. I find Edna to be a weak person from a general standpoint. However the story masks this obviousness fact by illustrating some of Edna’s questionable actions.
Another side of her inner self showing was when she was refusing to get out of the hammock “With a writhing motion she settled herself more securely in the hammock. She perceived that her will had blazed up,” (Chopin 31). This expresses her attitude against her husband in which she does not care if she disobeys him. In conclusion, Edna has two very distinct personalities when it comes with what is on the outside and the inside of
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.
Throughout the beginnings of both stories, both Edna and the narrator explore new surroundings as they find their obsession, yet the situations that lead to the discovery of their manias cause the characters to appreciate the infatuation in different regards. Edna’s ironic attraction to the ocean begins with her inability to swim, as “Edna had attempted all summer to learn to swim... A certain ungovernable dread hung about her when in the water, unless there was a hand nearby that might reach out and reassure her” (Chopin 36). The ultimate subject of Edna’s attention was originally something she despised and had distaste for. This perspective allows for an objective view of the temptation of the ocean, something that Edna succumbs to later
The ending of Kate Chopin's novel “The Awakening” has been long debated over whether or not the main character Edna commits suicide in the end. Many critics and readers argue that her death, in the end, was not intentional and rather the consequence of her actions. Others believe that she never actually died in the end and the book ends before she swims back to shore. Contrary to these ideas, I think that Edna's suicide was intentional as she had planned it right after she found Robert's notes saying he was leaving. She planned the suicide that night not specifically wanting to die but feeling as if she had no other choice and death was her last hope at an “awakening”.
After swimming successfully, she develops feelings for Robert. After this awakening, Edna starts to step back and rethink her entire life; her marriage, her role, and even herself. She realizes she feels sort of imprisoned in this life she has had for so long. Edna finally starts doing things for her, she is letting herself feel an attraction for another man even though she is married and she also gets into art and has everyone in the house model for her. Rather than doing things to get the house ready for her husband or spending time playing with her children, she is distracted by all her newly found
In this book it seems that suicide was the only thing Edna had control over and she took it. You see Edna struggle with her role as a mother and wife. The constrictions placed on her left her unhappy. You could see that she wasn 't involved with her children but loved them alot and knew that they would be better off without her. Her ideas of freedom and a new and exciting life don 't go as she planned.
In the story, the only place where Edna could experience freedom and find her awakening was the sea. Thus, when she commits suicide one can see how the sea was the root for Edna finding her self-discovery. Through suicide individuals can see how it was the only escape for a woman who was living under oppression. Suicide not only shows that oppression was impossible to escape for a woman, but at the the same time it shows that suicide was the only way
Throughout the novel Edna defies society showing her strength and dedication towards her awakening. Edna experiences an awakening that completely changes her as a person and her view of society. Edna becomes a different person, as a result of her awakening, with a changed view of
At the beginning of the novel, Edna had appeared to be recognizing the fact that her life revolves around her husband and her children, and that it is her main duty to care for them. It is mainly Mr. Pontellier, her husband, who tries to establish an image of her being a both a perfect partner and wife. He views her as an object that must be suitable for the eyes of society. According to him, his wife is a “valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage” (Chopin 2). He is controlling over her appearance and actions.