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Edna's Suicide In The Awakening

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Throughout the nineteenth century, the age of Edna Pontellier, a female`s role in society was restricted to worshipping her kids and conforming to her spouse. Kate Chopin's The Awakening encompasses the disappointment and achievement in a female's life as she endeavors to survive these stringent cultural demands. Disregarding the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna fights the pressures that require her to follow a submissive and dutiful routine. Though Edna's eventual suicide misrepresents her struggles against a tyrannical society, The Awakening upholds and promotes feminism as a method for women to acquire individual identity. Birds play an imperative role in Edna's development. In the opening passage, an incarcerated parrot shrieks, "Allez-vous en! Allez-vous en! Sapritsi!” Interpreted as “Get out! Get out! Damn it!”, the dialogue illumines Edna endeavors to converse to her husband as she gradually institutes herself as an autonomous female. The parrot also signifies Edna`s original self; an imprisoned animal longing to be free, but constrained by the bars of civilization. Alcée Arobin furthermore acts as a significant figure. His name, "A robin”, portrays him as a bird soaring nest to nest. He searches not for love, but instead for sexuality. Arobin`s aptitude to converse “astonished her at first and …show more content…

While Edna's demise somewhat dishonors the message of the novel, the actions she make to acquire her individuality flawlessly illustrate what The Awakening conveys. Chopin enables Edna to flutter well beyond the limitations of conventional traditions even though societal restrictions tell her to behave otherwise. Edna discovers through her knowledge as an independent woman that she does not have to rely on males to be free. By escaping from her caged life, Edna no longer feels shackled to society. She can finally regulate her life and decide her destiny as a liberated

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