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Essay On The Creole Society In The Awakening By Kate Chopin

793 Words4 Pages

The Creole society has very specific standards when it comes to woman, “they were woman who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grown wings as ministering angels” (Chopin 8). Edna Pontellier can be described as a woman who never had a place in the Creole society. Chopin makes this clear in the introduction of the book with quotes like “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman”(Chopin 8). The mother’s role in a Creole society can be argued to be the most critical and fixed position, as the previous line suggests Edna doesn't fit this role. However this does not seem true during Chopin’s description of Edna’s visit to Iberville, Edna seems happy to see her children, and when she leaves Chopin says “It was with a wrench and a pang that Edna left her children. She carried away with her the sound of their voices and the touch of their cheeks. All along the journey homeward their presence lingered with her like the memory of a delicious song. But by the time she regained the city the song no longer echoed in her soul. She was again alone”(Chopin 95). When Enda leaves her children behind she feels that she is not …show more content…

Chopin never really talks much of Edna’s children, they are often only talked about in the early parts of the book when characters are still being established and when Edna visits them in Iberville, other than that they seem like background characters. However Edna always has them in her thoughts. “She carried away with her the sound of their voice and the touch of their cheeks.”(Chopin 95) Chopin attempts to direct the reader’s attention to Edna’s children rather than Edna at this point. When Edna leaves she will be mentally taking her children with her, trying to use them as an anchor in to keep herself in check while she continues down her road of independence, and

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