Finding Oneself In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

The major theme of The Awakening by Kate Chopin is finding oneself. This theme is shown mostly through Edna Pontellier. Edna’s quest throughout the whole book is to find herself and become independent. Before she chose to try and live her own life, she submitted to being nothing other than a wife and mother. Towards the start of the story she says “Looking at them reminded her of her rings, which she had given to her husband before leaving for the beach. She silently reached out to him, and he, understanding, took the rings from his vest pocket and dropped them into her open palm. She slipped them upon her fingers (Chopin 7). This quotation shows how before Edna chose to find her own identity she was committed to being a wife and mother. Later on in the story Edna behaves differently about her ring, “Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring flung it on the

Life in New Orleans is much more fast paced than in Grand Isle. The reader may notice the changes that occur to Edna once they return from their summer vacation. Edna becomes more uptight and starts to make irrational decisions in a vain attempt to be happy. It seems as if the life of work and commitments is not the life Edna believes she should live. One of Edna’s major commitments that she chooses to end were her Tuesdays at home. “ On Tuesday Afternoon-Tuesday being Mrs. Pontellier’s reception day- there was a constant stream of callers…” (Chopin 83). It was her duty to remain at home and entertain her guests. One day, Edna chooses to leave instead of remaining home, and when Leonce asks her who came that day Edna replies “There were a good many...I found them when i got home; I was out” (Chopin 84). This quotation explains how Edna chooses to give up her duties upon returning to New Orleans. The busy lifestyle that is associated with New Orleans is a large contrast from the peaceful life that the Pontelliers enjoyed at Grand