Gender Roles In The Awakening

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses gender roles to show that society is oppressive. During the time period that the novel was written, gender roles were very strict and they controlled all aspects of society. In fact, Jennifer Gray wrote, when discussing the impacts of gender roles, that “The hegemonic institutions of nineteenth-century society required women to be objects in marriage and in motherhood, existing as vessels of maternity and sexuality, with little opportunity for individuality” (53). The Awakening is a novel about Edna Pontellier's attempt to break free of the role she has been forced to assume by society through a spiritual, sexual and psychological awakening. Edna is a well off woman in society. This can be seen in the fact that she has “a

Regardless of her social status, as a wife, Edna was expected to comply with everything her husband told her to do and was treated as a possession of his. From the first interaction between Edna and Leonce in the novel, it is clear, that he views her not as an equal, but rather, as something that he can control. “Looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage”(44). This view of Edna as a possession of her husband extends not only to Leonce, but also to Robert Lebrun. When discussing the possibility of truly being together towards the end of the novel Robert comments that he, “was demented, dreaming of wild, impossible things, recalling men who had set their wives free”(167). Even as Edna has almost completed her awakening she is still viewed as nothing more than a possession of her husband's that has no free will and must be let go in order to be with Robert. Her lack of freedom can also be seen in her role as a mother. At the time a mother was expected to dote on her children and care for their every need, Edna was incapable of doing