Guilt In The Awakening And The Poisonwood Bible

Two women on two different paths to self-enlightenment but both paths end in a realization that one cannot simply focus on oneself; Victorian society, the jungles of the Congo, or the person next door are a part of life. Edna, in The Awakening discovers that she cannot live outside of society’s norms; whereas, Orleanna of The Poisonwood Bible learns how deep seeded guilt can spark self-awareness. While The Awakening’s Edna develops into the beginnings of a self-actualized woman by understanding her deep inner self and finally develops into a version of herself most disillusioned, whereas, Orelanna Price from The Poisonwood Bible becomes enlightened after experiencing the death of a child and understanding how years of obedience brought her

It would have trespassed on his devotion to all humankind. I remained his wife because it was one thing I was able to do each day. My daughter’s would say; See Mother, you had no life of your own. They have no idea. One has only a life of one’s own (Kingsolver, 8). Orleanna’s own father indoctrinates his daughter into what a wife is and how she is to be treated, “Authority and coercion is what is needed. Put your foot down good ad hard; the only way to manage a wife” (Kingsolver, 68). This young woman does not stand a chance as she moves from one enslaved household to another, a Baptist Christian household. Because of this indoctrination, Orleanna introduces multiple references to scriptures from the Bible, but over time, she stops believing altogether. She never lets on that she wants to run from Africa. Unlike Edna, who knows and does not struggle with the desires to leave or not, Orleanna struggles, “The hardest work of every day was deciding, once again, to stay with my family” (Kingsolver 91). No woman in Nathan’s family is ever going to be his equal or have a say in decision-making, especially as he sinks deeper into fanaticism. Listening is not

Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world with and around her (Chopin, Page 14). This awakening is deeper than the first as she ponders how she does not fit into Victorian society, “A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her, the light which, showing the way, forbids it” (Chopin, 14). An out of character experience for a Victorian woman to self-actualize, Edna appears as a different woman to the other characters in the novel. Once she enters this stage of this journey of self-discovery, she will find self-actualization, in the sea where she