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How Does Edna Pontellier Build Social Boundaries In The Awakening

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Terrell P. McIntyre Jr. Dr. Rose Gubele American Lit 9:50-10:40 T, Th 16 March 2017 Breaking Social Boundaries: A Journey of Self-Discovery Throughout the 1800s, gender roles were very strict and rarely questioned. Along with holding their families and homes as their highest priorities, women were also expected to be submissive to their husbands and continuously look presentable. It was quite strange for women to step outside of the harsh boundaries that were deemed as socially acceptable for them. Throughout Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” Edna Pontellier pushes against the perimeters set for her as a woman and works to establish herself as an individual rather than a cog in a social machine. In the short story, Chopin employs Léonce Pontellier, …show more content…

Pontellier in discovering herself is Adele Ratignolle. Throughout the story, Chopin contrasts these two women fiercely. Adele is a very matronly woman who is intent on, and happy with, caring for her three children and conceding to her husband, and Edna clearly is not. Even their bodies are compared to highlight the differences between the types of women that they are. For instance, Mrs. Ratignolle is described as having dainty, “exquisite” hands while Mrs. Pontellier’s are pictured as being “strong” and “shapely” (page 5, 20). This is evidence that Edna can work for what she wants and Mrs. Ratignolle will be content with where she is at in life. Edna is also seen as “rather handsome than beautiful,” while Mrs. Ratignolle’s beauty was all there” (page 7, 19). Adele Ratignolle is a prime example of a proper woman from this time period and it benefits in showing how special, different, and free-thinking Edna is. It seems that Edna is covetous of Adele Ratignolle and her husband’s relationship; however, the younger wife knows that she wants more to her life than just taking care of a family. These comparisons show how different Mrs. Pontellier is from the regular, household keeping, rule-abiding women of the time. Adele Ratignolle is used as a great tool to help Mrs. Pontellier realize that she wants to be considered, and recognized, as her own, free, individual, and not simply a “mother-woman” (page

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Edna arrives to meet Madame Ratignolle sorting laundry clothes that Chopin calls “her occupation” (Chopin 55). After leaving the Ratignolle home, she is disenchanted with “The little glimpse of domestic harmony which had been offered her” (Chopin 56). Edna pities Madame Ratignolle because she feels that she will never to do all that she wants to do because

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Sacrifice In the book The Awakening Edna Pontellier sacrifices who she is to try to be a mother-woman. In her society and life she is expected to be the caring wife who takes care of the children and her husband. However, Edna sacrifices her character, dreams and freedom because she is trying to fit in. Edna Pontellier is a mother of two in the south during a time period in which women are expected to be obedient, lady-like and caretakers.

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A reoccurring character found within novels published is a female that is limited by the constraints of her era. During this period, many authors stressed the importance of revolutionizing into modernistic philosophies. In The Great Gatsby¬, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan is the codependent, chaotic female character. While in The Awakening, the main character, Edna Pontellier, assumes the equivalent role. Pontellier and Buchanan are identically symbolic in their infidelity and lack of maternal instinct.

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The pressures of breaking the gender role barrier are too difficult for Edna Pontellier to handle in The Awakening. By setting the book in the Victorian Era, Chopin displays the obvious struggle between what the expectation is versus the desire to be an individual. Edna’s cold demeanor towards conformity involved in being a motherly woman is shown through the characterization of her close friend Adele Ratignolle. Edna desired to be her own person without a dominant presence lingering overhead to judge and correct her every move in life. This is the opposite of the gender role placed upon Victorian women to be submissive and to avoid conflict with their husbands.

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Edna Pontellier possessed something rich and unworthy. Edna’s disregard for the individuals and society’s opinion did not force her to remain oppressed in the parrot’s cage nor become reluctant to the ocean. Edna’s heroic individualism liberated the chains that plagued her from flying and swimming into freedom and the discovery of Edna’s identity. All individuals experience various sorts of transitions in their life, whether it’s emotionally, physically, or mentally. It was Edna Pontellier’s journey of a thousand miles, new experiences and beginnings that led to the benefit of self- rule and sovereignty.

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The Awakening Essay Edna Pontellier in The Awakening strives to find her individuality and personal freedom. However, Edna lives in a time when women are expected to live their lives as wives and mothers, not as people with their own volition. When she begins to awaken from her state of submission she finds herself and strays outside the realm of social acceptance in doing so. She does not obey her husband’s will without question, she is not a mother-woman who devotes herself solely to her children. She would rather be wandering the city or painting than taking callers and keeping up the house.

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Since he sees Edna as a valuable object, he expects her to be the perfect wife model in return- take care of the house, be very caring for their children, and keep up with the creole social standards that he sees necessary. “It would have been a difficult matter for Mr. Pontellier to define to his own satisfaction or anyone else's wherein his wife failed in her duty toward their children.” (9). Being the perfect husband in the Creole culture it makes it very easy to focus on his wife's character and her process of self

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The book ends with the suicide of Mrs. Pontellier, but we can connect the death of the main character to Chopin herself who became a widow after her husband died leaving her with five children. It was after the death of her husband that Chopin began to write about the life of a married woman. Mrs. Pontellier’s death was a way of freedom from the shackles of being a mom and having to hide her love with Robert because she was married to her husband. In the story Chopin prepares the death of Edna through the use of symbolism by making her go naked into the water to portray Edna’s revival stating, “How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! How delicious!

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Edna broke free from the mold of her society. She was trying to find her purpose and her worth in a world where she did not have many rights or individual stability. Edna Pontellier worked to disregard the influence and power of men and society as a whole to discover more about herself and what she really wanted out of life (Bommarito). She gave up the “unessential” such as her home, possessions, and reputation to do things for

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“Mrs. 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 within and about her.” This, in short, is the beginning of her true awakening to her individuality and awareness of self. Though not entirely aware, Edna had always attempted to be different, to go outside of the lines people had drawn her in and do the exact opposite of what they wanted. For example, Edna Pontellier had ultimately only become Mrs. Pontellier because of her sister’s and father’s heavy disapproval of Léonce’s

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The Awakening is a novel written by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. During this time, women were expected to be feminine, domestic, submissive and have many other, “desirable” traits imposed by Victorian society. In this novel, Chopin explores gender roles and the social restraints placed on women, shunning the idea of women having self-expression. Throughout the text, one sees the ways in which Edna Pontellier, the main character, struggles with finding her identity through confronting a society which shames independent women who have no desire to fit in the roles which have been assigned to them since birth. Edna finding it impossible to continue living after realizing or more like, awakening to this realization, therefore commits suicide

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The Pontellier’s are high in social status and are viewed a certain way by society. Mr. Pontellier takes pride in his wife and lavish house seeing them as his prized possessions. Every Tuesday the Pontelliers would host receptions at their home but at one particular party Edna had an awakening. After dinner Edna goes to her room and removes her wedding ring in hopes of destroying it but failed to do so because it symbolizes her dependency on Leonce. As stated in the novel “But her small boot heel did not make an indenture not a mark upon the circlet” (Chopin 57).

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In the beginning, Edna is unsatisfied and is tied down to society’s expectations being complacent to others around her. In chapter one, Mr. Pontellier does not treat Edna with the love and respect like the other husbands of Grand Isle do. After Edna comes back from sun bathing outside, Mr. Pontellier says that Edna is “burnt beyond recognition” viewing her as “personal property” (Chopin 12). Mr. Pontellier expresses no affection towards Edna.

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In 1899, the publishing year of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, a woman’s sexuality was kept hidden and was only for the bedroom. Women wore long dress that touched the floor, and were ridiculed if they showed even the slightest bit of ankle. The role that women played in this time period was that housewife and mother. They were to keep their husbands happy, cook, clean, and take care of the children. Edna’s provincial life leads her to try to find an escape from the world’s constricting views of women.

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In Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” shows a controversial protagonist, Edna Pontellier. The character in the novel showed different expectations for women and their supposed roles. One literary critic, Megan Kaplon showed how this novel can be viewed as a struggle of the world or society around her. Edna in the story is trying to find freedom and individuality Kaplon mentions that “one of her most shocking actions was her denial of her role as a mother and wife.”

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