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Identity In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna Pontellier desires for something more than her role determined by society. She discovers her own identity and sheds her role as a Victorian housewife. In the final chapter, she takes off her Victorian clothes and she feels like a newborn creature. She has had her awakening and she feels completely free of her roles in society. Just like Edna I have had a somewhat similar experience. With my transition from Catholic school to public school I had to discard my uniform for my own new wardrobe that reflected me. I went to a Catholic school called St. Margaret Mary’s for basically my whole life. I started going there since Kindergarten and attended there until eighth grade. It was a small school. Everyone knew …show more content…

I didn’t think it’d be that much of a change, but it was sort of a new identity for myself. Attending a Catholic school and wearing a uniform meant I had to follow certain standards and be cautious of my behavior. It was stressed to set a good example for the school. No longer wearing a uniform meant that I could let go of this part of myself and find a new personality. I had an awakening much like Edna’s where I was working to find myself. Even in Catholic school I always wanted to feel freer and challenge the predetermined behavior I had to follow. I often felt confused because I knew I had to be a certain way but I knew I was losing a part of myself by doing so. I did not want to lose a sense of creativity and personality by conforming to the ways of Catholic school. I knew in my last year of attending the school that I would no longer have to lose a part of myself and I would be free. On my last day of school, I wore that uniform for one last time and I have not seen it since. Just like Edna’s final scene, I let go of my Catholic school self and found a new identity. I found a personality for myself and became more independent. I can relate to Edna’s feeling of freedom. It’s interesting how letting go of articles of clothing can feel relieving. It’s a freeing experience and for both Edna and I, it meant finding a new independence for

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Syeda Ahmed prompt 5 The Awakening AP LIT Mr. Amoroso A modern woman emerging and developing ahead of her time, dealing with the challenges of gaining independence in a time period where woman weren’t human. This is Edna Pontellier’s conflict told in the novel the Awakening by Kate Chopin. Late in her already establish life Edna a wife and mother of two discovers herself to realize she goes against society’s ideals as a woman.

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It is common for people in everyday society to conform to society’s expectations while also questioning their true desires. In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the main protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In other words, Edna outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Kate Chopin, uses this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning to build the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period. Edna outwardly conforms to society’s expectations by marriage.

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In Kate Chopin’ s novel, The Awakening, there are three identities inside of the female leading role, Edna Pontellier, being a wife, mother and own self. Edna was born in 19th century at the Vitoria period, a patriarchy society, women have low freedom to achieve personal goal. She married with Léonce Pontellier, a wealthy man with Creole descent. After having a child, her life is still unchangeable and as bored as before. Until she encountered Robert Leburn, Mademoiselle Reisz, and Alcée Arobin, her value of self-cognition has changed.

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Edna continually questions whether or not she is destined to live a life of subordination or if she can find her own freedom. Edna Pontellier’s defiant nature is brought out

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In my life, there have many instances where I have been forced to adapt to different cultures, but the biggest culture shock by far was switching from Catholic school to public school. It could not have been any more different. The size, the people, the town, the curriculum – everything was different. It was such a different environment from what I was used to, but I soon grew to love it. I attended a small Catholic School in from kindergarten to fifth grade.

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The Awakening is a novel written by Kate Chopin that follows a woman named Edna Pontellier on her journey to self-awareness. Edna lived a comfortable lifestyle with her husband and two children in Louisiana during the 19th century. Despite obtaining all aspects to a perfect life, Edna became dissatisfied after meeting Robert Lebrun in Grand Isle. Robert sparked a desire for unlawful lust as well as a yearning for independence in a society full of conformed standards. Edna was unable to handle the pressures associated with achieving personal freedom which ultimately led to her death.

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Before she lived in one dull note, but with this new found freedom so many things could go wrong or right, Some days she just felt being in this state of mind of freedom was good enough to make her happy, she could go to places she may have never gone if she was not independent. She liked to dream alone and be with herself. She had to learn about herself before she could understand the people around her. Edna was what she wanted to understand, everything about herself what she liked, what she aspired to do with the paintings, and what really made her happy. Other days when she was sad, she was confined, not independent, these days were with her husband and children.

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This novel, The Awakening, is about a woman named Edna Pontellier learns to think of herself as an independent human being. Also, Edna Pontellier refuses to obey against the social norms by leaving her husband Leónce Pontellier and having an affair with Robert Lebrun. Kate Chopin describes societal expectations and the battle of fitting the mold of motherhood in the Awakening by how Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle contribute to their family in different ways. Edna Pontellier’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is not a perfect mother-women. Adele Ratignolle’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is a perfect mother-women.

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