ipl-logo

Influences In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

2009 Words9 Pages

Influences of Kate Chopin and the Awakening There are many works of literature that critics have disregarded as inappropriate in their own time; this kind of awakened writing is precisely how Chopin writes in The Awakening. The Awakening is now seen as an insightful and moving piece. It is empowering to the everyday woman and played an essential role in the early feminist movement. Influenced by other’s ideas Kate Chopin uses social norms, and religion to create an awakened character in need of a transformation, all of which is intensified through her use of stimulating diction. Kate Chopin was born Katherine O’Flaherty to Thomas O’Flaherty and Eliza Faris on February 8, 1851, in St. Louis, Missouri. Eliza Faris was of French descent, and a member of the city’s social élite, Eliza died during childbirth. Kate grew up speaking both English and French and had strong ties to the French culture in St. Louis; she had three other siblings but was the only one to make it to adulthood. In 1860 she entered the St. …show more content…

The Awakening is written in the third person omniscient point-of-view in order to help readers fully understand any complications in Edna’s transformation; this point of view provides an insight into the reality of Edna’s struggle for authenticity throughout the novel. In referring to being a mother or a wife as a role, it implies that women are just playing a part, pretending to be someone else, suppressing themselves, for the happiness of their family. Also Chopin’s use of the ‘un’ prefixes “acts as a juxtaposing force, drawing the reader’s attention to the emotion or act that Edna aims at, but cannot quite authentically experience” (Beer and Goodwyn). It is a sharp reversal of any new-found self-confidence; it acts as a cruel reminder of how close Edna gets to authenticity but ultimately finds it

Open Document