A mother is not only someone who physically gives birth to a child, but also someone who puts her kids before everything else, cares for them night and day, and will always be there for them. Edna Pontellier, a mother venturing for her own independence, begins to realize the struggle of being tied down as a mother. Edna first realizes her strive for independence when her husband, Léonce Pontellier, leaves on a business trip to New York. She obsesses over the idea of freedom and completely neglects her children, Etienne and Raoul Pontellier. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna is a bad mother because of her self-centered actions and the neglect of her children.
Edna does not fit the role of a caring mother because she often puts herself before her children. One summer, Edna sends her kids to their grandmother’s house to free
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Edna is not a mother-woman, she is not “someone who [idolizes her] children, [worships her husband]” (Chopin 10). When something bad happens, Edna’s kids do not come running to her. Instead, they figure it out on their own, unlike the other children who depend on their mothers for everything. Other Victorian women are devoted to their families, and take care of their kids when they get hurt or need assistance. Edna not willing to help her children when there is an issue proves she is not an adequate mother. If one of the Pontellier boys falls and gets hurt, he will not run to Edna for help, but rather pick himself up and keep playing. Instead of having a mother to depend on, they have to rely on themselves. Without a devoted mother, her kids will never learn valuable life skills. Paying little attention to her children, “she would sometimes forget them” which leaves them to figure everything out alone (Chopin 25). Forgetting her children proves that she does not care about them. Edna’s kids need her influence in order to grow up into independent