In the 1800’s, the societal niche of married women was clearly defined: they were meant to devote every aspect of their lives to their husbands and children. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, struggles to adhere to these standards, and eventually rebels against them. The harsh standards placed on Edna and other women in the novel are like the cages around the metaphorical birds Chopin uses to represent them. Edna's unhappiness in her societal role is realized in the ocean, which symbolizes this awakening and her attempt to escape the gender roles of the nineteenth century. The images of birds and the ocean are used to show the harsh standards placed on Edna and other women in the nineteenth century. As illustrated in The Awakening, the ocean is a symbol of rebirth and revival. While at Grand Isle, Edna is one of the only vacationers who can not swim. The water is as unfamiliar to Edna as her neighbors’ culture and way of openly expressing themselves. As Edna becomes more comfortable in the water, she also becomes more in touch with her own emotions. One particular night, Edna is able to swim farther into the ocean than she ever had before - the same night when she realizes her own distaste with her marriage and her role in society. Chopin writes that while Edna was in the water, “a feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul (Chopin 27)”. This …show more content…
Kate Chopin conveys the feelings and internal conflict of Edna Pontellier through using the ocean as a symbol of Edna’s awakening and rebirth, and birds as symbols of how women felt trapped by gender roles during this time. These symbols convey the overbearing and oppressive standards women were held to throughout the nineteenth
Chopin’s focuses were to show through these objects and literary symbols, the social injustices that women were going through. “The Awakening” begins with a parrot in a cage, which is supposed to be a representation of women of that time period. Just like parrots, women were annoying and were only displayed for their beauty. Moreover, women were trapped in cages which caused them to not be free. Since women were not free they remained trapped and imposed to the roles that society had labeled and stereotyped them to be.
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.
Chopin is widely known for the support of female independence and self-fulfillment, and in her most influential and famous work, The Awakening, she depicts Edna’s desire to explore and find her true self, which was often condemned in Chopin's time period as it was against societal standards. In Chopin’s writing, she incorporates plentiful amounts of figurative languages to portray Edna’s rebellion which include symbolism, foreshadowing, and juxtaposition. Out of the many methods Chopin used to depict Edna’s rebellion, the sea was a very prominent allegory to represent her freedom, rebirth, and her escape from expectations in society. The sea helps Edna achieve her desires and pushes her to see the potential to fill her life with excitement
She begins withdrawing herself from societal norms and finally becomes more content with life. After Edna learns to swim “a feeling of exultation [overtakes] her, as if some power of significant import [is] given her to control the working of her body and her soul…She [wants] to swim far out, where no woman [has] swum before” (Chopin 37). Edna develops new confidence in what she wants in her life after slowly retracting from societal expectations. Edna obtains a new mindset on how she will accomplish her goals. She becomes more determined and cares less about what others think.
Throughout the beginnings of both stories, both Edna and the narrator explore new surroundings as they find their obsession, yet the situations that lead to the discovery of their manias cause the characters to appreciate the infatuation in different regards. Edna’s ironic attraction to the ocean begins with her inability to swim, as “Edna had attempted all summer to learn to swim... A certain ungovernable dread hung about her when in the water, unless there was a hand nearby that might reach out and reassure her” (Chopin 36). The ultimate subject of Edna’s attention was originally something she despised and had distaste for. This perspective allows for an objective view of the temptation of the ocean, something that Edna succumbs to later
The Awakening by Kate Chopin Title The Awakening is related to Edna’s internal awakening that she has over the period of the book The Awakening was originally titled The Solitary Soul Setting New Orleans and The Grand Isle Genre Spiritual / artistic realization, romantic style Historical Information Kate Chopin 1850-1904 Father was Irish, Mother was French-American Bilingual- spoke both French and English Grew up in St.Louis Missouri Developed a passion for music at a young age Met and married Oscar
The Awakening. Just as the flappers of the 1920s famously defied traditional restrictions on women’s consumption of alcohol and smoking cigarettes, Edna, too, eschews such conventions. In this manner, Chopin’s novel anticipates the rebelliousness and social and sexual flamboyance
The freeing sense of a bird’s flight and the vast expanse of the ocean’s opportunity are both liberating concepts for someone who feels trapped. Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening over time starts to feel trapped in her marriage and the social standards that come along with being a mother during the late 1800s. She starts to gain more freedom and independence as she searches for love with other men, particularly Robert Lebrun. Along with this journey for love and freedom, symbols of flight and water are presented to represent her evolution as a woman.
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.
Edna fully understands that society would brand her as a terrible woman, but she does not view herself as a bad person. There is an external and internal difference that Edna hopes to one day reconcile. Chopin, instead of creating tension within Edna, created tension within the society and Edna with her newfound independence does not mind how society classifies her. Decisively, it can be concluded that the tension between outward conformity and inward questioning builds the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period.
The imagery Edna is moved with includes the sounds of the rippling water, the sails flapping in the breeze, the sight of the moon, and the “current of desire” that ran through her body, creating a drive for inspiration (97). As Edna had been acquainted deeply with the sea, a sort of rebirth occurred, similar in idea to a baptism. Her awakening, as it seems, is only the start of Edna’s journey, and the water strengthens Edna both mentally and emotionally. While in the city, Edna frequently takes “refreshing baths” and “washes up in basins” after naps to “start anew” (122, 161). Edna also meets with friends, such as Mademoiselle Reisz, from the beach while back in New Orleans.
Kate Chopin created a very complex character named Edna Pontellier in her novel The Awakening. Mrs. Pontellier is peculiar because her thoughts are consistently drury and she is insatiable. Chopin uses many different strategies to develop Mrs. Pontellier’s character such as imagery but the most prominent strategy is symbolism. Symbols featured in the story include birds, two lovers, a widow, and water. Whenever water appears in a story or novel it can often represent baptism, rebirth, and/or death.
Edna experiences the hardships of striving to break as a “ [feeling] like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul … the exuberance which had sustained and exalted her spirit left her helpless and yielding to the conditions which crowded her in … clutching feebly at the post before passing into the house.” (79). Through the imagery of a weight on her mind and feeble body, Chopin conveys her inability to find the strength to break the chains of the archetypal female identity. Extremely fleeting, her momentary empowerment clearly validates her circular growth rather than a building of personal development.
The novel “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin is about Edna Pontellier, a wealthy housewife living in Louisiana during the late nineteenth century, and her journey of self-liberation. Edna Pontellier feels unfulfilled with her marriage to Leonce Pontellier, and her role as a mother. Edna meets, and falls in love with Robert Lebrun over the summer while her family is vacationing at a resort in Grand Isle. After the summer ends, and Edna returns home to New Orleans, she begins making lifestyle changes in order to bring back the feeling of happiness that she felt with Robert while in Grand Isle. Edna Pontellier experiments by having an affair, and attempts to live as an artist by taking up painting.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a piece of fiction written in the nineteenth century. The protagonist Edna is a controversial character, Edna rebels against many nineteenth - century traditions, but her close friend Adele was a perfect example in terms of a role of a woman, mother and wife at that time. Chopin uses contrast characters to highlight the difference between Adele and Edna. Although they are both married women in the nineteenth century, they also exhibit many different views about what a mother role should be.