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Kate Chopin develops Edna’s character so rigorously, she creates a whole new character by the end of the novel. Edna’s feat of overcoming her fears reveals the powerful message of being brave and finding
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.
She started painting again like she used to. She could not wait until the next time she could hang out with Robert. When Mademoiselle Reisz asked why Edna loved him, she had replied, "'Why? Because his hair is brown and grows away from his temples; because he opens and shuts his eyes, and his nose is a little out of drawing; because he has two lips and a square chin, and a little finger which he can't straighten from having played baseball too energetically in his youth...'" (Chopin 112).
Edna from Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” can be perceived as morally ambiguous because of her affiliations with other men, and role-defying actions; however, both contribute to “The Awakening” as a whole. Due to Edna being romantically involved with Robert, she can be perceived as morally
The Influence of Robert in “The Awakening” Robert has a significant purpose in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, specifically Robert pushes Edna towards her awakening, but he proves to be incapable of having a serious relationship despite his actions regarding his feelings towards her. As readers progress through the novel, it is revealed that Robert and Edna have a sort of love for one another. Although this did do a great deal to help Edna awaken Robert’s love for Edna seems to be an infatuation with a person fabricated by his own mindset and ideals. In the Awakening, Robert contradicts but still helps Edna achieve her awakening, but it's unlikely he can support a relationship with Edna, and he proves to have a lack of capacity for a relationship
Stone, Carole. “ The Female Artist in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: Birth and Creativity.” Twentieth-Century Criticism, vol. 127. Web 8 Nov. 2016. From here on, Stone discusses the birth imagery of Kate Chopin and the artistic skills that Edna Pontellier symbolizes.
Mademoiselle Reisz educates Edna and makes her aware of her love for Robert, another member from the beach. Edna has come to her senses in herself and the true ones she loves. This idea of rebirth and new found awareness occurs throughout the
Mother and wife are also not her will; she feels restrained and loses her liberty of being that. After she heard the playing from Adele, she feels the solitude and loneliness, it seems same as her position in this era, no one understands her and feels depress toward the people, the family she encountered. On the contrary, she is touched after hearing the pianist Mademoiselle Reisz plays. It is full of power and passion, and Mademoiselle is a woman that she wants to be, independent with alternative performance in this society, she is separated and not the one of them. Edna wants to know more about her and try to be like her, but the most essential element that a independent artist should has is bravery, this is what the pianist told Edna.
Edna tries to satisfy this desire by taking part in an adulterous affair with Alcee Arobin, a known playboy. However, this relationship doesn’t satisfy Edna’s wish for companionship as she uses Alcee only to satisfy her sexual desires. This all changes once Edna meets Robert Lebrun, who invokes a sense of excitement and love in Edna. Edna sees her relationship with Robert as her only chance to gain freedom from the confines of society; additionally Robert gives Edna the chance to have a fulfilling relationship as opposed to her loveless one with Leonce. Although the two are deeply in love with one another, Robert is unable to reciprocate Edna’s desires to be together.
Her frequent vacations to the island, like her frequent dips into the ocean, begin to spark a personal change within the woman. A Creole man, Robert, shows Edna a new dimension of feelings she never knew she lived without, and she begins to look through life through a new lens. Having been awakened for the first time, she sees injustice and mistreatment where she saw none before. Chopin uses Edna’s new observations and reactions to the culture around her to illustrate the myriad ways women were marginalized. In an ironic twist, the white woman from Kentucky proves to be more liberated than her more traditional husband, who grew up
Edna is struggling to choose a identity between a mother, wife, lover etc. She seems to not want to be subject as the possession of anybody. She focuses on independence even denying Robert of her love towards him which if she chose to stay with him, she would be associated with him and therefore labeled. She looks up to Madame Reisz as an independent woman, pursuing her passions and doing as she pleases. "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn 't give
Edna developed a yearning for the pursuit of passion and sensuality, two major qualities that were absent in her marriage and home. She became enchanted with the idea of passionate love. This is shown by her relationship with Robert and with Alcée. These relationships resulted in a sexual awakening in Edna’s life. Mademoiselle Reisz 's piano performances brought an emotional awakening in Edna and fed her need for some drama in her life.
Throughout the novel Edna imagined this perfect life with Robert filled with impetuous passion. Though Robert loved Edna, he decided to leave for Mexico to avoid a morally wrong relationship with her. Even after returning to Louisiana, Robert abandons Edna a second time only leaving a note stating “I love you. Good-by—because I love you” (Chopin 198). The reality of Edna’s relationship with Robert would never meet her expectations due to her legal connection to Leonce.
If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,’ I should laugh at the both of you” (108). Throughout the story Edna’s feelings for Robert grow stronger and deeper, so that by the end of the novel she simply longs to be with him. Yet parallel to that growth Edna has discovered her self and developed her own identity. The idea of a transfer of ownership of her person from one man to another is abhorrent to her, so much so that it would cause her to abandon her dream of being with Robert. Though she wants that very much, she is unwilling to lose her own identity in the process as she did when she was with Mr. Pontellier.
Edna’s marriage to Leonce “was purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which masquerade as the decrees of Fate. It was in the midst of her secret great passion that she met him. He fell in love, as men are in the habit of doing, and pressed his suit with an earnestness and ardor which left nothing to be desired” (Chopin 18). As Edna’s awakening develops, she begins to act out of character, driven by her inward desires. She starts spending more and more time with Robert, and while Leonce is aware, he pays no attention to the affair.
