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How are gender roles explored in the awakening
Women protrayed in the awakening book
How are gender roles explored in the awakening
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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.
Eva Farrell Mrs. Schroder AP English Literature and Composition 3 January 2018 Internal Events Throughout The Awakening (1988 Prompt) The Awakening by Kate Chopin contains many internal awakenings the main character, Edna Pontellier, experiences. Edna Pontellier discovers her self-identity and self-empowerment once facing her fear of drowning by swimming in the sea. This one event changed Edna’s character by making her feel free and empowered.
Edna Pontellier in the novel, The Awakening, is a self-driven woman determined to become independent and free whilst undergoing a significant change in behavior throughout the novel. She attempts to withstand societal expectations by doing certain things that were not socially acceptable during this time period. While doing so, she experiences many different struggles during her awakening. These struggles that Edna undergoes may be described as internal as well as external. In the awakening, there is a constant conflict between inner and outer Edna.
"I find the question of whether gender differences are biologically determined or socially constructed to be deeply disturbing"- Carol Gilligan. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin depicts a woman who struggles with her identity. The book begins with Edna, a submissive wife and mother, on vacation in Grand Isle. As the book progresses Edna becomes increasingly disenchanted with her roles as a mother, wife, and socialite. After receiving a devastating letter from a former lover, Edna commits a final act of autonomy by taking her own life.
There are different types of mothers in this world. Kate Chopin states that Edna Pontellier is “not a mother-woman”. What does this mean? A mother-woman is one who makes sacrifices and devotes her life to their children and husband. A mother-woman never puts herself before her children.
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 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.
During the late 19th century, women had significantly less freedom than they have today. They were expected to bear children and devote their entire lives to them. Madame Ratignolle from The Awakening is an epitome of a woman who accepts the role society gives her. For instance, she eagerly states that she is willing to give up her life for her children (Chopin 52). While some women are suitable for the role of motherhood, others are forced into it.
Gender inequalities are apparent through much of history. These disparities result from static thinking and preconceived notions. One such notion is a female’s natural predisposition to the role she must play. Sherry B. Ortner theorizes in Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture, these roles are created because women are perceived as symbolically with nature due to the fact that she gives birth; while men are more associated with culture, which is exceeds primitive thoughts and involved with higher thinking expressed through art and religion. Ortner explains that culture is considered superior as it is man’s way of subduing nature.
In the late 1800s, nearly all women were viewed as subservient, inferior, second class females that lived their lives in a patriarchal and chauvinist society. Women often had no voice, identity, or independence during that time period. Moreover, women dealt with the horrors of social norms and the gender opposition of societal norms. The primary focus and obligation for a woman to obtain during the 1800s was to serve her husband and to obey to anything he said. Since women were not getting the equality, freedom, or independence that they desired, Kate Chopin, an independent-minded female American novelist of the late 1800s expressed the horrors, oppressions, sadness, and oppositions that women of that time period went through.
The way women and men have been treated has improved significantly, however, as true as that may be the social barrier restricting all genders has not completely vanished. The gender expectations still live within societies. Social expectations have been implemented since the start of civilization; humans have built social barriers such as gender expectations and unspoken rules that have tried to restrict women from pursuing their goals, and even at times, to be rejected by society and their families. In The Awakening written by Kate Chopin, she writes about a girl named Edna who experienced a harsh aftermath of defiance to the societal expectations in her society, because of social expectations she had to struggle to overcome the judgment,
Monumental strides have been made when looking at the treatment of women in today's society, compared to the treatment of women in the early 20th century. In today's society, a woman can survive on her own, with no companion to assist in her sustainability. However, in New Orleans creole culture circa 1899, women were not given any opportunity to express any form of individualism. The objectification of women in the early 20th century is exemplified by the women in Kate Chopin’s feminist novel The Awakening.
In Kate Chopin 's novel The Awakening and the short story “The Story of An Hour” feminist beliefs overshadow the value in moral and societal expectations during the turn of the century. Due to Louise Mallard and Edna Pontellier Victorian life style they both see separating from their husband as the beginning of their freedom. Being free from that culture allows them to invest in their personal interest instead of being limited to what 's expected of them. Chopin 's sacrifices her own dignity for the ideal of society’s expectations. Chopin 's sad, mysterious tone seems to support how in their era, there was a significant lack of women 's rights and freedom of expression.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was written at the end of the nineteenth century, where many roles for women began to change; therefore, the it appears to have been a turning point for females (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). These changes in female roles were mostly due to the actions of women themselves, motivated by their desires to break away from the limits imposed on their gender The nineteenth century was a critical point in time for women, in regards to their roles in society (“The Role of the Wife and Mother”). In The Awakening, Edna goes through noteworthy changes in the course of the novel, which reconstructs her into a woman who goes against societal ideals regarding motherhood and marriage . In the 1890s, motherhood was viewed
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.
