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Sexism In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

1336 Words6 Pages

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, is a controversial novel due to the suicide of the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, as well as the lofty concepts and ideologies that the book conveys. Throughout the novel there are multiple indicators including themes, symbols, and contextualization that provide evidence that Edna made an impartial decision and intentionally committed suicide, knowing that she would do so before she even entered the water. Critics have wrestled with this concept, as well as counter arguments that imply that Edna’s suicide was unforeseen, and developed in-depth analysis’ that support and sometimes oppose the idea that Edna Pontellier deliberately entered the water knowing that she would kill herself.
Multiple themes are present throughout …show more content…

During the late 1800’s the United States, specifically the south, was rapidly changing. Social movements were erupting throughout the south and the previously conservative area was becoming more and more liberal. The feminist movement was developing and it is reflected in Kate Chopin’s novel. Edna represented the individuality and power that the feminist movement promotes and strives for. However the change, women were still oppressed and had very few rights, they had yet to even have the right to vote and take part in the government. This patriarchal domination was exactly what Edna resented about society. Edna had also come from Kentucky, as state that represented a culture much different than that of the Creole’s and Chopin points out this juxtaposition multiple times throughout the novel saying, “Mrs. Pontellier, though she had married a Creole, was not thoroughly at home in the society of Creoles” (Chopin 12) As she continued to search for independence and freedom from the constraints of her marriage, motherhood, and social expectations, she came to a loss. She soon realized that she could make a decision for herself and that was ultimately her decision to end her life, a decision that she felt would lead her to the independence and fulfillment that she so

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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

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“She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world” (Chopin, p. 57). A novel written by Kate Chopin, The Awakening shares the story of Edna Pontellier’s journey of self-discovery. Readers of the day were shocked by the content of the novel. Published in 1899, Kate Chopin’s controversial novel portrays a woman liberating herself from society’s expectations for a lady. Edna changes from a bored, obedient wife in the beginning of The Awakening to a liberated woman who can freely express her feelings.

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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.

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In Kate Chopin’ s novel, The Awakening, there are three identities inside of the female leading role, Edna Pontellier, being a wife, mother and own self. Edna was born in 19th century at the Vitoria period, a patriarchy society, women have low freedom to achieve personal goal. She married with Léonce Pontellier, a wealthy man with Creole descent. After having a child, her life is still unchangeable and as bored as before. Until she encountered Robert Leburn, Mademoiselle Reisz, and Alcée Arobin, her value of self-cognition has changed.

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