Social Expectations In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

In the late 1800’s, women were seen as mother figures who stood by their husbands. They were expected to give a perfect image to society. Essentially, women were repressed and controlled by their husbands giving them no voice of their own. However, In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the reader is introduced to Edna Pontellier who exposed the dissatisfaction that women felt during that time. Throughout the novel Edna discovers feelings that she had never felt before. These feelings dominated her and changed her to an extent that she no longer wanted to live without pleasing these sensual desires. Kate Chopin expresses the relevance, complexity, and growth of Edna during this time period making her choose between social expectations or her personal

She says that her family have purposely tried to “possess her, body and soul”(). Edna does not only want to be seen as a submissive housewife, in the contrary, she wants to explore other parts of her life that she has not experienced before. Edna is aware the consequences and the effect it will have on the children if she ends her marriage. The children would have to go with their father because Edna wants to escape her role as mother. That would only give more reasons for the people to torment her because she abandoned her children. Although she loves her children and does not want to leave them, she loves herself more. When she was talking to Adele Ratignolle she says that “she would give up the unessential, but she would never sacrifice herself for her children” (). The reader can confirm that Edna Pontellier was not a “mother-woman,” she was fond of her children in an unusual way (). She would forget about them and when they would go away she would not miss them. This gave the Children no reason to be attached to their mother. Other children would rely on their mothers but not the Pontellier boys. If something happened to the boys, they would not “rush crying to [their] mother’s arms.” Instead they would “more likely pick [themselves] up, wipe the water out of [their] eyes" and continued on (). She says how “women [can] either become wives and mothers . . . or exiles,” and she was in complete denial of her role as a mother and wife (). Edna knows she will not be able to run away from her family without hurting them, however she does not want to