Societal Norms In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Kate Chopin’s 19th-century progressive novel, The Awakening, reveals a telling story of a woman on her way toward fulfillment in a male-dominant society. Chopin’s 3rd person narration allows readers to examine the objective actions and interactions of the protagonist, Edna, while simultaneously exposing the reader to Edna’s internal struggles within her own identity - that of a mother, a wife, and a female. Although The Awakening embodied controversy since most 19th-century societal constructs defied Chopin’s desire to search for her own individuality outside of societal expectations. Chopin eloquently invites the reader to explore Edna’s self-fulfilling journey amidst a constrictive and illusive backdrop. The essay seeks to explore how a

To Prove, Kate Chopin utilizes the repeated mention of Edna's abandonment of her children, contrasting the constant pressure that 19th-century societal constructs, particularly gender constructs, placed on women to become ‘motherly.’ to fit the 19th-century societal constructs ‘motherly role’. Throughout the novel, the reader is introduced to Pontilliers and Edna’s role within her family. Chopin places Mr. Pontillier in a reflective moment “..not a mothers place..” (7), Mr. Pontillier asks himself “..whose…is it?..'' (Chopin 7), because Mr. Pontillier relies on Ms. Pontellier to take care of their children, the tension between negligence and Edna increases towards her role in the family. The negative denotation Mr. Pontillier uses “..Whose on earth is it?..” (Chopin 7) relies on Ms. Pontellier to take care of their children, emphasizing the internal tension between Leonce and Edna increase towards their roles in the family. Throughout The Awakening, Chopin characterizes Edna as

However, the expectations that have been set could be a positive or negative influence on one's relationship. In Addition, Chopin uncovers the tense marriage of the Pontilliers as unstable through the use of dialogue in their relationship. At first glance the writer appears to add another love interest to Edna, Robert, assuming that he wanted to ruin Edna’s marriage with Leonce Pontellier. But upon closer investigation, we are able to identify that the marriage had already been broken before we got an insight into it, which then challenges the way the readers are viewing Pontillier's marriage. Chopin states “..dropped..into.. palm..” (7), the essence of Chopin’s argument is Mr. Pontillier was being careless and neglected Ms. Pontellier by dropping the rings onto her palm instead of actually putting them on her, which created a tense moment in the chapter in which we were able to identify the type of person Mr. Pontillier is towards his wife which indicates his carelessness. However, does the evidence prove consecutively that Pontillier's marriage was unstable through their dialogue? While we see the exchange of each of the character's body language promotes dialogue which then the readers are able to understand the way both interact with one another. In addition to the neglect we have seen in Pontillier's marriage, Chopin yields Edna’s character to focus on her