Societal Norms In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Societal norms are unwritten rules and expectations that govern our behavior in a society. While these norms serve as a foundation for social cohesion and stability, they are also limiting, oppressive, and unjust. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, explores the limitations placed on women in the patriarchal society of the time and faced controversy due to its depiction of Edna, the protagonist, and her sexual and emotional awakening, along with her fate. George M. Spangler was an author who analyzed The Awakening in his essay, The Ending of the Novel. In his text, Spangler argues that Edna’s fate was not only fundamentally evasive and surprising, but also inconsistent with her character’s perseverance in finding her new self through the breaking

The audience had no reason to believe there was a problem. In fact, it almost seemed that Edna was doing well: “Edna takes a boat to the resort, now in its off-season, where the novel and her attraction to Robert began. She arranges with the caretaker for a room and for dinner in the evening, and then, deciding to go swimming, borrows some towels. There is no indication that suicide is her intention” (Spangler 223). Spangler’s argument is well built as he mentions Edna’s prior actions, none of which announced she was unhappy or miserable. It seems that Edna was happy and enjoying her time, which makes her fate even more unexpected. Spangler’s claim of the sudden ending is further supported as the novel states, “But after all, a radiant peace settled upon her when she at last found herself alone” (Chopin 74 ). These words make it clear that Edna was at peace and satisfied with her accomplishment of finding herself as there is no indication she is unhappy and depressed, yet even at peace with her decisions. Additionally, Chopin states, “There was with her a feeling of having descended in the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the spiritual. Every step she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life. No longer was she content to “feed upon opinion” when her own soul had invited her” (Chopin 95). The character of Edna at the beginning of the novel is drastically different than the character of Edna after her journey of self-discovery as she would have never thought she would be the one to abandon her obligations, which only contributes to how out of the blue her fate was. This quote is a testament to Edna’s journey to find who she was apart from being a wife and mother. She felt free as she no