Societal Restrictions In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

When undergoing socially oppressive conditions, many individuals are hesitant to invoke changes in their lifestyle. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening exemplifies how an individual rejects societal restrictions through Edna Pontellier, a nineteenth century woman who is in a passionless marriage with her Creole husband. Being a part of an upper-middle class family, she vacations in Grand Isle, but primarily lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Edna initially submits to the Creole expectations that limit her freedom, but realizes her current status in life is not enough for her and begins to implement changes in her lifestyle. She pursues independence in various ways and defies the typical housewife role she has been playing for her entire life. Chopin

She is initially confined in an impassive marriage to her husband, Léonce Pontellier, and feels withdrawn from individuality due to her role as a mother. Her constraints are never explicit, yet a green and yellow parrot entrapped in its cage and telling its owner to leave the area, symbolize Edna’s constrictions in her current conditions. Madame Lebrun, the owner of the bird, never pays attention to her parrot, establishing how it is silenced and will never truly achieve what it wants. Similarly, Edna’s surrounding companions and family never acknowledge the discontent she feels and believe her cage of confinement is where she should remain. However, Edna breaks traditional expectations as she diverges from her role as a compliant wife and mother, only to fall into a larger facade of independence. Once moving back to New Orleans with her husband, Edna makes an important decision and rents a home, Pigeon House, for herself which is “just two steps away” from where she used to live (Chopin 107). Although Edna is using her own money and seemingly gaining independence, Pigeon House symbolizes a larger cage for her. Her new home, which is

When she first sees the Gulf of Mexico, she feels intimidated by its boundlessness, but feels the sea is “inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude” (Chopin 18). Edna’s initial fears of the water parallels her nervousness of expanding her self-fulfillment beyond her role as a housewife. Nonetheless, she is enthralled by the idea of pursuing her own sense of happiness and finds the water’s vastness comforting. Edna begins to find solace within herself as she learns how to swim, acting like a “little tottering, sumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with overconfidence” (Chopin 37). In a child’s life, essential survival skills, such as learning how to walk or swim, provide them with a sense of achievement. Similarly, Edna learning how to swim parallels her growing freedom as she can venture off independently within the ocean. Furthermore, her real life experiences parallel her newfound ability to swim, as she now has confidence to achieve the lifestyle and liberty she desires. Edna also finds passion in art, financial independence through renting Pigeon House, and is close to discovering the purpose of her existence, yet she feels threatened by the idea of confinement once again. She realizes that she will never find