The Awakening Edna Character Analysis

In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, she uses many characters to foil off of each other, seen with Enda and Adele, though both mothers they are total opposites. Edna does not care for her children the way that she should, does not have the martyred mother complex, does not see the pride in motherhood. While Adele loves it, she loves being pregnant and values traditional gender norms put on women. She enjoys her domestic house life, while Edna wishes to be free of the duties. Edna and Adele are foils of each other and they both highlight 19th century values. Edna is this character that does not fit in the normal mold of what she should be in society, even though she could. Enda could be this perfect mother but she is not, she chooses not to. The

Edna wants to find her own identity away from her children and husband, later in the novel she states “I suppose this is what you would call unwomanly; but I have gotten into the habit of expressing myself. It doesn’t matter to me, and you may think me unwomanly if you like” Edna has gone on this awakening and discovered more things about herself (Chopin 108). Edna is not a motherly figure, she views herself as slaves to her kids and calls her kids “little antagonists”, in a society where a mothers duty is to her children. While Edna goes through this journey people start to question her, “It sometimes entered Mr.Pontelliers mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally” (Chopin 59). While Edna goes through this change she highlights who she could have been if she never had kids. Edna states how “I would give up the unessential ; I would give away my money. I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me” showing how she is going through this mental journey and putting herself above her kids (Chopin 49). It is clear that Edna does not care for her kids