In a well-developed essay, explain how the title, The Awakening, is appropriate to Kate Chopin’s novel. Be sure to include specific examples and explanations.
In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the protagonist goes through emotional changes while battling conflicting feelings for various men, dealing with a different cultural background and broken families ties due to society’s judgement; Edna Pontellier goes through nothing shy of an “awakening”.
Although the novel is full of twist and turns, the plot revolves mostly around Mrs. Edna Pontellier and the many men in her life. Considering that Edna is married, this characterizes the protagonist as very loose and lacking basic morals. Edna begins the novel with trying to fix her marriage. Her husband, Leonce Pontellier, is very controlling and often criticizes her for the things she fails to do that would make her an ideal woman. This sparks a very obsessed mindset in Edna. The company of a “friend” by the name of Robert helps her shake this mindset and “awaken” a new woman deep inside of her. Edna also has a fling with a young boy, Alcee, but it is Robert who provides her with feelings of true love for the very first time.
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This difference in background and unfamiliarity with Creole culture is part of the reason Edna feels so lost throughout the novel. The Creole women are held to a certain standard and believed to hold certain qualities such as being “mother-women”. Despite Edna marrying a Creole man, Mr. Pontellier, she displays very different qualities than the fellow women of Grand Isle. Edna initially tried to change her ways and make herself as Creole as possible, but seeing that nothing she does works makes Edna embrace her differences as opposed to trying to change them. Edna’s mindset is “awaken” to see her contrasting qualities in a new