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Essay on the nature of ednas awakening
Essay on the nature of ednas awakening
How edna from the awakening changed throughout the story
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The Awakening Analysis Paper Caged and constricted by guidelines; Foreshadowing freedom and bursting the steam of her soul. Edna Pontellier mentality was infested with a corrupted way of existence that has passively tormented her nature. Kate Chopin, mastermind of the novel, The Awakening, introduces multiple objects to symbolize how Edna contradicts her sexual and spiritual desires to escape a gruesome depression to achieve happiness and freedom. One of the species introduced in the novel was a parrot. In the beginning of the book, the parrot bickers and shrieks towards Mr. Pontellier; this, refers to Edna.
First and foremost Edna desires to be independent; she wants to be able to lead her own life, make her own choices. The way that the Creole society is built would not let her do that; she is expects to be an obedient wife for her husband and to take care of the family and home. The men in this society dominate; they are the leaders and workers. She is forced to be this mother-woman which she does not want to be. She wants to have the rights and status of a man in this society, but she cannot do that because it would bring shame to the rest of her family.
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
It is common for people in everyday society to conform to society’s expectations while also questioning their true desires. In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the main protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In other words, Edna outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Kate Chopin, uses this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning to build the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period. Edna outwardly conforms to society’s expectations by marriage.
The imagery Edna is moved with includes the sounds of the rippling water, the sails flapping in the breeze, the sight of the moon, and the “current of desire” that ran through her body, creating a drive for inspiration (97). As Edna had been acquainted deeply with the sea, a sort of rebirth occurred, similar in idea to a baptism. Her awakening, as it seems, is only the start of Edna’s journey, and the water strengthens Edna both mentally and emotionally. While in the city, Edna frequently takes “refreshing baths” and “washes up in basins” after naps to “start anew” (122, 161). Edna also meets with friends, such as Mademoiselle Reisz, from the beach while back in New Orleans.
She begins to be more ambitious with her goals, for example, working on her art more and moving out of her family's house without permission. After a while, when Edna returns to the ocean again “the voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander
She loved just sitting on the beach with her face “turned toward the sea” (18) not saying anything out loud for she knew the sea did not have to hear her voice to understand. No place was calmer or more pleasing to Edna then the beach. This quiet friend freed Edna from the social pressures and gave her “some power of significant import” (27). She loved the freedom and support the sea provided her. Mrs. Edna Pontellier ventured out beyond “where any woman ever swum before” (27).
The only way to elude herself of the responsibilities of her life was to embrace death and drown herself in the ocean. In her death, Edna rejects the social belief that a woman’s duty are found in motherhood. At the last moment, she thinks of Leonce and the children, she admits they were a part of her life, “but they need not have thought they could possess her, body and soul” (190). This also reflects societal notion telling her to be submissive, to tend to the house, and adore her
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 Awakening is a novel written by Kate Chopin that follows a woman named Edna Pontellier on her journey to self-awareness. Edna lived a comfortable lifestyle with her husband and two children in Louisiana during the 19th century. Despite obtaining all aspects to a perfect life, Edna became dissatisfied after meeting Robert Lebrun in Grand Isle. Robert sparked a desire for unlawful lust as well as a yearning for independence in a society full of conformed standards. Edna was unable to handle the pressures associated with achieving personal freedom which ultimately led to her death.
In the late 1800s, nearly all women were viewed as subservient, inferior, second class females that lived their lives in a patriarchal and chauvinist society. Women often had no voice, identity, or independence during that time period. Moreover, women dealt with the horrors of social norms and the gender opposition of societal norms. The primary focus and obligation for a woman to obtain during the 1800s was to serve her husband and to obey to anything he said. Since women were not getting the equality, freedom, or independence that they desired, Kate Chopin, an independent-minded female American novelist of the late 1800s expressed the horrors, oppressions, sadness, and oppositions that women of that time period went through.
In Kate Chopin 's "The Awakening," the mentality of the feminist woman was depicted obviously as she composed, "How abnormal and terrible it appeared to stand exposed under the sky! How delightful! She felt like some new-conceived animal, opening its eyes in a commonplace world that it had never known" (Chopin 627). This quote depicts a radical change from the earliest starting point of the novel when Edna existed in a semi-cognizant state while wedded to Leonce and having kids; however around then she didn 't know about her own aspirations and sentiments. The encounters Edna had and all the people she met on Grand Isle stirred wishes for opportunity, sexual fulfillment, music, and
This contemplation, of which Edna has never experienced in her 28 years of attempting to meet societal norms and expectations, awakens her to her role in the larger scheme of the universe, making her domestic and social obligations seem trivial in comparison. The sea also spurs inner reflection on Edna’s past, when delirious romantic passions controlled her emotions; as she stares at “the water stretching so far away,” she thinks of the “meadow that seemed as big as an ocean” near her childhood home in Kentucky, where she had experienced the
Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, is the tale of a woman fighting to discover her identity and become the master of herself. Set in southern Louisiana in 1899, The Awakening is the story of Edna Pontellier, a woman of the Victorian era who is torn between settling for her role of wife and mother and being that which she desires most: having to answer to no one but herself. The story revolves around Edna, her husband Leonce who perceives himself to be the owner and caretaker of Edna, and her friend Mademoiselle Reisz who is unburdened by the rules of society, both of whom are instrumental in shaping Edna’s decisions. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the symbolism of winged creatures to illustrate Edna’s metamorphosis from the property of
Edna’s realization is that she is not a typical woman. She has specific wants and needs for herself that will be impossible to be met if she continues with the lifestyle she is currently living. She knows she can not support Leonce or their children in the ways society feels she should, so she decides mutually with Leonce to move out of the family house and live on her own… away from the kids, and away from Leonce. It is a time that she will really get to try to figure herself out. While she is away she starts experimenting sexually, not only with other men, but even with other women.
