The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, centers around the metaphysical turmoil churning within wife and mother Edna Pontellier as she manages two competing foci- first, the “outward existence which conforms,” and second, the “inward life which questions.” Transformation of Edna from a timid housewife who meekly goes about the daily business of keeping up appearances into a philandering independent may be entirely attributed to this clash, which upheaves the stable, yet unfulfilling foundations of her domestic life and drastically alters the entire mindset of the protagonist. And while Edna is first occupied by the pressures of her peers, she later initiates a full reversal and quests inward to discover her repressed desires, neglecting the duties that …show more content…
Edna is not the only person affected by the changes she enacts; her consequential decisions carry weight and define the plot of the story. For instance, there is little evidence to suggest that Mrs. Pontellier was liable to perform any act of consequence while she was occupied with social convention. It is telling that the author begins the narrative at the very point when Edna begins to grasp the full scope of human emotion and spurn the constraints that once tied her down, rather than choosing to highlight the previous five years of raising children and puttering about the house- without the conflict between conformance and expression, and especially supposing Edna had simply chosen to remain blissfully unawakened, it is unlikely that Kate Chopin would have had anything to write about. It is tempting to cite the entirety of the novel as supporting evidence; however, one choice moment is worth mentioning specifically. At this point in time, Mrs. Pontellier is speaking with Mlle. Reisz, a self-dependent woman who represents the kind of freedom that Edna desires. It is to her that Edna first reveals a stunning development when she spontaneously declares, “Mademoiselle, I am going to move away from my house on Esplanade Street.” It is