...The book The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a remarkable story of a young woman named Edna Pontellier. She does not follow the restrictions of society and behaves in a free and independent manner. However, this causes her to be viewed in a controversial manner by many people. She is viewed differently by her husband, Robert Lebrun, and Alcee Arobin. Edna’s husband, Leonce Pontellier views her as an object or possession and almost as childlike(pg 31). He wants her to be the perfect “mother women” and to behave the way society says. He doesn’t treat her like a wife or a love partner. Although he takes care of his family duties and ensures Edna is well taken care of physically, he spends little quality time with Edna as well as his children(pg 34)....
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...Edna Pontellier from the story “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, openly showed her rebellious behavior against the custom and tradition of being a creole’s wife. She is a protagonist who acknowledged her sexual desires and had the courage to act on them. Edna discovered her own identity that’s independent of her husband and children by breaking through the role appointed to her by the society. At the beginning of the story, Edna exists in a semi-conscious state. She was unaware of her feelings and ambitions and she was comfortable being married to Léonce Pontellier. She has always been a romantic. At a very young age, she was enamored with a cavalry officer, was in love with a man visiting her plantation in her teens, and developed an infatuation...
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...Edna Pontellier from Kate Chopin’s, “The Awakening,” is seen as a very controversial character for the time period where the story takes place. Edna defies the expectations of society by being an individual rather than conforming to her environment. Edna was not justified because all of the actions she made were for her benefit only. In the article, “Are Women Growing Selfish,” by Dorothy Dix discusses how women are realizing “that there is a middle ground between being a monster of selfishness and a doormat for everyone to walk over.” (146) Although I think her argument is correct, I don’t think this relates to Edna. Edna’s actions throughout the novel are for her own benefit. Edna’s actions aren’t to get respect among everyone or equality...
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...The various characters in a book all interact with one another and affect each other in some way. Whether the character's affect is minute or not it will still be evident in the text. Edna Pontellier, being the protagonist of The Awakening, is affected by pretty much all of the other characters mentioned in the book. Even though characters like Doctor Mandelet did not have such a sizable influence as Mademoiselle Reisz did, they all played their own role in Edna's awakening. Leonce Pontellier and Robert Lebrun are two men who had an important impact on Edna Potellier in their own special ways. It is in a way obvious that Leonce Pontellier would have an affect on Edna because he is her husband, however the way he influenced her is not normally...
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...Empowerment in Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” Anjana Dhir BA Englisch KF, Geschichte NF 3. Semester Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. The French – Creole society of Louisiana 4 2.1 Cultural background 4 2.2 French-Creole women 5 3. The Role of Women 6 4.1 Edna vs. Madame Ratignolle 7 3.1.1 “A Valuable Piece of Property” 7 3.1.2 Edna – The Unusual Woman 9 3.1.3 Adèle Ratignolle – The Archetype Woman 14 3.2 “Mother Woman” – The Patriarchal Ideology 16 4. Chopin’s Imagery 18 5. Conclusion - Edna’s Suicide 19 6. Bibliography 21 1. Introduction A certain ungovernable dread hung about her when in the water, unless there was a hand nearby that might reach out and reassure her. But that night she was like a little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with over confidence. […] A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before. This scene in Kate Chopin’s novel describes the moment in which the lead character Edna Pontellier experiences her first successful attempt to...
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...A Journey for the Lost Soul The Awakening by Kate Chopin was written during the 1800’s and was published in the year of 1899. During this time, the novel struck controversial subjects using a strong feminist tone, which underlined Chopin’s views on sex, marriage, and women of that period. In this novel, it is evident that freedom and feminism are used as interrelations of each other to express her feelings towards each subject. Some characters in The Awakening served as an encouraging force pushing Edna to go forth with her self-discoveries. In her journey, Edna travels through many stages of freedom to find herself; from exploring her creativity, to being freely aware of her sexually desires in the novel. Chopin uses the self-defining journey of Edna Pontellier to reveal her views of freedom as it relates to women, through a feminist lens during the 1800’s. According to Annetta Kelley, author of The Sparkle of Diamonds: Kate Chopin's Usage of Subtext in Stories and Novels, "The novel's most stirring poetic semblance is its continuous subliminal whispering of "the seductive, murmuring sea" (Kelley 334). Chopin uses Edna Pontellier to represent independence and free will, and the sea to represent Edna. She uses this character as a tool to exemplify her own thoughts on subjects such as sex, marriage, and what it is to be a free woman. The freedom Edna Pontellier desires so much throughout the novel becomes apparent to her primarily when she is at the beach with her...
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...to get away from someone you don't love? In the Awakening, Mrs. Edna Pontellier (the main character) her husband Mr. Pontellier, and her two children take a vacation at Grand Isle. While being there she grows close with a man named Robert Lebrun, but soon realizes that she is in love with him. When Robert realizes that he is in love with her, he moves to Mexico to try and forget about her but soon thereafter realizes that he can’t. Edna was heartbroken when Robert moved to Mexico, so she and her family went back home to New Orleans. While Mr. Pontellier is away on a business trip, Mrs. Pontellier flirts with Alcee Arobin, even though she claims she doesn’t like him. When Robert returns home he tells Edna how he feels about her and that he wants to marry her. But she can’t handle all of this and goes to take a swim in the ocean, but goes too out in the ocean and drowns....
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...Sexual Desire The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel about a woman who leads the typical life of a nineteenth century woman. During this era, a woman's role is to be a wife and mother. The main character, Edna Pontellier, begins to struggle with this obligatory role in society. Even though she is an upper woman in society, she has feelings of suffocation and frustration. She begins to neglect her duties such as caring for her children, housekeeping, and social visitations. She is also starting to have feelings for men other than her husband. Through Edna's Creole friends, she learns a great deal about freedom of expression. As a result, Edna Pontellier goes on a journey of self discovery and sexual desires through a series of life awakenings. In Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, Edna Pontellier and her family are vacationing at Grand Isle in southern Louisiana. While there, Edna becomes close to a gentlemen by the name of Robert Lebrun. Robert each summer at Grand Isle had constituted himself the devoted attendant of some fair damsel (Chopin 13). Throughout the summer, Edna spends time with Creole women who liberate her to seek independence from social norms. Their freedom of expression was at first incomprehensible to her (Chopin 12). Edna's character goes on a journey of self discovery and experiences a series of awakenings that lead to her death. Carney 2 The Awakening depicts the lifestyle for...
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...rights for women. Feminism in 1900s pursued many freedoms that were considered scandalous before the turn of the century, and still today many believe woman should hold the classic stay at home mother role. When it was published in 1899, The Awakening by Kate Chopin was considered scandalous on many levels. Through the main character, Mrs. Edna Pontellier, Chopin presents many feminist ideas that were to come in the next century. Feminism tries to battle the idea that a woman’s only job is to raise her children. Sometimes women even believe that they may want something or that we like something just because it is all we know and how society has influenced us to be often without our even realizing it. Women at this time did not pursue anything entertaining for themselves. Edna, in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening knew when she married Mr. Pontellier that she did not love him, she was married off because that was the standard of women at that time. She originally does fall into the classic woman’s role by having children for her husband. Edna later realizes that she cannot be the perfect wife and mother like society expects her to be, a concept far before her time. This is well explained in the lines of chapter VI. In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her...
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...In her daring novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin bravely exposes an unfamiliar attitude of feminism to an unprepared society in the form of Edna Pontellier. At the time, her work of fiction was not yet recognized as being respectable or even credible—due to the fact that the idea of feminism had not yet become popular. Since then, Edna Pontellier’s “awakening” has been viewed in a positive light by many modern feminist critics and described as an “intellectual and social” maturation or liberation of the self. However, while some of the symbols in which Edna’s “awakening”, overall progression, and personality may seem to exemplify and commendatory of classic feministic ideals and qualities—of freedom, independence, and equality, —a great many of them portray Edna and her egocentric doings as little more than selfish delusions causing her to lose a valuable, if conventional, life. Ultimately, the perverse behavior and deviant disposition exhibited by Edna—especially considering the standards of the time period she lived in—belie the very femininity attributed to her and, in my opinion, is the very antithesis of feminism. The term ‘feminism’ has many different uses and its meanings are often contested and changed throughout history. In the mid-to-late 1800’s, the time period in which the novel is set, feminism was used to refer to the “qualities of a woman”. Thus, with this definition and the context of the novel in mind, the analysis of Edna’s “qualities of a woman” becomes easier...
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...In her feminist novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin criticizes the sexist ideals of society. By drawing attention to the objectifying nature of 19th century marriage and romance, the confines of motherhood, and the negative reception of women’s self expression and individualism, Chopin advances her argument of the adversity women face. Throughout the novel, Chopin uses the Pontellier’s marriage- a thing of obligation to Edna, and an institution of control to Mr. Pontellier- to criticize marriage and the idea that women belong to their husbands. Chopin establishes early on that Edna, revealed to have married Mr. Pontellier to rebel against her family, feels no real love for her husband and only cares for her children somewhat despondently; she has no interest in being a tradition “mother woman.” Mr. Pontellier loves Edna,...
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...is also around the time the novel “the Awakening” was coming out. The novel was a huge contributor to the cause. That's all thanks to Kate Chopin. In the book “The Awakening” the main character is a woman named Edna Pontellier. She is a woman who goes against everything that a woman is supposed to do and what a woman shouldn’t do. Edna was a huge role model during feminist movement. In the book she goes against almost everything a woman should and shouldn’t do. Some examples are the clothes she wore or clothes she didn’t wear, “hanging out” with a man other than your husband, and going out without a man. Still she was a role model and the book “The Awakening” is why. Not only was she a role model she was also pretty much a timeline in one person of how the feminist movement went. During the feminist movement Edna was a huge role model to the women fighting for their rights. Edna pretty much a symbol of everything that they were trying to get. They were fighting for the equal rights for women, they wanted women to be able to do everything that Edna did in the book. They wanted the chance to walk alone in the street, skinny dip, and even go out with someone other than their husbands. However in the book Edna is looked at as if she has wronged the female race she really didn’t care. And that's what the women really looked up to in the book; how she just didn’t care and found her self. In “The Awakening” at first Edna Pontellier is tired of her life as a mother, wife...
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...their husbands in a fashion by using a “cover up”. Covering in both stories ranges from a piece of cloth to the crown of hair on ones head. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the protagonist, Edna Pontellier goes through stages of shedding her body covering. In the beginning of the novel Edna is fully clothed. As the novel progresses she slowly alters her attire. In one instance Mrs. Pontellier went from wearing glamorous “reception gowns” on Tuesdays, her “reception day”, to wearing an “ordinary house dress”. This showed the beginning of her distancing herself from society. On another occasion the actor noticed that she had “transformed” and reminded him of a “sleek animal waking up”. At the end of the novel the shedding of her clothing shows Edna shedding the societal views in her life and her attachment to the world. “She stood naked in the open air for the first time”. To Edna the release of her clothing was an awakening, she felt like a “new born”. When Edna commits suicide she is finally naked, she has shed everything she has in her quest for selfhood. Women in Edna’s community was very cautious of their complexion “twined gauze veil about her head, dogskin gloves, with gauntlets that protected the wrists and a dressed in pure white dresses with fluffiness of ruffles” (Chopin- 22). Just the mere thought that Edna would go through the novel disrobing would bring disgrace to the Creole community. Faida of His/ Her Story goes through a state where she sheds her clothes also...
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...Prompt 3 Edna Pontellier is losing her mind. During her summer vacation at the Grand Isle, she accidentally discovers that she may not be who she thought she was. As the author of The Awakening, Kate Chopin is masterful in the way she writes; whether it was intentional or not, she makes use of many literary devices to adequately convey the gravity of Edna’s situation to the reader. In just four paragraphs near the end of chapter thirteen, Chopin signals an important shift in the story. Chapter thirteen begins with disorientation- during a church service, Mrs. Pontellier is overcome by drowsiness and must retire; however, being in an unfamiliar environment, she must rely on Robert, her companion, to find her a place to rest. Edna ends up at the house of a stranger, and in...
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...In the Awakening, we see the change of a woman, and in the process from her start to her downfall, we see sacrifices made , in which her values are revealed. As the novel progresses, the main character- Edna Pontellier seems to alter her values as she sacrifices the things she once valued the most for her own satisfaction. At the start of the novel, Edna is portrayed as a modest, moralistic housewife, who values her children above all, and she strongly values her image. Edna Pontellier valued others’ perception of her. Edna was a very affluent housewife, who maintained an image of the ideal housewife in the eyes of society. Edna cared for her children while her husband was away, and made her marriage out to be perfect when in the presence of others, despite its struggle behind closed doors....
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