...“It has been positively asserted that woman is the very quintessence of selfishness” (Dix “Are…” 127), because a woman who ardently pursues her passions must, by definition, care for none but herself. A young author whose foundation for writing lies upon her own experiences, Kate Chopin entered Creole society, formed a family, and later indulged herself with torrid affairs prior to writing The Awakening. Present within that society, various art forms allowed for self-expression and exploration. Edna Pontellier creates art as a means of distraction from society’s suppressive expectations, but struggles to do so, thereby indicating a woman’s limited autonomy within the Nineteenth Century. Sculptures and drawings and paintings gain renown through...
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...Schiller Datum der Abgabe: 16.04.2011 Female 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...
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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 idea of self worth and how one defines themselves has been debated for centuries. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Edna Pontellier attempts to define herself and understand her thirst for independence. Pontellier feels that she has a sense of self that is above all things, even her will to live. While Edna places strict boundaries around the possession of herself, these boundaries affect her relationships with others, specifically the men and women in her life. The various men that Pontellier meets and has a significant relationship with have been affected by her search for independence and ultimate understanding of herself. First, she leaves the home that her and her husband shared, choosing instead to live in a small cottage on her own....
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...Jeanne can be a bit ignorant at some points in the book. When Jeanne was ten, she wanted to be an odori dancer. She asked the two girls that stayed in the class how she could do so, “I did this too, on the sly, until Mama asked me why socks were always inside out, and why I was wearing nothing underneath my dress.” (111). She thought the girls were being truthful to her until Mama had to tell her they were not. When Jeanne and her mom went to the bathroom they overheard two women whispering about Papa. “They kept using the word ‘inu’. I knew it meant ‘dog’... Years later I learned that inu also meant collaborator or informer.” (66,67). When Jeanne first heard the word inu she thought that the two girls were using it in the context of dog, but...
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...The Awakening by Kate Chopin gives the point of view of a women during times when they were not expected to have opinions except on what to wear. During this period of time women were expected to be house wives, raise the children, take care of their husbands and keep the house in order. But, unlike most books of this time Chopin tells from the perspective of a woman who wants more in life. In this book she illustrates the process of a woman discovering she can do more than what society expects of her, though Edna Pontellier's, the main character’s, realizations. In the beginning of the book Edna is depicted as a perfect wife, doing all the things her husband and society expects of her. But this soon begins to change, “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual,” (17). Edna begins to discover she has opinions of her own, she is not just a display piece for her husband to show off to the society. For example, every Tuesday Edna is expected to be at home to receive visitors but one day she decides to go out. That night when her husband arrives home he is...
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...before” (27). This is a symbol of her awakening beginning, for she desires to swim out of the confines of society and find freedom when most woman were called insane for desiring so. As she swims out, she begins to see the expanse of sea between her and the shore as a barrier, which signifies the separation between her and society. However, she must return to the shore or else loose her strength. The sudden terror and “encounter with death” (28) she experiences when she realizes that she’s swum out too far, could foreshadow her eventual suicide in the Gulf. It would be fitting for her to end her life in the place where her awakening began. Alternatively, it could be a warning for her to be careful for the farther out she swims from society and what is expected of a woman, the harder it would be to keep her strength and easier it would be to drown. She describes this experience as being dreamlike and all the people were “like some uncanny, half-human beings” (28). She is the one that has awaken up and seen a future where she is in control, not any man, while they others are still sleeping. When she recounts this feeling to Robert, he tells her a story about the spirit who searches for a companion and found her. Edna has been found by the spirit of freedom and won’t ever be able to go back to her previous life again. Edna cannot return to the moment of her life where she didn’t know how to swim. The first step after learning to swim in her awakening is when she disobeys her husband...
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...Kate Chopin in the novel “The awakening”argues that women should be able to be independent beings, in the late century where women were held to strict standards. Chopin supports her claim by introducing us to the main character Edna Pontellier who is often dissatisfied by the traditions set for women. She goes on a journey to find herself and her individuality, her purpose beyond just being a housewife or a “mother-woman” The author uses symbolism right away on the first page in the book. When she shows the parrot and the mockingbird making noises on the front porch. As I went to read on through the rest of the book I realized what the birds could be symbolizing. The noisy parrot who could speak a language only the mockingbird...
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...In The Awakening, Kate Chopin is trying to arouse doubts pertaining to our identity. Like Edna, many times we bottle our thoughts, emotions, or character in order to please the ones surrounding us until there comes a moment in where we just get frustrated with the way we have been acting. However, sometimes, when we come to the realization that we don’t really know who we truly are, it’s a bit too late, because in the path of desperation to find the answers to our identities leads us to the isolation of our families and communities. And many times the need to find ourselves is not understandable to those surrounding us creating a clash within social morals. Like when Mr. Pontieller visits Dr. Mantle for advice because Edna, at the age of...
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...We can find the most significant one in The Awakening. Actually, the title itself can be viewed as a metaphor. In this story, Edna begins to awaken to the world and environment around her, but also wake up her understanding of herself as an individual and as a woman who does not find herself happy in the domestic world of her peers. The most important awakening is to herself as a sexual being. The novel uses awakening to refer her understanding of the feminism and herself. This novel reveals Edna’s character as a literary icon for feminist ideals, so the writer expressed things like individuality, sexuality or entertaining, which were not a common concept in that period of time. During the story, we can see the writers description of swimming. Actually it is not just a simple swimming. Edna’s swimming in the ocean also has metaphorical meaning, it means she gains freedom as woman and a human being. Also oceans has metaphorical notion of death, but it also represents something...
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...Throughout the novel, a desire to escape the grasp of society is shown, as Edna attempts to gain her independence and her individuality in light of social conventions that restrict women to ensure that they do not have such independence. This restriction of women to conform to society is shown through the green parrot, which is shown to scream “Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That's all right!" (Chopin 1) while being trapped in a cage. As this phrase means “Get out! Get out! Damn it! That's all right!”, this highlights how the parrot is not pleased with its position and is frustrated with its inability to be free. Chopin uses this parrot as a symbol for the desire of women to break free from the social constructs that hinder their freedom. Birds are used to represent freedom, but when caged, this shows a restriction of their freedom, as they are not allowed to fly. In the 19th century, women were caged by men through their forced role as wives and mothers for their husbands, which resulted in a feeling of entrapment and hopelessness. Like the parrot, women like Edna tried to fight against this oppression but were ignored for the most part due to the amount of noise they made in their monochromatic societal landscape. This noise was shown with the parrot again at the dinner party in the quote, “‘Allez vous-en! Sapristi!’ shrieked the parrot outside the door. He was the only being present who possessed sufficient candor to admit that he was not listening to these gracious...
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...In the 19th Century women were treated significantly different than how they are treated today. During the 19th Century most women were believed to fill specific roles and were expected to act a certain way. The awakening is a book that greatly focuses on some women who submit to these roles as well as some women who broke these roles. The Awakening by Kate Chopin, written in the 19th century, is a great example of what roles women were supposed to fill and it has many female characters that exemplify these roles, which include being a mother-woman, being submissive to their husbands, and being free from the appearance of immorality. In the 19th century there was a huge emphasis on being a good wife to your husband and being a caring mother...
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...Famous historical feminist strongly believe that women should be given the opportunity to grow independently and be treated equally. Women are subordinate by men, in many occasions they are seen to men as simple objects. In the story The Awakening by Kate Chopin the main female character, Edna Pontellier, and her husband, Leone Pontellier, have multiple conflicts and various love affairs form both sides of their marriage. Society saw then and envied their relationship as they only saw how they treated each other in public. Mr.Pontellier cares for Edna’s image she wanted her to act as other women act would act with their husbands. “Mr.Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife.”...
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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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...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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