...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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...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 experiences her first successful...
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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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...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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...husbands. Did the women of this era express themselves freely or did they just do what society expected of them? Kate Chopin was a female author who wrote several stories and two novels about women. One of her renowned works of art is The Awakening. This novel created great controversy and received negative criticism from literary critics due to Chopin's portrayal of women by Edna throughout the book. The Awakening is a novel about a woman, Edna Pontellier, who is a confused soul. She is a typical housewife that is looking to find herself and be freed from her undesirable lifestyle. Edna was married to her husband for six years and has tow little boys. Her husband, Leonce Pontellier, is the "bread-maker" in the family. He is a business man that pays all the makes and makes sure that his family is financially stable while Edna cares for the children, cooks, and keeps the ... ... middle of paper ... ...(Spring 1978): 108-111 4. Kinnison, Dana. "Female Resistance to Gender Conformity in Kate Chopin's The Awakening.(1899) Women in Literature, Reading through the Lens of Gender. Ed. Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen S. Silber. Forward by David Sadker. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. Greenwood. 2003 (22-24) 5. Skaggs, Peggy, "The Awakening's Relationship with American Regionalism, Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism," Approaches to Teaching Chopin's "The Awakening," Ed. Bernard Kolaski. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1988....
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...Enc 1102 March 18, 2009 Sec-48 Underneath it All Yakini Kemp and Kate Chopin use similar motifs to depict their characters. Covering of the body and art are pieces used to reflect the characters of each piece. Both women deceive 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...
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...Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, was originally published in 1899. At the time, society expected a woman’s life to revolve around her husband and children, and few women looked for fulfillment outside their family. The novel was banned from the St. Louis Mercantile Library, where Chopin lived, because the story was about a young woman, Edna Pontellier, who is awakened to her own desires and longing for fulfillment outside her family. She discovers she wishes for more than being her husband, Léonce Pontellier’s, possession. She wants to be independent and discover her sexuality. On summer vacation, Edna discovers her true love, Robert Lebrun, and despite the strict morals of the late 1800s, she explores that love. Chopin’s novel was considered,...
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...Edna Pontellier’s transformation in Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, possesses many valuable lessons that I can put into my life. Watching Edna transition from a super conservative housewife to an independent woman that wishes to function on her own. A couple of valuable lessons that I gathered from reading the awakening are; independence is good, but it is still okay to rely on other people, and doing something too much forces that thing to lose its effect. These lessons are ones that I hope to employ in my life, because Watching Edna become dismissive of the people around her is something that I do not want to recreate. The first lesson is something that I think is very important. Independence is something that everybody should seek. That being said,...
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...Find Her Female Role in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening English C-Uppsats Date/Term: Supervisor: Examiner: Serial Number: Höstterminen 2006 Åke Bergvall Mark Troy X-XX XX XX Karlstads universitet 651 88 Karlstad Tfn 054-700 10 00 Fax 054-700 14 60 Information@kau.se www.kau.se Kate Chopin is known for writing about women and their struggles in patriarchal society. In her three works The Awakening, “A Point at Issue” and “Wiser than a God”, she portrays women who have taken on different types of female roles. Per Seyersted calls these roles the “patriarchal woman”, which I choose too exemplify by Mme. Ratignolle from The Awakening, the “modern woman,” who Seyersted exemplifies by Eleanor from “A Point of Issue,” and the “emancipated woman,” who Seyersted exemplifies by Paula from “Wiser than a God” (Seyersted 102-105). One can say that these women have accepted and internalized a female role in society, by either following the rules of patriarchal society or breaking them. Edna, the protagonist of The Awakening, is a woman in search of her female identity. She is uncomfortable in her role as the “patriarchal woman” and has trouble obtaining either of the other two roles. This essay will focus on Edna’s inability to find her female role. Comparing her to the three other types of women in Chopin’s works, I will show why she cannot conform to any one of these roles, and how the resulting suicide is a conscious choice very much in character with Chopin’s portrayal of her. To understand...
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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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...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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...The Awakening The Awakening explores different details of a woman living life through the 1800's. The main character that is discussed is Edna Pontellier. She is married to Leonce Pontellier and they have two children together, Etienne and Raoul. The story behind Edna is her desire and struggles to be an independent woman and live fully within her true self. She has struggles learning this about herself and the purpose of a happy life that in turn it causes friction with her friends and family. There are many symbols and perspectives in the story that will help decide whether or not Edna did the right thing in the end. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity. A critical analysis consists of choosing a certain lens that would point out certain characteristics of a book and summarize the findings. From the weekly reading “When you analyze a piece of literature or portion of it, it is important to look at various parts of the work—characters, setting, figurative language, and symbolism” (South University, Lecture, wk.2). There are three perspectives that were included in The Awakening, Feminist, Psychoanalytical and Historical. While writing this paper from a feminist perspective there will also be comparisons from the other two. As Sigmund Freud stated “the mind has two parts,...
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...theory of sexual selection in Kate Chopin works. She describes the sexual attraction use by Chopin in her works according to Darwin’s theory. Holtman, Janet. "Failing Fictions: The Conflicting and Shifting Social Emphases Of Kate Chopin's "Local Color" Stories." Southern Quarterly 42.2 (2004): 73-88. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2013 The presents work analyses the concept of skin color used by Kate Chopin her works. It discuss the way Southern discourses of race and class influences Chopin novels “Bayou Folk” and “A night in Acadie”. "Kate Chopin: Her Novels and Stories." Kate Chopin: The Awakening, The Storm, Stories, Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. The website provides information about the all the novels and stories wrote by Kate Chopin. It also has her biography and a list of books, articles and essays about Kate Chopin and her works. In addition, the website has series of questions about Kate Chopin personal life and her reputation as a feminist reformer. Tolentino, Jasdomin, "Kate Chopin's Life and Personal Influence" (2008).Excellence in Research Awards.Paper 2 In this paper, Tolentino discuss Kate Chopin life and her personal influence. He explain how the relations with the members of her family, the environment in which she lives and the close people who died in her life affected her of writing her short stories “The Storm” and “ The Story of an Hour”. Bradley, Patricia L. "The Birth Of Tragedy" And "The Awakening": Influences And Intertextualities...
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...Suicide is most commonly viewed as the act of giving up completely or self-destructing, probably for good reason. This decision usually leaves behind broken families and friends with no closure or explanation. This topic is touched on in literature with various opinions. One such is Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” where Edna Pontellier, the novel’s protagonist, brings about her own end through her eventual suicide. In her case, the significance of her suicide is ambiguous, and although published over one hundred years ago, still creates a myriad of interpretations. The most accurate of these, however, is that Edna’s suicide demonstrates her growth over the course of the novel because it was Edna’s only viable solution for herself and the protection of her husband and children, and...
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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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