...The Emergence of Feminism In the 19th century women were supposed live by concept of Republican Motherhood. Republican Motherhood is the idea that American women had a few main roles, to stay in their homes, to train their children to be good American citizens and to follow the demands of their husbands. This reinforced the idea of that a domestic women's life should be separate from the public world of men. Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social 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...
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...TJ Eng. 320-Realism and Naturalism in American Literature 27-July-14 To Be or Not to Be A “Mother-Woman” “Who am I?” This is a hard question to answer. It is arguably the question that we most commonly ask ourselves, even in this day and age. The concept of who we are is so closely linked with what we do, that sometimes it is hard to distinguish one from the other. Motherhood from the “Realistic” point of view seems horrible! If someone were to ask me who I am, there is a whole list of words that I could use to describe myself, such as housewife, student, and caregiver. The social commentary of the late 19th century time period is just starting to look past the ideal woman, who was described as the “mother-woman,” to the version of femininity that is trying to be more of an equal with men. The definition of feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” (MW 236). Nothing in that definition leads me to conclude, as Edna seems to believe, that motherhood is the one thing that will retard her individual growth. Although feminists claim that The Awakening by Kate Chopin portrays a woman stifled by a society controlled by men, ultimately the decision to act selfishly or selflessly belongs to Edna. There is more than one choice given in the text of who and what Edna could be. Edna could become the selfless “mother woman” that society is looking for, or the more selfishly motivated single woman who makes her own way in the...
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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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...The Awakening by Kate Chopin depicts the “mother woman” archetype juxtaposing Edna Pontellier’s desire to become independent and free of the limits of women in society in the 1900s. This juxtaposition of conformity and independence causes tension and drives the main conflict of the novel. Edna vacillates between consenting to the ideals of society and struggling to become independent and freethinking. Edna’s wavering perception of womanhood affects her relationships with other characters, who act as catalysts for Edna’s growth as a woman. She fosters friendships with Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, whose stark differences in personality and lifestyles cause a crisis of confidence for Edna, as she cannot truly escape from the confines of being a woman in an...
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...second to focus on things such as greed hatred and new methods of solving peace, poverty and injustice. This liberation is called mundane awakening and includes everyone from villages to nations. For liberation to be possible ten basic needs must be met according to George Bond. These are clean environment and water, clothes, healthy food, simple housing, health care, communication facilities, energy education and access to cultural and spiritual resources. Modern Buddhist liberation movements are using there organisational efforts to reform social and political conditions as they offer and practise new spiritual advise. As war and genocide of ethnic hatred and caste violence, and of economic gap and dreadful conditions figure prominently in engaged Buddhist writings as these are the new focus of the liberation movement. According to, Walpola Rahula “Buddhism is based on service to others” (pg. 380). He based his decision on the time when Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama as he spent his time giving practical advice to villagers who were poor, unclean, illiterate and not healthy who needed an improvement in there material wellbeing and happiness rather than courses in science as taught in the Abhidhamma which is the Buddhist book about science and psychology. Kenneth Kraft has agreed with the idea that this mundane awakening in Buddhism started with Siddhartha but was hidden. These principles such as equal...
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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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...follow certain expectations they were often excused when they failed to conform; meanwhile, for a woman it was considered taboo. In the novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin discusses the myriad of internal and external challenges that women in the Victorian time experience due to society’s expectations through the journey of the main character, Edna Pontellier. Throughout the novel, Edna struggled with conforming to society’s expectations...
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...Throughout history women have been relegated to a secondary class in which reflects how they are seen and treated in society. In 1899 Kate Chopin was aware of the numerous double standards and gender roles that inhibit women, and that understanding lead her to write The Awakening, a story about a woman and her emerging sense of self, during the first wave of feminism which focused on women’s suffrage. French write Simone de Beauvoir who wrote The Second Sex which focused on the state and circumstance surrounding women from a philosophical standpoint. Today women have gained more legal and social security and standing, but continue their struggle in order to reach true equality in all aspect of life. Simone de Beauvoir focuses on themes that...
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...Well, birth control was largely illegal in the United States for much of the 20th century, so maybe one of your questions could be how people gained access to it prior to its legalization, as well as the social stigma surrounding birth control, and how some women were stuck with raising more children than they could handle because of the difficulty in obtaining birth control. Another question you could cover is the nature of abortion procedures prior to its legalization. Birth control as a movement in the US has had a very uneven relationship to movements for women s rights. Discuss early birth control reform efforts in relationship to issues of gender and class power. Birth control was an early-twentieth-century slogan, but it has become the generic for all forms of control of reproduction. With the spread of agriculture and the economic advantages of large families, religious and in some cases secular law increasingly restricted birth control, with the result that there appears to have been an increase in reliance on abortion while contraceptive technology and use declined. Both practices were legal in the United States until the mid-nineteenth century. Birth control as a movement in the US has had a very uneven relationship to movements for women s rights. Discuss early birth control reform efforts in relationship to issues of gender and class power. Birth control was an early-twentieth-century slogan, but it has become the generic for all forms of control of reproduction...
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...a young woman is explored. She begins the story as a naive, neglected child and by the end, Lily is a more matured, young women. Within her journey, Lily experiences the influences of spiritually and motherhood . Lily was raised in the 1960's South by her abusive father, T.Ray. Daily, Lily struggles with the void she feels for her mother and T.Ray's physical and emotional abuse. After discovering a town affiliated with her dead mother, Lily joins forces with her caregiver, Rosaleen, and they both escape their burdens that remain in Sylvan, South Carolina. Lily's burdens include the absence of a mother and her abusive father and Rosaleen's include an unjust arrest for being African American. The...
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...nothing" (ll. 164-67). This quotation from the story "Miranda" illustrates what is at stake for the main character in the story and points to the central theme of the story, the destruction of a young girl’s perhaps naive but sincere love by the very people she puts her trust in. C. You may prefer to start with a more general description of the main idea/problem and then move on to the specific treatment of this theme in the text in question. "Growing up and entering the world of adulthood, though a natural development, may turn out to be a very difficult and painful process which leaves you with a terrible feeling of desertion and disillusionment. What the main character in the story "Miranda" experiences is precisely such a painful awakening." D. Sometimes it may be effectful to start with a rhetorical question which highlights the central theme of the text and attracts the reader’s attention....
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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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...Antebellum Period was marked and progressed along a time where no social discipline existed. During this time period, alcohol had become more evident in society as its use increased. In turn, this led to a much higher crime rate. However, the “Fourth Annual Report, Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents in the City of New York, 1829” had decided to alter their ways of confining their criminals (Document A). They had begun to establish themselves based on discipline, leading to a new way to deal with criminals, and a lower crime rate. This specific reform had created a desirable democratic nation to live in, one without the sins of crime. Next, many argue that women were indeed equal to men after the development of Republican Motherhood. However this is not the case as Elizabeth Cady Stanton illustrates otherwise in her Seneca Falls Declaration of 1848. She questions why women are being taxed, but still remain inferior to men in terms such as voting (Document E). She wants to establish the social discipline where women should already have the right to vote since they’re in a democratic government. These women continued their quest to earn voting rights, which on effect slowly creates a truly democratic nation. Though these examples of social discipline, one can observe how the reform movements in the Antebellum Period installs democratic ideals. During the Antebellum Period, many educational reforms set out to spread democratic ideals to the future generations. In fact...
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...(ll. 164-67). This quotation from the story "Miranda" illustrates what is at stake for the main character in the story and points to the central theme of the story, the destruction of a young girl’s perhaps naive but sincere love by the very people she puts her trust in. C. You may prefer to start with a more general description of the main idea/problem and then move on to the specific treatment of this theme in the text in question. "Growing up and entering the world of adulthood, though a natural development, may turn out to be a very difficult and painful process which leaves you with a terrible feeling of desertion and disillusionment. What the main character in the story "Miranda" experiences is precisely such a painful awakening." D. Sometimes it may be effective to start with a rhetorical question which highlights the central...
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...takes two for a marriage to succeed? Apparently not! He wants Edna to take an interest and yet he takes no interest in his wife. Except when he’s nagging, when she abandons her reception day, he isn’t the list bit concerned about her wellbeing but whether it will hurt his business prospects. He is so caught up in himself and what society thinks of him, he’s blind to the fact that his wife as moved on to another man (a couple actually). He’s unable to understand his wife’s need for independence, he confused actually. He wants a “mother-woman” a woman like Adele (Madame Ratignolle), a woman that Edna will no longer be. “The voice of the sea is seductive.” The first time Edna hears the seductive voice of the sea was the beginning of her awakening only she wasn’t fully aware of it. Edna is in the process of a woman becoming, the realization of her own identity and self-actualization. The sea shows Edna the first flickers of freedom, her learning how to swim teaches her the control she can have over her body and the boat ride with Robert showed her the possibility of true love. The sea was her freedom and when that freedom was about be taken away from her because of her responsibilities and obligations the sea offers her an escape. So she kills herself, not only for the protection of her boys but herself. Yes, it’s ironic that the sea that awakened her is the one she chooses to kill herself. But Edna didn’t see killing herself as a defeat, she saw it as a rebirth, a final declaration...
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