In The Awakening, Kate Chopin has Edna Pontellier surrender herself to the sea in order to illuminate the books meaning as a whole. As the book progresses and Edna realizes her own desires, she sets out to establish her independence and to fulfill her painting career. However, she comes to odds with the expectations set on woman by society and the needs of her husband and children. At the end of the book she concludes that she will never be able to truly escape the shackles placed on her by society’s expectations of women and their roles. In the beginning of the novel, Leonce is angry at his wife, Edna, when he comes back from the club and finds that one of his sons has a fever. He scolds Edna for being a negligent mother and insists she
