Joanna Martinez
Ms. Tobenkin
AP Literature, Period 4
11 January 2016
The Awakening Questions
Each character in The Awakening plays a significant role in the story. The female characters help Edna see what life would be like if she were in their shoes. Edna admires each character for their individuality and all this vulnerability stops from her decision. Edna remains at a crossroad because she has to decide if she really wants the lives that they are all living. The role of women in the late nineteenth century New Orleans is that they are the women who only control her home and family. In that society, women did not have the courage or power to act on their sexual desires. "He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business.” Edna also denies her role of being a mother and wife. She did not believe …show more content…
The sea plays an important role in The Awakening. The sea enters at the beginning of the story and if used to reference the awakening of Edna. The first part of the awakening was when Robert and Edna were walking down the beach. That is where Edna begins to realize that she has feelings for Robert. “A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her, -- the light which, showed the way, forbids it.” (Chopin 21) Later on, Edna is awakened again by the sea. In this awakening, she realizes that she has a talent for swimming. She falls in love with this activity which made her believe that she had the power to be free. She wanted to swim as far as she could to escape reality. She knew that if she swam far away that she would finally be happy. At that moment she felt relaxed and calm. “She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.” (Chopin 44). The sea is the place where Edna finds herself and discovers what she could be to finally be free. It is what gives her the idea to escape her
Ms. Tobenkin
AP Literature, Period 4
11 January 2016
The Awakening Questions
Each character in The Awakening plays a significant role in the story. The female characters help Edna see what life would be like if she were in their shoes. Edna admires each character for their individuality and all this vulnerability stops from her decision. Edna remains at a crossroad because she has to decide if she really wants the lives that they are all living. The role of women in the late nineteenth century New Orleans is that they are the women who only control her home and family. In that society, women did not have the courage or power to act on their sexual desires. "He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business.” Edna also denies her role of being a mother and wife. She did not believe …show more content…
The sea plays an important role in The Awakening. The sea enters at the beginning of the story and if used to reference the awakening of Edna. The first part of the awakening was when Robert and Edna were walking down the beach. That is where Edna begins to realize that she has feelings for Robert. “A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her, -- the light which, showed the way, forbids it.” (Chopin 21) Later on, Edna is awakened again by the sea. In this awakening, she realizes that she has a talent for swimming. She falls in love with this activity which made her believe that she had the power to be free. She wanted to swim as far as she could to escape reality. She knew that if she swam far away that she would finally be happy. At that moment she felt relaxed and calm. “She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.” (Chopin 44). The sea is the place where Edna finds herself and discovers what she could be to finally be free. It is what gives her the idea to escape her