In history, society has shaped how certain people should behave and what rules one must follow. The act of one breaking away from societal expectations in any period of history was considered out of the question and unheard of. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the main character Edna Pontellier goes through trials where her gender limits her freedom. Society’s unrealistic expectations drives Edna to perceive death as a form of rebirth and a way of achieving freedom from said society.
As Edna lives her life as a wife and a mother, her actions and thoughts exemplify her inner and external conflict. In the novel Chopin writes, “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions” (Chopin ). Edna’s outer self may show that she is willing to listen to the societal rules placed on her, but her inner self questions these rules hence her eagerness to be free. This imbalance of what her mind thinks and her outer actions that people see causes conflict within Edna. Chopin states, “Edna looked straight before her with a self-absorbed expression upon her face. She felt no interest in anything about her. The street, the children, the fruit vender, the flowers growing there under her eyes, were all part and parcel of an alien world which had suddenly become antagonistic” (Chopin 107). Here Edna beings to see the world around her
As Edna lives her life as a wife and a mother, her actions and thoughts exemplify her inner and external conflict. In the novel Chopin writes, “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions” (Chopin ). Edna’s outer self may show that she is willing to listen to the societal rules placed on her, but her inner self questions these rules hence her eagerness to be free. This imbalance of what her mind thinks and her outer actions that people see causes conflict within Edna. Chopin states, “Edna looked straight before her with a self-absorbed expression upon her face. She felt no interest in anything about her. The street, the children, the fruit vender, the flowers growing there under her eyes, were all part and parcel of an alien world which had suddenly become antagonistic” (Chopin 107). Here Edna beings to see the world around her