Prior to the Women’s Rights Movement and modern feminism, women from the nineteenth century were expected to be docile domestic figures whose only purpose was to be a decent wife and mother. Edna Pontellier, the wife of a possessive chauvinist and the mother of two demanding boys, does not hold those same convictions. She undergoes a process of self-discovery and independence that evoke traditionally masculine aspirations. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the internal conflict caused by the discord between societal norms and conventions during the late Victorian period and Edna Pontellier’s spiritual awakening is reconciled with her final act of suicide.
Edna’s detachment from the imposed gender roles inflame her sense of not belonging and serves …show more content…
When Edna impulsively accepts Robert’s invitation to go to the beach, she makes note of her sudden inclination as her “beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within about her,” (Chopin 14). This is the first time Edna is cognizant of her existence as a living soul who is more than just a mother or wife. She becomes conscious of her ability to exert autonomy over her life, similarly to her choosing the go to the beach. Although that revelation is imperative to Edna’s growing sense of being, her first experience swimming is described by “her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome,” which reveals her consciousness of the magnitude of her disposition in society (Chopin 28). She undergoes her awakening, but understands the societal barriers placed to prevent her from exercising free agency. She recognizes the stature of those barriers, and she does not have the strength or endurance to overcome them alone. Nonetheless, Edna’s self awareness has evolved from being “a mood” to an understanding of her desired role society that is not congenial with her womanhood (Arner 207). That dissonance creates an internal conflict between her desires and her
Edna’s detachment from the imposed gender roles inflame her sense of not belonging and serves …show more content…
When Edna impulsively accepts Robert’s invitation to go to the beach, she makes note of her sudden inclination as her “beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within about her,” (Chopin 14). This is the first time Edna is cognizant of her existence as a living soul who is more than just a mother or wife. She becomes conscious of her ability to exert autonomy over her life, similarly to her choosing the go to the beach. Although that revelation is imperative to Edna’s growing sense of being, her first experience swimming is described by “her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome,” which reveals her consciousness of the magnitude of her disposition in society (Chopin 28). She undergoes her awakening, but understands the societal barriers placed to prevent her from exercising free agency. She recognizes the stature of those barriers, and she does not have the strength or endurance to overcome them alone. Nonetheless, Edna’s self awareness has evolved from being “a mood” to an understanding of her desired role society that is not congenial with her womanhood (Arner 207). That dissonance creates an internal conflict between her desires and her