In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier gradually realizes the societal expectation for her to conform to the female stereotype and attempts to discover freedom instead. Rather than live as a “mother-woman” whose entire existence revolves around only her husband and children, she wishes to discover her own person and live as that woman. In the beginning of the book, Mr. Pontellier criticizes his wife and wakes her up so she can tend to their children in the middle of the night and otherwise fit into the feminine role of mother; in fact, he says that “if it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it?” (Chopin 13). Mr. Pontellier’s expectation that his wife will care for their children shows the reader the very box that
