Symbolism In The Awakening

Find a article from database and add feminist lens and then cite In the 19th century the women of this time independent, career women or were they typical housewives that cooked, clean, raised the children, and catered to their husbands. They didn’t go out of society’s norm and express themselves freely. Kate Chopin wrote a book called the Awakening. In this novel she tells a story of a character named Edna Pontellier. The novel is about Edna and how she wants to be free. Chopin uses a lot of symbolism to depict Edna’s crave for freedom. Edna is a housewife for to her husband Leonce and a mother to her two boys. Lance is the “bread winner “ of the household while Edna cooks and clean; which is a normal norm for husbands and wives during …show more content…
It is that when Edna is alone that’s when she feels free and can be comfortable. When she goes for a swim it reminds herself how society tries to shape her however, the water gives her a cleansing feeling as if she has been rebirthed. ”The voice of the sea . . .”( chipon 38) Edna’s awakening is growing. “The years that are gone seem like dreams—if one might go on sleeping and dreaming—but to wake up and find—oh! well! Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.”(chipon, 171)She is aware of how society works verses her own desire to be free. According to Edna, to live with self-awareness, possessed and controlled only by one’s own soul, offers an existence far richer than a life lived according to the restricting “illusions” that are imposed by the expectations of others. She ends her death by committing suicide in the water to represent the independence of being lonely and wanting freedom. Through the postcolonial and feminist lens there are corresponding relations between Edna and Desire from the novel Desires baby. In the book Desiree's baby by Kate chopin, Desiree's is considered the racial other. When her master whom she fell in love with and had her baby by says “My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white. For God’s sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I …show more content…
As in The Awakening by Kate Chipon Both characters are trapped in their husbands and society life where they wish to be “free” and live their own life. I“ The STory of A Hour ” By Kate the protagonist of Louise Mallard, has come to the realization that the death of her husband is not only a tragic occurrence, but also a beneficial cutting of her previously binding marital ties. “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.” This suggests that she had lived her life to please her husband, and to be there for him waiting on him hand and foot.(Chipon, Story of a Hour )The protagonist, Mrs. Mallard understands that her marriage has limited her independence and freedom. Like many of Chopin's protagonists, the issue of female autonomy and desire comes to the forefront in her stories, and the overwhelming sensation of exultation overcoming. Louise Mallard suggests that her life under the society and the role of traditional political institutions has stifled her, although she was not previously aware of the fact as Edna became in the Story Awakening had gotten. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills. “(Chipon, Story of a Hour ) Chopin irony was that Louise did not die of joy, she died of the terrible shock of seeing her husband