The Awakening Character Analysis Essay

Decent Essays
Brandon Lahey
Mrs.Swanwick
English 11
11, December 2015 In the Novel The Awakening by Kate Chapin, the protagonist, Edna Pontellier develops as a character throughout this Novel dramatically. The narrator of this novel is anonymous, but you can clearly tell that the narrator feels sympathetic for Edna. The Exposition in this novel is the setting starts of in New orleans, but mostly in Grande Isle, a vacation town back in the late 1800’s. The Protagonist in this novel is Edna Pontellier, who is 28, and the wife of a young businessman. She wants to become independent from her family, and find herself as a women. In the beginning of this novel, it starts off by explaining how Edna is not happy with her marriage, and how she is not living the way she wants to live. She wants to start pushing
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There is one major Conflict in the Awakening as well. One of the major conflicts is Edna realizes that she wants to be independent, and she also had thoughts of what a women's role in this time period actually is. The Rising Action in this novel is when Edna is vacationing on grand isle, she realizes many things. Roberts love towards Edna makes her want to be away from her husband more, she also realizes how Mademoiselle’s piano playing is an artistic inspiration for her. Edna then finally swims in the ocean for the first time, and that made her realize how big of a step that was for her to finally find herself as a person. There are a couple of climaxes, but the main Climax is the death of Edna. In the end of the novel, Edna stands on the beach and then starts to swim in the ocean, and then the author implies that Edna dies in the ocean. This means that Edna either finally found herself, or that she feels like she failed at everything she has done, and then commits suicide in the ocean. There is no Resolution in this novel because of how Edna

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