Theme Of Feminism In The Awakening

Christiania R. Williams proposes an intriguing argument on the main theme of feminism in “The Awakening”. “Reading Beyond Modern Feminism: Kate Chopin’s The Awakening” was a critique given by Williams debating if the novel was more about promoting individualism rather than the idea of feminism. In the novel, Edna Pontellier portrays an average American wife during a Creole New Orleans society. The story starts off with the main character feeling like a caged bird to her lover Leonce Pontellier for most of her life. After a vacation to the Grand Isle near New Orleans, her sense of purpose begins to change as her interactions with her peers begin to change her views on life. Williams argues that this new-found purpose is more relatable to a person wanting to have their own personality which is the basis of individualism rather than being free from the standards society has placed upon a woman. Events in Chopin’s do show strong signs of Edna trying to be a more independent woman while trying not relying on men, however, the …show more content…
“The dreamlike deception of the men guiding her awakening merely reflects the illusory nature of her environment.” (Williams 60), emphasizes the point Edna received helped on her rouge influences in her surroundings. Her choice to find other lovers which defies the rules of marriage does not create a purposeful sense of feminine rebellion but rather bringing her to understand she is becoming a different person trying to look for a different life. Her relationship with William Lebrun was also an example of the true idea that Edna was trying to get away from the ideas men set upon her but it slowly turned her into a person who needed them more than usual. This merely reflected her being lost without the presence of her husband since she relied heavily on him her whole