The Awakening Similarities Between Edna And Lucy

The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin and first published in 1899, is a story about a nineteenth-century wife and mother who is discontent with her life, and therefore undertakes a journey of self-exploration in search of independence, happiness, and self-fulfillment. A Room With A View, written in 1908 by E. M. Forster, is a novel about the transformation of a traditional medieval young lady into an enlightened and open-minded woman. Although they share many similarities, Edna Pontellier, the main character of The Awakening, and Lucy Honeychurch, the main character of A Room With A View, are different in numerous ways. Their obsession with music and disregard for social norms are two examples of how they are similar. One of the ways …show more content…
In their time, women were expected to fulfill specific roles set forth by society. They were only meant for domestic duties, such as housework and childcare, sacrificing their own happiness for the happiness of their families. Edna and Lucy did not fulfill these expectations. As a mother, Edna was supposed to stay home to look after their home and children. Edna, however, “was not a mother-woman. The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels” (Chopin 10). The absence of her children “was a sort of relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her” (Chopin25). Edna says that would rather die for her children than give herself up for them, meaning that she would not sacrifice her happiness or change her personality for them. Seeking independence and self-determination, Edna abandons her home and family and moves into to do whatever she pleases. For example, she falls in love with a man she met on vacation, named Robert Lebrun, and sleeps with a man has a reputation of sleeping around with married women, named Alcee Arobin. She makes it clear that she is “no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose” (Chopin 146). Edna’s refusal to go to her sister’s wedding is another example of her rebellion against social traditions. Like Edna, Lucy breaks society’s rules that hinder her happiness. For example, one “afternoon she was