The Awakening by Kate Chopin takes place in the late nineteenth century and revolves around a woman named Edna Pontellier who cannot conform to the society in which she lives in. Throughout the novel, Edna slowly breaks free of the reigns in which society holds her to by rebelling against the ideas and morals of motherhood and femininity and chooses love and solitude instead. Early on in the novel, however, Chopin alludes to the existence of Edna's dual life through the following quote, "At a very early period she had apprehended instinctually the dual life-that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions" (13). When analyzing this quote, it is clear that Chopin wanted to establish that Edna is a very complex character
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Afterwards, Edna's father talks to Leonce about the inappropriate behavior and tells Leonce that he is too lenient with Edna and that "Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. Take my word for it" (71). Following this, Chopin gives the line "The Colonel (Edna's father) was perhaps unaware that he has coerced his own wife into her grave" (71), and this allows readers to interpret and infer that Edna has grown up in a very stern, and rough environment as a child. By losing her mother to poor and unjust treatment, Edna knew not to conform to a relationship such as this when she grew old, but also couldn't argue against Leonce as this was frowned upon by society's standards. Because of Edna's implied tough childhood, it can be assumed that this is what ultimately led Edna into her psychologically unstable dual life. Furthermore, before Edna drowns at the end of the novel, she imagines the "blue-grass meadow that she traversed when a little child" that she believed to have "no beginning or no end" (116); the blue-grass meadow is a metaphor for Edna's past when she truly lived a carefree life in which she was unanchored by the responsibilities and social restrictions that have taken a psychological toll on her into her adulthood. When thinking back to the ocean, Edna is also reminded of past …show more content…
Through both Edna's outer and inner personalities, it is clear that she desired both freedom and love through various patterns in the novel but they could not obtain these traits and coexist coherently with each other. Because of this, Edna instead chooses to end her life at the novel's conclusion in order to escape the outer Edna completely and "wake up" from the psychological distress she has had to experience ever since her early childhood. As a whole, Edna Pontellier did indeed live a complex, and unique dual life, but was able to escape this confinement through constant persistence and dedication in attempting to awaken as a new, and complete person by the novel's
Afterwards, Edna's father talks to Leonce about the inappropriate behavior and tells Leonce that he is too lenient with Edna and that "Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. Take my word for it" (71). Following this, Chopin gives the line "The Colonel (Edna's father) was perhaps unaware that he has coerced his own wife into her grave" (71), and this allows readers to interpret and infer that Edna has grown up in a very stern, and rough environment as a child. By losing her mother to poor and unjust treatment, Edna knew not to conform to a relationship such as this when she grew old, but also couldn't argue against Leonce as this was frowned upon by society's standards. Because of Edna's implied tough childhood, it can be assumed that this is what ultimately led Edna into her psychologically unstable dual life. Furthermore, before Edna drowns at the end of the novel, she imagines the "blue-grass meadow that she traversed when a little child" that she believed to have "no beginning or no end" (116); the blue-grass meadow is a metaphor for Edna's past when she truly lived a carefree life in which she was unanchored by the responsibilities and social restrictions that have taken a psychological toll on her into her adulthood. When thinking back to the ocean, Edna is also reminded of past …show more content…
Through both Edna's outer and inner personalities, it is clear that she desired both freedom and love through various patterns in the novel but they could not obtain these traits and coexist coherently with each other. Because of this, Edna instead chooses to end her life at the novel's conclusion in order to escape the outer Edna completely and "wake up" from the psychological distress she has had to experience ever since her early childhood. As a whole, Edna Pontellier did indeed live a complex, and unique dual life, but was able to escape this confinement through constant persistence and dedication in attempting to awaken as a new, and complete person by the novel's