Theme Of Motherhood In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Improved Essays
In “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the theme of motherhood and the idea of the “mother-woman,” are both very prominent. Two of the novel’s main characters are mothers, although their views on motherhood are not alike at all. Throughout the novel, Adele and Edna are compared to show how Adele surpasses the societal ideals of what a mother and wife should be, and how Edna defies those standards and refuses to let motherhood consume her life. One of the ways that this is achieved is by the use of the term “mother-woman” and applying it to both of the mentioned female characters. The term “mother-woman” is used in “The Awakening” to describe society’s image of the perfect woman; in other words, what Adele is, and what Edna is not. These women …show more content…
Although her condition was “in no way apparent” (9), she persistently commented on it and brought it into conversations. Even when she was forbidden by the doctor to lift anything due to her pregnancy, she would not stop expressing her love for her children, and would welcome them into her “fond, encircling arms” (12). In chapter XXXVII, Adele gives birth to her fourth child. She uses no sort of drugs to ease the pain, because the act of childbirth is a miracle to her. Adele wants to experience everything, because to her it’s natural. This shows how important motherhood is to her identity; she is a mother and wife, and nothing else …show more content…
He fell in love, and his “absolute devotion flattered her” (18). She did not worship her husband, like a mother-woman would do. In fact, multiple times she defies his requests and emancipates herself from him; she moves into her own home, doesn’t listen to commands, and begins to be financially independent. Léonce describes Edna as his “sole object of his existence” (5), and the fact that she shows “little interest in things which concern[s] him” (5) was discouraging. To Edna, her marriage was just a societal requirement to meet; she was fond of Léonce, but she resented the idea of marriage.
Although Edna did love her children, she was not as motherly as society would like her to be. Unlike other children, if one of Edna’s children were to hurt himself while playing, he wouldn’t “rush crying to his mother’s arms for comfort” (18); instead, he would “pick himself up, wipe the water out of his eyes and the sand out of his mouth, and go on playing” (18). When her husband insisted that Raoul had a fever, she argued that he didn’t, and then didn’t immediately get out of bed to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    She realizes she has no control over her decisions in life, even with Robert who she loves, but she says “today it is Arobin tomorrow it will be someone else...it doesn’t matter about Leonce Pontellier - but Raoul and Etienne” (188). Although Edna try so hard to forget her maternal instincts, she becomes enslaved to the inevitable connection between her and her children. That is when she visits Adele, who was in labor, it dawns on her that she can’t escape the cycle of motherhood. Adele’s birth reminds her of her natural position as a woman, where she “was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way” longed for her children, and sent them bonbons when they were with their grandmother (33). Edna has once said that she could sacrifice her life for her children, but never give up herself.…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In men’s eyes, women were similar to the property belonging to men. The author focuses on this idea in The Awakening and portrays female’s social status, marital life, and autonomy. The main character, Edna Pontellier, grows from a traditional housewife, who is lack of self-awareness, to an independent new woman who focuses on self-identity. Her awakening turns from spirit to reality. In order to preserve her true self and guard her own individuality, she has to withdraw…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feminism In The Awakening

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin about a woman’s transformation from an obedient, traditional wife and mother into a self-realized, sexually liberated and independent woman. Despite now being regarded as a classic, when The Awakening was first published, it received shocked reviews, which the novelist never recovered from. Reviewers were stunned by the protagonist’s sense of independence as well as her sexual liberation. This is due to the fact that at the time, even Louisiana law held that wives were the property of their husbands. This is incorporated and reacted strongly toward in the novel when Victorian society never gives Edna a real shot at achieving personal fulfillment, much less being treated as a real person outside of her…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 19th century the main role of women was of a wife and mother. Women have been oppressed to a point where they were treated as possessions, objects, or as a completely different species. They were in a place that seemed to be in a dark tunnel with no hope, dreams, or sense of fulfillment. Free spirited Edna Pontellier shows her family and friends that women have their own birthrights, and they too are able to do everything males can do. At first she feels like a caged bird, then she learns to swim, and she finally feels born again swimming naked in the open sea.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the gender roles and expectations of the novella’s time period were challenged, primarily through the character Edna. Edna was a married woman with two children who had never been fully comfortable with her role as mother or wife. Despite her dissatisfaction with her life, she unthinkingly “[went] through the daily treadmill of the life which had been portioned out to [her]” (Chopin 31) until she met Robert Lebrun, a young and interesting man who awoke the infatuations that Edna had tried to leave in her youth. This also awakened in her a newfound longing for complete ownership over herself, a radical notion for a woman in her position.…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Likewise, her association with Madame Ratignolle, a motherly character who encompasses and embraces the traits of a standard Creole woman, further exemplifies Edna’s initial inability to gain independence and overthrow societal restrictions. During the beginning phases of Edna’s development, those who surround her clearly refuse to challenge the oppressive nature of their society; Edna’s close association with them and routine participation in high-class activities leads to her narrow perspective and thus, outwardly conforming…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    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…

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Edna struggles to find her purpose in this society that is holding her back. Edna’s encounters include two men she becomes romantically involved with, other than her husband, Leonce. The two men, Robert and Alcee, help open Edna up in some ways. A…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethan Frome Conflicts

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Edna starts off entrapped by the standards of society, just fitting in and going along with the role she was getting even though she was far from happy. Through a search into her true feelings and many hard decisions she realizes that she is more than what society has labelled her as; no longer is she a “mother-woman”, she is a women on the way to find true passion and independence. Kate Chopin’s main goal in the “The Awakening” is not only to highlight the stress that social stereotypes can place on someone, but she also wants to show the reader that it is okay to break away from the social norm when it strongly conflicts with your values and who you really are. Edna is driven enough to leave her own family, sacrifice her image, and declare herself open to have relationships with other people despite the fact that she is technically still married to Leonce. This can be seen through her affairs with Arobin and with Robert.…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Edna felt out of place because she felt no attachment to her children and she would only give up the unessential things in life for them rather than the essential things. A mother in the late 1800s “idolized her children, worshipped her husband, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface herself as an individual and grow wings as a ministering angel,” (Chopin IV) and Edna did not fit this standard set by society during this time period. Edna moved out away from her husband and children and began a scandalous affair with a local in the Grand Isle which was frowned upon. Her only choice was to commit suicide to prevent gossip being spread about her children’s mother. Edna was “...a solitary, defiant soul who stands out against the limitations that both nature and society place upon her , and who accepts in the final analysis a defeats that involves no surrender,” (Treu 22) which resulted in her suicide.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By social standards, women are expected to be married before 30, have many children, stay at home, cook, and obey their husbands. The fact that Edna defies all these expectations by leaving her husband, children, and running off with Robert proves her gain of control and disassociation from society. While Edna was enjoying the fruits of her new found power, those around her were astonished and even a bit intimidated by her actions. Even her husband reported her to the doctor claiming she was ill in an attempt to regain his own control over her. This created an oxymoron in the story because, in fact, Edna was not ill but rather growing…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Adele and Edna: Two Forms of Divinities In literature, authors occasionally resort to reader's faith in supernatural knowledge to convey controversial themes that cannot be explicitly expressed in storylines. Women independence and gender consciousness, for instance, were such notions that the patriarchal society disapproved in the late nineteenth-century. In order to reveal the restrictive nature behind ostensibly perfect social order, Kate Chopin constructs two forms of divinities in The Awakening: the artificial divinity represented by mother-women, and the inner divinity that Edna Pontellier discovers in nature and solitude. Mother-women and their feminine virtues exemplify the sanctified social order in the male dominated-world of the…

    • 1308 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Adele, the epitome of a woman in the 1800’s, quietly accepts her life and culture as it exists. Edna, on the other hand, struggles to break free of the cocoon of oppression and expectation that surrounds and stifles her. Edna respects Adele and realizes that others also hold her in high regard. However, Edna feels that…

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The society of this era was critical of every action. As Edna has her awakening, her forbidden loves create tension in the story. In regards to the women, Reisz directly influences Edna, almost as a mentor. In contrast, Ratignolle tries to hold her from defiance. “‘In some way you seem to me like a child, Edna.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout the text, Edna develops as a character through her extramarital relationships in that she further comes to realization of her subjugation and desire to free herself from this—a universal idea championed by the feminist movement. As Edna transforms from being dissatisfied with her life and subjugation under Léonce and turns to fulfilling her true underlying desires, seen are actions that make evident to the reader the overarching goal of the text. This can be seen in Edna’s refusal and disagreement with her father in regards to attending her sister’s wedding. In an exchange between Léonce and Edna’s father, seen is the statement, “’She won’t go to the marriage. She says a wedding is one of the most lamentable spectacles on earth’”…

    • 1286 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays