Kate Chopin The Awakening Analysis

Superior Essays
Kate Chopin novel, “The Awakening”, it’s title give a huge meaning in the context. According to the new Webster encyclopedic dictionary, awakening meaning “to put into action or new life”. If we think the root of the word “the awakening”, it means to awaken or to awake for a new day. Chopin novels talks about a woman named Edna Pontellier who have awakened to herself. To better understand Chopin novels about Edna’s awakening, Chopin talks about how each the characters in this novel represent Edna’s awakening, the symbolism, and as a part of creole community. To start with this story, Edna Pontellier grow up in Kentucky. Their mother died when they were very young. Edna has two siblings Margaret and Janet. At the age of twenty-eight years old, …show more content…
According to Chopin novel, “They were women who idolized their children, worshipped their husband, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.” (Chopin) As a Creole women, they are expected to entertain their guest and serve the guest. This is what expected to the women of Creole society. Edna became conscious and realized that this kind of culture that she is leaving is what makes her kept from living the life that she wanted. The life of being a free woman who is capable of expressing her emotions without being judge by the society. The life that she is passionately love and to able to express herself as an individual. Symbolism is one of the main factor for Edna’s awakening. Chopin uses a many symbolism in this novel to describe the transformation of Edna from being in a state of unaware to aware of her need in life. One of the symbolism that represent of transformation of Edna is ocean. In Chopin novel, ocean represent brave and strength. Edna overcome her fear from learning how to swim which made her awakened that she can control her mind and body. Chopin writes, “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul”. (Chopin) this is a strong statement due to the fact that it represent Edna’s strength to over come her

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Many people of the 19th century thought that the novel struck topics that set the wrong example for women of that time period. Edna, the main character, is fighting against the societal and natural structures that force her to be defined by her title as wife of Leonce Pontellier and mother of Raoul and Etienne Pontellier, instead of being her own, self-defined individual. Edna provoked women to rethink their idea of what they wanted to be. Edna states, “I would give my money, I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn’t give myself” (Chopin 53). A woman who cared more for herself than her children was hard to find if even real.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The novel explores the expectations of society placed upon women at the time and how Edna continuously breaks them in order to gain more…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These readings implicitly overlook the courage and discipline of women like Edna who did survive and rise above such pressures, including the very authors of The Awakening and "The Yellow Wallpaper"; both women had families and successful writing careers, endured divorce or a spouse's death, and remained active public figures for most of their lives. Edna, too, succeeds in creating a significant amount of agency for herself after she conies to realize, when she learns to swim, the extent to which identities are fluid and fictitious: she leaves her husband, seems free from a certain amount of childcare, and eventually earns money from her artwork. Acknowledging that realism and naturalism include, respectively, an exposition of empirical, social and political realities, as well as the belief that fate-biological, social, or institutional-absolutely determines one's destiny, I'm suggesting that Chopin's novel implies that in order for women like Edna to survive, the philosophical boundaries and consequences associated with these literary genres can and must be overcome.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 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

    Chopin depicts that Edna has felt in love with the sea, where she sees it as a place where she can seek freedom, and basically an escape from the social expectations as a mother and wife back in the 1900s. This whole chapter conveys a calm…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Edna makes a lone decision to refuse her duty which brings her to paint more often with her new free time. This presents the work as a whole, as Edna is more independent of her decisions, it leads her have a more solitary life. Another piece of diction is Emerson. Chopin uses this author to explain the greater value on emotion and intuition than on reason or rationalism as he was a transcendental writer. The use of Emerson brings up the social issues in Edna’s mind to follow her intuition rather than the rules of society.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chopin expresses to the audience through Edna the large expectations women are placed under in the time period and how that leads to drastic changes within them. These societal expectations placed on women leads to the amount of sacrifice…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin symbolism is present in numerous ways. Edna’s learning to swim is symbolic of her life and of the multiple events that consequently transpire later in this novel. Edna’s new found confidence and need for control ultimately lead her to search for herself and become an individual once again. Through symbolism it becomes present that Edna Pontellier discovers herself; however it is during this process of self-discovery and Edna’s experiences that occur afterward that she is unable to accept the reality that is now her life.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the motif of music to describe Edna’s desires of becoming more independent and her mind’s vivid imagery, which subsequently provides a foreshadow. During the party at Madame Lebrun’s home in Grand Isle, Edna breaks away from the party and steps out onto the porch where she is admiring the view of the sea. Eventually, Robert comes to join her and asks her if she’d like to listen to Mademoiselle Reisz play the piano. While he goes to find her, Chopin writes: “Edna was what she herself called very fond of music. Musical strains, well rendered, had a way of evoking pictures in her mind,” and that, “One piece which that lady played Edna had entitled “Solitude”.…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Acceptance, freedom, love, and lust, these conflicts arise in The Awakening by Kate Chopin as Edna Pontellier struggles with her internal conflicts. Chopin uses foils to demonstrate Edna’s evolution in the novel. In a time where women are expected to be subordinate, Edna defies the standards and her oppressive husband. Two polar characters, Adèle Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, exemplify compliance and individualism. These women act as foils and provide references to the reader in understanding Edna’s awakening of herself and society.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chopin also shows us through Adele Ratignolle how Victorian women are like in the 19th century. Chopin says, Madame Ratignolle carries with her the materials for her to sew garments for her children as she visits with Mrs. Pontellier. Limiting the possibilities of other opportunities a Victorian woman could have than just being a wife and mother in a strict society. Chopin demonstrates the contradiction Edna has by saying, “Mrs. Pontellier’s mind was quite at rest concerning the present material needs of her children, and she could not see the use of anticipating and making winter night garments the subject of her summer meditations (13)”. In another instance, Edna’s journey of self expression is displayed when she and Adele go out for a walk to the beach.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved 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

    Authors throughout history have utilized our senses to connect the reader to the characters in the novel in a symbiotic relationship. Without our connection and relatability, the impact of the struggles a character faces would not be the same on the reader. This is held true for Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Chopin employs auditory allusions to foreshadow the fate of the protagonist Edna Pontellier. These small breadcrumbs of allusions placed throughout the novel lead us down the path of discovery and heighten the experience for the reader.…

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great 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

    Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening is primarily about the limitations and struggles of women in the 1800’s, however; it seems conceivable that Edna suffered from psychological issues (Ryan). She had the same limitations and struggles that all women had at the time, but her coping skills seem to be debilitated. It is common knowledge that early childhood experiences shape adult lives. Considering that Edna lost her mother at an early age and was raised solely by a cold and strict father, her childhood was lacking love and attachment. Chopin uses a limited, third person narration to provide insight into Edna’s mental state.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays