In his essay titled “Culture”, Stephen Greenblatt examines what culture truly is, how it is conveyed, and how works of art and literature influence and spread different cultures and ideals. According to Greenblatt, culture is formed by a system of ideals and beliefs, which are a set of limits which social behavior must stay within and individuals must conform to. These limits vary from culture to culture, and the consequences for straying beyond these limits can vary from mild to severe. A culture’s boundaries can be enforced negatively, such as through blame, but also in positive ways as well, though praise for example. Literature has always played a great role in the imposition of cultural limits. Many works convey cultural ideals implicitly
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The Awakening is an example novel in which all of these factors come into play. The novel was set during Victorian era New Orleans. This time period had a very traditional Creole culture, and very few individuals strayed from the cultural norms and limits. The most reoccurring and prominent aspect of Creole culture represented in The Awakening are the ideals of marriage and domestic life. During this time period, women did not have many of the freedoms they do today, and were expected to stay home, take care of the kids, keep a perfectly pristine house, and live to please their husbands by doing everything they said to do. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist, demonstrates the idea of cultural boundaries and going past them a plethora of times in the novel. She desires independence and freedom mostly from societal and cultural norms that burden her with responsibilities she feels she cannot or does not want to fulfill. For example, the narrator states that Edna is not a ‘mother-woman’, or a woman who fully devotes herself to her husband and children, making their …show more content…
The Awakening acts as a novel that batters against cultural boundaries as it explores Edna’s true feelings and longing for independence. For the entirety of the novel, Edna pushes the social and cultural norms of her times, at first in seemingly innocuous ways which gradually evolve into greater, more defiant acts. For instance, towards the beginning of the novel, Edna refused to come to dinner at Grand Isle because she as upset that Robert was leaving, even though she knew it was culturally unusual to deny your hostess’s request for your presence. This action is rather small compared to when Edna moved out of Leoncé’s house and into the smaller ‘pigeon house’. By doing this, she not only defies her husband, but also could have caused the pair’s social standing to come into question. Because an action like this was so outside the cultural boundaries, it would have mad people think Leoncé couldn’t control his wife like he was supposed to do, according to the Creole culture. The way in which the Kate Chopin, the author, highlights Edna’s moments of pushing the cultural limits shows how the novel is used as a tool to batter against cultural limits and
The Awakening is an example novel in which all of these factors come into play. The novel was set during Victorian era New Orleans. This time period had a very traditional Creole culture, and very few individuals strayed from the cultural norms and limits. The most reoccurring and prominent aspect of Creole culture represented in The Awakening are the ideals of marriage and domestic life. During this time period, women did not have many of the freedoms they do today, and were expected to stay home, take care of the kids, keep a perfectly pristine house, and live to please their husbands by doing everything they said to do. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist, demonstrates the idea of cultural boundaries and going past them a plethora of times in the novel. She desires independence and freedom mostly from societal and cultural norms that burden her with responsibilities she feels she cannot or does not want to fulfill. For example, the narrator states that Edna is not a ‘mother-woman’, or a woman who fully devotes herself to her husband and children, making their …show more content…
The Awakening acts as a novel that batters against cultural boundaries as it explores Edna’s true feelings and longing for independence. For the entirety of the novel, Edna pushes the social and cultural norms of her times, at first in seemingly innocuous ways which gradually evolve into greater, more defiant acts. For instance, towards the beginning of the novel, Edna refused to come to dinner at Grand Isle because she as upset that Robert was leaving, even though she knew it was culturally unusual to deny your hostess’s request for your presence. This action is rather small compared to when Edna moved out of Leoncé’s house and into the smaller ‘pigeon house’. By doing this, she not only defies her husband, but also could have caused the pair’s social standing to come into question. Because an action like this was so outside the cultural boundaries, it would have mad people think Leoncé couldn’t control his wife like he was supposed to do, according to the Creole culture. The way in which the Kate Chopin, the author, highlights Edna’s moments of pushing the cultural limits shows how the novel is used as a tool to batter against cultural limits and