First Great Awakening

In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, Edna Pontellier experiences a revelation about the lack of freedom she experiences as a woman in the 1890’s. The book covers her progression of thought and her transformation from repressed but yearning for freedom to her attempts at full freedom from society’s dictations, building up to her suicide. Chopin fills the book with underlying motifs that symbolize Edna’s gradual change, one of these being clothing. Edna’s awakening mirrors an alteration in…

At the start of the poem it seems as if the author describes the lake in the quarry to be quiet and lifeless yet inviting. Then suddenly the author introduces the woman with metaphors to water like creatures. This makes the reader keep guessing what the author is talking about, but after they realise that the woman is being described like an animal, because she’s eager to dive into the water. This leads to one of the themes of life and a new adventure. As the author describes the woman's descent…

A major motif in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening is the image of a bird, appearing frequently throughout the story. Compared to the image of the bird towards the beginning of the novel, the image at the end of the story signifies a significant characteristic change in the bird: it struggles to fly with a “broken” wing and dies. This transition from an image of a bird that initially succeeds in flying to a bird that struggles to explore the skies serves to demonstrate the parallel change that…

In 1899 Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was released to readers, which is now regarded as a classic in American fiction. Her style consists of strict following of grammar rules and sharp, precise sentence structures, bringing an entirely different feel to her story when read compared to other works of fiction that deliberately cut and switch their choice of words and structures to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. The Awakening contains a strict writing style, a theme of identity crisis, and is…

Imagine that you are coming to the realization that you are a nobody. That you are just an average person in an average society. Chopin's story The Awakening in Chopin's story symbolizes the realization that the main character and protagonist comes to. Edna has become awakened by the end of the story because she realizes that the life she left was the life she cherished the most. Her new life was not what as luxurious as she thought it was going to be. This caused her to reconsider all of the…

The Awakening Feminism is one of the broadest and most arguable critical lenses. Edna, along with other female characters, demonstrate the aspects of feminism and the expected way of living in a world controlled by men in The Awakening by Kate Chopin. There are a variety of symbols in this text that demonstrate the struggles of the female characters. Throughout the text, the characters also grow tremendously which is shown in various ways. This included Edna trying to rebel against what was…

The Symbolism of Birds in The Awakening During the Victorian Era, women were forced to conform to unwritten rules created by society. Women were subordinate to men as they were expected to dress, behave, and live their life in the way that society believed to be correct. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin utilizes birds to symbolize Edna’s confined position in society and foreshadow her awakening. In doing so, Chopin conveys that women can transcend from the limitations set by their society and live…

Throughout Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening”, there are numerous usages of imageries and symbols that she incorporates to display and disclose Edna’s fright. Several symbolic items are used to divulge this terror, and the most communal one that Chopin uses in this novel are birds. Numerous other symbols are used and related to such as rings, fountain, and vase(s). In normal life, we may not be able to relate to these symbols, but it is imperative to understand how the representations affected…

The Awakening Since the feminist movement between the 1960s and 1970s, many scholars have showed much interest to Kate Chopin’s literature. This particular story shows a life of a married woman and the struggles of her family, husband and her desires for love and freedom. The short story “The Awakening” has a specific symbolism that has a lot of meaning throughout the story. Chopin begins the novel with a scene of a parrot. In the academic journal of "The Awakening And A Lost Lady: Flying With…

The Awakening by Kate Chopin displays the struggle a woman goes through in order to break her current situations. In this novel, Edna Pontellier releases herself to her deepest yearnings, plunging into a relationship that rekindles her long sexual desires, enflames her heart, and eventually takes over and Enda can see nothing else. As she goes through many changes Edna gets involved in many activities. One of these activities are painting; painting becomes one of her favorite pastimes and her…