The Awakening

The Awakening is certainly a book made for a specific group of people. Those people ostensibly being older women approximately somewhere around their mid-thirties or just older women in general based on the topics that were discussed in the book. Particularly the topic of a married woman falling in love with a younger man her husband is well acquainted with, these types of topics are usually found in love novels made for older women that usually have quite a bit of time on their hands or nothing…

The act of suicide is rarely seen as a positive embracing of freedom or an act of re-birth. Kate Chopin’s bildungsroman, The Awakening, suggests that it was impossible for a woman to be free within the confines of the social constructs and standards of the time in which she lived, ultimately resulting in the protagonist’s detrimental yet inevitable death. Chopin supports her argument by demonstrating the outcome of a woman who intends to break social barriers, defines sexual identity and its…

Edna is called to witness her friend Adele’s labor during the closing chapters of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. In a novella revolving around the domestic sphere inhabited by women of the 19th century, a scene of child birth affirms the central role presented to a woman of the time: “The [mother-women] were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels” (11). Chopin describes…

Gilman and Chopin both are trying to illustrate how women are trapped and bound by the unspoken rules of Victorian society. They also show the audience the consequences of conformity for women that desire independence. In Chopin’s “The Awakening,” Edna slowly begins to discover herself in her husband’s absence. She experiences “a radiant peace settled upon her when she at last found herself alone” (595). This is the central message which the author wishes to convey. The constant pressures and…

life. Wielding a swift amount of metaphors, Diction, alliteration, and Dickinson calls upon the reflection of conformity and taking charge of one’s life despite the overruling stature of society sharing a similar parallel to the plot behind The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin. . Initially, Dickinson provides a comparison between the act of baptism and living according to the life that one was in a way given. When Dickinson talks about “the name they dropped upon my face with water,” (2-3)…

In the 19th Century, it was uncommon for women to alter their lives in opposition to society’s strictly-prescribed social structures. This issue arises in The Awakening by Kate Chopin, where Edna Pontellier strives to set herself free from Creole society’s confining gender roles. She is expected to devote her existence to her husband and children – a life of little satisfaction. As Edna encounters these constructs, Chopin employs birds to symbolically explore the recurring ideas of freedom and…

Literary Criticism: The Awakening and the Failure of the Psyche It is apparent that one can correlate Greek mythology to The Awakening when reading Franklin’s criticism. Franklin associates the paradigm of Psyche to the pathological, internal struggle of Edna, where the fear of the confrontation of solitude is prevalent. Franklin first explains the irony in the title of The Awakening, given the fact that Edna sleeps, living in a world filled with fantasy rather than being psychologically and…

Sarah Newell Mrs. Hans Edna Drowns Thesis Statement: In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, protagonist Edna Pontellier struggles with her identity internally, thus creating a ripple effect in the inability to confirm or disprove her morality at first glance; her indecisiveness about herself leaks onto how surrounding characters and the society in context perceive her. TS#1: Because Edna is relatively introspective, she is aware of the interior change that occurs between her in the time submerged…

In society, a women’s job is to cater, or serve the common good, and also sacrifice their needs at all times. Many authors use conflict as an advantage for adding meaning to their story. In Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, Enda finds herself torn between being who she wants to be and who she has to be based on society’s standards. Through symbolism, Chopin is able to use the two conflicting forces to show her innermost desires for freedom and how society suppresses her desires, which ultimately…

Junjie Liu Ms. Kennedy American Lit. Per.7 Dec. 29th 2015 The Awakening was published by the American woman writer Kate Chopin in 1899. During 19th century, society had made great progress in many aspects; however, women were not allowed to strive for their self identity. 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…