Sexism In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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In contrast to love, when it comes to independence society customarily denounces women who proclaimed their freedom and independence from society. Although the Victorian society is sexist, their people believed their society was what kept them united, thus women who failed to complete their duties were deemed detrimental and constantly looked down upon. The main role of women according to the Victorian era was domesticated work and motherhood, hence Edna felt forced to publicly display her happiness although she felt trapped. This taboo was developed in Edna’s early stages of her rebellion, Edna’s behavior of “[abandoning] her Tuesdays at home,” “[throwing] over all her acquaintances, [going] tramping about by herself ,” and “moping in the …show more content…
Thus, Kate Chopin validates once again that without the pressure of upholding society’s expectation women can live a happier life. Edna moving into her own house marked the first step of her independence and her choice to live free of society’s rule, in the pigeon house Edna felt much happier she felt as if she was “descending in the social scale,” and she notice that “every step she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual.”; from this one can say Edna had an awakening, she no longer wanted to live according to society, she “began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life,” the farther Edna moves away from society perspective the more about her identity and her life she learns. Concerning the taboo of independent women Edna doesn’t want people to think that “[she is] ungrateful” because she “[doesn’t] want anything but her own way,” Edna is happier when she lives according to herself but due to the taboo she understands that people might judge her as
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